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From his tone I assumed he already knew the answer to his question. I suddenly felt as if I were being tested. I shook my head again, slowly.
“Forgive me, but I’m mildly fucking confused.” He rolled his bottom lip and squinted at me.
“Let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly. You found a freezer full of body parts in my basement and instead of calling the police you…” he tilted his head. “What exactly are you doing?”
That was a good question. I didn’t know what I’d hoped to accomplish by confronting him. I could have easily phoned the cops the moment I woke up.
Quite honestly the whole thing felt almost like a dream. If it weren’t for the pain between my legs and the rawness of my throat, I would’ve thought it was.
But that wasn’t the reason I hadn’t called. The truth of the matter was, I wasn’t afraid or upset about what I’d found. My fear and apprehension stemmed from the mere fact that I could be next. I was horrified Meg had been.
He’d never mentioned where she was buried. I hadn’t seen an urn.
“I-I don’t know,” I finally admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yeah, I figured as much.” He moved across the room in confident strides, coming right towards me.
“What are you doing?” I stood taller, moving further down the wall.
“Making you show me this freezer you’re so certain I have.” He walked up and took hold of my wrist, practically dragging me from the great room.
“I don’t want to go down there!” I protested.
“What is the alternative, Cat? Stay in a perpetual state of terror and huddled against my wall all damned night?”
We rounded the island and approached the basement door.
Keeping one hand on my wrist, he brought his other up and placed his thumb on the keypad.
There was a beep and the device on the wall flashed green.
“What’s going on?” Demetri’s cultured voice came from somewhere behind us.
“Catalina thinks I’m harboring body parts in my basement.”
There was a disbelieving scoff in response. Alaric pushed open the door and descended the stairs, being careful not to make me fall. At the bottom, he released his hold on my wrist.
The room opened, looking exactly the way it had before. Only the desk was more of a rustic brown than mahogany and the chairs positioned in front of it weren’t the same. I glanced in the direction the OR had been. My stomach hardened, words failing me.
There were no additional parts of the room.
The entire wall was a massive bookcase going from floor to ceiling, full of different volumes.
“So, where’s this freezer of horror?” Alaric questioned. The dry sarcasm was impossible to miss.
I shook my head and walked towards the bookshelf, searching for some kind of switch or something.
Catching on to what I was doing, Alaric chuckled under his breath. “This isn’t an episode of Scooby-Doo, you’re not going to find a mysterious secret passage.”
“No, no it was here. You know it was here!” I argued.
“Cat, it’s okay,” he spoke softly. From my peripheral I saw him nearing as if I were a wild animal he didn’t want to provoke.
I whirled away and turned to face him head on. “Then we didn’t…You…?”
“We didn’t…?” he left me to fill in the blank.
I scrubbed a hand over my face trying to gain some clarity, catching the lingering scent of my sex all over my fingers. What the fuck? Had I done this to myself? Feeling Alaric’s penetrating stare, I brought my arms down, diverting my gaze to the floor.
“I-I need some air.”
I rushed past him and up the basement stairs, ignoring his call for me to stop. I exited the kitchen and cut through the great room to get out back, bypassing the bar and pool for the stretch of beach.
I pulled my mom’s number up as I walked, not considering the hour and time difference.
She didn’t answer.
I hung up just as I reached the sand. Maybe that was for the best.
How could I have explained what I’d done? I wrapped my arms around my middle, staring out at the endless stretch of sea. The water was as dark as my mood.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I watched her from doorway, wondering if I should send Demetri to bring her back in.
She didn’t appear to be trying to drown herself in the ocean. That was always a good thing. I’d been there done that before and would rather not have to put up with it again. Besides, she couldn’t die until I decided to be done with her, which was becoming more and more apparent I never would be.
There was something inside her that called to something in me. It was beautifully sinister and craved the pain I needed to give. She’d let me see the smallest glimpse just before she passed out with my hands around her throat.
