Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“Marek likes me more than you,” I taunt. “After all, I’m the one who fucks him.”
She bares her teeth at me. “This will never work.”
“It will, though. I’ll make sure of it.”
“What are you getting out of this, you ruthless, shit of a child. I should have sold you a long time ago and rid my world of you. You’ve been nothing more than a thorn in my side since the day you were born.”
“I’m getting freedom,” I answer her, ignoring the rest. “Without you here, I can walk away, and nobody will ever come looking. Death will take over, and the world will go back to being right.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “You’ll never be free. Never.”
“You’re wrong, I will. Just one day of not hearing your cruel taunts is enough freedom to last me a lifetime.”
“Put it down,” she snaps. “Now.”
“No.”
“Acacia, so help me, put it down.”
I shake my head.
“We both know you’re too fucking weak to shoot -”
Her voice is cut off when I pull the trigger.
Gasping, I wake from whatever twisted nightmare I was in. It takes a minute for me to register that I’m still in the office, still on the ground, still lying next to Death who is dead on the floor beside me, his eyes still open and staring into nothing.
Nobody has come in.
I’m quite certain Marek already has this place under his control, Death was just the final piece of the puzzle he had to slip into place to get exactly what he wanted. He played me, he played all of us, and the worst part about it is that he can still sleep at night. His demons do not haunt him, they comfort him. There isn’t a man in this world worse than him. He’s the devil, through and through, of the truest form.
One day, I’ll find a way to make him pay.
It might take me an entire lifetime, but I will see him suffer.
I hope he finds someone someday that he loves, I mean truly falls for, and I hope that person rips his heart right out of his chest.
There is no pain greater.
Death simply doesn’t bother a man like him, but love...well...love might just be what destroys him.
The door to the office creaks, and I slowly turn my head, my eyes still blurred. Bonnie stands there, with Western by her side – they are the last two people I would have expected to see. The two of them look at me, and then to Death. I know what I’ve done. They know what I’ve done. I killed a man. It’s my fault he’s dead. I should have turned away, but I truly thought he was going to kill me. That’s what he wanted, exactly how it was meant to go.
He wanted me to hate him so I could live my life free of guilt.
Now, I know that isn’t true. He was putting on a show to ensure I would kill him. He had accepted that his life was over, and he was content with it, so he decided to give me my freedom as his final parting gift. He did just that, but what he didn’t know, is that he was dealing with the world’s truest form of monster and that monster was never going to let me live without knowing exactly what went down. He wasn’t going to let me live without guilt.
“Honey,” Bonnie says, walking over, carefully squatting down beside me. “You’re hurt.”
I haven’t felt my foot, hell, I haven’t even looked down at it.
I don’t care.
My heart is just so damned broken.
“This isn’t how it was meant to end,” I say numbly, staring at Death. “My freedom was never worth this.”
“It’s okay,” Bonnie goes on. “We’re here now, we’ll help you.”
“You won’t help me. You all think I’m the devil. Maybe I am. I did kill him, after all. I killed my mother, too. It didn’t even upset me. Did you know that?”
Bonnie glances at Western.
He takes a step into the room. “You need medical assistance. You’ve lost blood.”
He reaches down for me, but I throw a hand up. “No. Leave me here.”
“Honey, if you don’t get help soon, you’ll lose too much blood. We can’t leave you here,” Bonnie explains.
“I don’t care,” I cry out, my voice shaky. “Don’t you see that? I don’t care. I don’t want help. I want to stay here. If you touch me, I’ll shoot.”
I reach for the gun still beside me, and I clutch it to myself.
Bonnie looks frantically at Western again. I don’t know what they share between them, but he nods and stands, walking out of the office. Bonnie doesn’t attempt to take me from the room again, but she does sit down and stare over at me, her eyes concerned. She’s too smart to come any closer.