Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
The music stopped. Not one instrument played. People raced away from that side of the room. Some frantically waving their arms. Others snatching off their masks and getting the hell out of the area. Too many women cried out. Dishes clattered.
Some man far off yelled for everyone to calm down.
I turned to Benny. “What the hell did you just do?”
The masked men around us closed in tighter next to Chase and me, but their attention was all over the place, probably trying to figure out like me, what had happened.
Benny’s smile never faltered and his focus remained on Chase. “I asked for Dawn, Lucy, and Wendy. You only gave me Dawn.”
“I gave you no one.” Chase didn’t even look off in the direction of the mania; his gaze stayed on Benny. “You murdered Dawn. I handled Wendy before you could do your sick things to her. As far as Lucy, you’ll never touch her. You’ll never get to know how it feels to hurt her. I bet that’s what pisses you off the most.”
“Son,” Benny laughed, “I always get my way. You can’t hide anyone or anything from me. I got to Lucy, and let me tell you, I think you’ll love this even more than the Beatles’ paper.”
No. No.
I glanced toward the dance floor and spotted nothing but people screaming and pointing to the ceiling. Oh God. What have you done, Benny? Reluctantly, I dragged my gaze up to the ceiling and almost buckled over in horror.
In the exact area where I’d orgasmed all over myself while holding Chase, a ruined body dangled above the screaming guests. I closed out all of the noise and forced myself to look closer. My heart pounded hard in my chest.
Lucy hung from the ceiling. Huge, fake diamonds dangled down to her feet. Blood dripped from her legs. Her face was the only thing intact, as well as her hair. Strawberry red strands stuck to her high cheekbones.
No. That has to be a fake body. That can’t really be her.
Even from here, I knew it was Lucy, but ... I just couldn’t admit it to myself. It couldn’t be true. How did he find her? How did her body get there without anyone noticing? Had her corpse been hanging above us the whole time? Lucy was supposed to be with Troy and Vivian. Are they okay? Long checkered boxes had been cut into her skin, or at least that’s what I figured. From this distance, he could’ve just drew lines on her legs or even put on some crazy stockings.
But I knew, I was right. Benny sliced her flesh. He cut her until she was nothing more than a bag of heavy meat, rotting on the floor.
“Get it?” Benny’s voice knocked me off my thinking.
I jerked back in terror.
“You get it, right?” Excitement dotted Benny’s word. “Tell me you get the whole Beatles’ metaphor, Jasmine.”
I shook, my lips quaking like I was having a seizure. “W-why, Benny? Why did you have to do this?”
“What about you, Chase?” Benny roared with sick laughter. “What am I saying over there? What’s the Beatles’ metaphor?”
Chase’s face had paled in horror. His mouth hung open in shock as he held out his arm and pulled me back away from Benny more.
“What’s wrong?” Benny asked. “Fine. I’ll just tell you what I’m saying. You’re not as big of a Beatles fan as I thought. You know what? I won’t even tell you. I’ll let you think about it tonight. Your last night, by the way, with my daughter. By tomorrow morning, you better be miles away from her, or the next person that hangs from the sky is you.”
More guests screamed. The rest fled. The masquerade ball was now over. Even the orchestra had disappeared. A couple of musical objects were scattered in their section. Chairs were turned over. Sheet music spread out on the floor in disarray.
I looked everywhere, but back at that body. Lucy hadn’t been my best friend, but she’d been a person to talk to in a time of confusion. The only reason I pushed her away was because I thought she might’ve been the person killing all of Chase’s other girlfriends. We’d later discovered that it was only Wendy and Dawn. Benny tortured Dawn. Chase shot Wendy for the sake of giving her a better demise, than Benny’s blade. And we all protected Lucy from Benny, since she was innocent.
It all should’ve been finished there.
We’d all left Italy as different people. Vivian called me every day and told me about her nightmares. Troy talked in hushed and nervous tones. Chase kept me closed out of anything that could scare me, and I stood in the shadows willingly, like a scared ostrich with my head in the sand.
We’d left Italy, and everything else was supposed to stay right there—the death, the blood, the stink of the house as it radiated with Dawn’s horrifying screams.