Page 319 of The Heart You Kept

From the corner of my eye I see the post delivery truck, he pulls up at the marina and begins to walk along the yachts as he hands out the mail.

“You okay, man?” Thomas says softly from behind me.

I nod, unable to push a lie through my lips.

I’m as far from okay as physically possible but I won’t rest until I bring her home.

Where are you, Doe?

“Thank you,” I hear someone say from down below.

“Can I get you anything?” Thomas asks.

“No.”

“I’m worried about you,” he replies.

“I’m worried about me,” I murmur, my gaze still out the window.

“Mr. Prescott.” I hear someone walking up the stairs. “You have a delivery from the casino, sir.”

“Put it in my office.”

“It’s marked urgent.”

“Just leave it here,” Thomas tells him. He puts it on the table and disappears down the stairs. “Do you want me to open this?” Thomas asks.

I keep staring out the window, battling to find the will to breathe.

I hear packaging unwrap. “Huh?” Thomas frowns. “What is this?”

I turn and see him unwrapping a box, inside it another box and inside that another box.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention and I walk over to the table and take over from him. I open the final box and plastic wrap sits on top, I peel it back to see a lump of meat covered in blood, there’s a vine wrapped around it.

“What the fuck?” There’s a laminated card sitting within it and I pick it up, blood drops off it onto the floor.

The Heart You Kept

“Oh my god,” Thomas gasps. “No.”

“I don’t understand,” I whisper. “What…is this….”

“It’s a human heart.” He cuts me off. My eyes flick up to him. Thomas is a doctor, he would know this.

I stare at it as I connect the dots.

My eyes widen, dear god.

The heart I kept was Alora’s….

The earth moves beneath me as I stare at the card, my hand covered in blood…her blood, and I grab the table to stop myself from falling.

She’s dead.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

THOMAS