“Just like your most recent victim, Dale Riley.”
I blink hard against the building ache behind my eyes, begging the world to right itself. “No,” I say. “Riley transferred out of the program.”
But then a memory surfaces of me standing in front of my office with Warden Marks as we discussed Riley’s removal from the program—and a sharp pain spears my head.Riley’s dead, Marks says.No no no no?—
A twisted smile steals across Grayson’s face. “Is that what you call it? Transferring out. I like it.” He trails his thumb over my lips. “You’re exceptional, London. The way you’re able to not only lead a professional life, but thrive in it. Everyone around you, the whole world, invested in your lie. The truth is, Riley put a bullet through his head. He stole an officer’s gun and put it right here—” he props two fingers under his chin “—pow.”
I jerk my head sideways, unable to look into the diabolical beauty of his pale blue eyes any longer.
“You see, London. Now that you’ve been shown the truth, you’ll never see the lie again. You’re liberated.”
“Liberated,” I echo, a hollowness settling deep inside me, recalling when I desired so desperately to feel just as liberated as Grayson. This can’tbe the result.
“No one understands you better than I do,” he murmurs. “No one knows you more intimately, could love you more passionately.” He strokes my cheek, then lays his hand gently over mine, tracing the inked scar along my palm. “We even mark ourselves the same way, our kills carved into our flesh.”
I swallow. “We’re not. I’ve only taken one life.”
He lifts an eyebrow, amused. “You’ve taken six lives, love. Not with your own hands, you break their minds, plant dark seeds and help them grow, until your victims have only one choice.” He swipes the knife from the table. “We are exactly the same.”
My eyelids feel too heavy to hold open. I let them fall shut as a dizzying sensation sweeps me toward some distant, higher plane of consciousness. If I let Grayson kill me—if he takes my life right now—I won’t ever have to face this horrifying truth again.
It can all stop right here.
A sudden movement jolts me back to the present. There’s a sharp tearing sound, and my arm is set free as the thread is sliced away. My eyes fly open as Grayson uses the knife to cut the binding from my other wrist.
Then he presses the knife into my hand.
“You’ve been denying yourself the honesty of who you are,” he says, his eyes animated, wild. “And I’ve been weak. I have as much to answer for as you. My victims didn’t deserve the mercy I showed them…giving them a choice to redeem themselves. We were put here for one reason alone, designed for one purpose. Now that we’ve found each other, we don’t have to follow their rules anymore.”
I stare up at him, a beautiful, dark god towering over his own insane creation. “You’re absolutely mad.”
His smile is shattering. “I can’t wait for you to join me.”
I grip the knife, adrenaline surging through my veins.
“But it is your choice, London,” he says. “After this, thereare no more choices. This is the final one—the one that determines us.”
I stare into the darkness, then turn my gaze to him. A restless anticipation coils through my chest. “What are my options?”
He leans against the table, his gaze cast into that dark void. “Before I was taken into custody a year ago, I was stalking someone. He was going to be my next victim.” His eyes meet mine. “Now he’s yours. My gift to you.”
The screaming may have stopped, but with a shock of frightening awareness, I now know who they belong to. “No, Grayson, please. You can’t make me do this. I won’t play your sick, twisted game.” I throw the knife down, furiously emphasizing my point.
“So you’re going to go back to your life and…what?” he demands. “Confess your misconduct? Lose your license and possibly even serve a prison sentence?”
No, I refuse to suffer the way the filth beneath me does.I shake the thought away.
“I didn’t think so.” He picks up the knife and places it in my grasp once more. “So choose, London. After everything we’ve uncovered, everything you now know, do you think you’re above taking a life?”
“Yes.”
A devastating smile lifts his lips. “Let’s find out.”
He faces the darkness. “You have until morning to decide,” he tells me. “Free yourself of the string, run the maze, and make your choice. You can either set our victim free through rehabilitation, or you can take his life.”
Oh, god.
“Begin.”
