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Removing the cap, Myla stabbed the needle into the deltoid muscle of Dante's arm and injected him with a paralytic to numb him from the neck down. She didn't want him running away from the pain she planned to deliver. Straddling his waist, Myla smiled at the thick fluid and blood seeping from Dante's ruined eyes. As if she were a surgeon she cut the thin flesh to remove Dante's entire eyelid.

“Gotta remove these lids. I wouldn’t want these peepers to grow back,” Myla said insanely as she used the tools in Dante’s small manicure kit to inflict maximum damage. Myla had clearly lost her mind. His tortured screams were music to her ears, and the fuel she needed to keep going.

“I lost everything because of you. But guess what—I won’t be the only one losing,” Myla whispered as she began the process of sending a Helgard to hell.

EPILOGUE

Breaking News

I’m Ivory Addison reporting live from the former home of Sheik Mohammad Al Hasheim. The home was abandoned by the homeowner and condemned by the state due to lead-based paint and asbestos.

However, according to Dr. Myla Pleasant, her boyfriend, Dante Helgard, resided in the home. It was she who called the authorities and informed them that the home was engulfed in flames when she arrived.

When firefighters sifted through the rubble, the remains of Dante Helgard were not found. A look into Mr. Helgard’s past shows that he has been tied to several real estate fraud cases. In addition to that, Mr. Helgard was the suspect in the fire that killed his brother and grandmother over twenty years ago.

At this time, Dante Helgard is considered a person of interest and not a victim. We’ll keep you updated when we receive more details on whether the fire that consumed the uninhabitable home at 725 Windsor Wellington Estate Drive was arson or merely an accident. The only thing we know for sure at the moment is that Dr. Pleasant is not suspected of assisting Mr. Helgard with starting the fire.

Eunice sat at her desk in silence. After watching the breaking news, she didn’t quite know what to do with the emotions she was now feeling. Never in her entire career had she paused a session to view a video, but Myla had insisted.

“Myla, why did I need to see that? What did you do?” Eunice asked nervously as she looked up and into Myla’s face. She was stunned when she saw a smile. Myla was beaming with pride.

“What did I do? I did what needed to be done,” Myla said nonchalantly. She looked at her chewed and ragged nails as if they were a brand-new acrylic set. Before meeting Dante, she was never a nail biter, but now, it was one of her favorite bad habits.

“The recorder that you use; turn it off,” Myla ordered. Her voice was now sharper than it was when she came in for her session.

Eunice hesitated.

“Turn. It. Off!” She paused menacingly between each word. “The one under your desk, turn that off too!” Myla ordered. The large hunter’s knife that she pulled seemingly from thin air put a pep in Eunice’s step.

“Ok. Everything is off. What does that mean?” Eunice asked. She looked calm, but the tremor in her voice gave away the fact that she was truly uneasy. In all the years she had known her, she had never seen this version of Myla.

Myla smiled at Eunice as if she were deranged. For the first time ever, Eunice was afraid of her protégé.

“Dr. Pleasant, I understand that the things you endured over the last six months may have broken you, but please don’t do anything hasty. Let’s do what we do best; let’s talk,” Eunice said. She hoped that referring to Myla by her professional title would make her reconsider whatever she’d planned to do; it did not.

“Oh, I plan to talk. I don’t plan on going to jail. I lost everything because of Dante. I do not plan to lose my freedom. You asked what I did. Well, I guess you can call me Myla-Tov Cocktail,” Myla joked, then burst into laughter at the similarities between her name and Molotov cocktail.

Eunice was horrified. This was not what she expected to hear from her former protégé. Especially since Ivory Addison’s breaking news said Myla hadn’t been suspected of being involved. There was only one thing that Eunice could ask.

“H’uh?”

“If you can, h’uh, you can hear, and you heard me just fine. But just in case your comprehension brain and active listening ears don’t work, I said I did everything the news didn’t suspect. Dante was the devil, so I sent his ass back to hell,” Myla said jovially.

She watched as Eunice’s knees buckled slightly under her weight as she gripped the table to support herself.

“You’re forgetting your counter transference training, Eunice, or do you prefer to be called EU Belong 2 ME?”

Eunice felt her stomach sink at the mention of her dating app’s profile name. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. The only thing she could do was stare at the large knife that appeared to be stained with old blood. For over a year she had been one of the many women that Dante kept in rotation. Unlike the others, she had been willing to pay for his time.

“Myla, I-I didn’t know that you were—”

“Save it, Eunice. As I said, I just came to talk to my therapist. You know, unburden myself and clear my conscience. I knew that once I left my burdens at your door, my secrets were safe with you." Myla smirked.

Eunice cringed. She couldn’t help but feel that there was more to Myla’s visit.

“Myla, I’m confused. Did you really come here to unburden yourself, or did you only come here to brag because you knew I’d be obligated to keep this secret for personal reasons?”

Myla leaned in and whispered as if she were telling a secret.