AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The thought of him strangling her for speaking the truth sends emotions racing through my body I hadn’t prepared for. They overwhelm me. I can’t talk to him anymore. I can’t take his smell and his sound. I can’t listen to his pig voice speaking lies. I’ve heard enough. I want him gone. I want him dead.
My eyes close, and I reach into my pocket. My fingers close around the cool metal that will give me peace, and I whip it out of my pocket. Pulling the trigger, the gun blasts three times before meaty hands wrap around mine. I’m shoved so hard to the floor, I slide across the smooth concrete. Pain ricochets through my hip, and a strangled cry breaks from my throat.
“What have you done?” he whines in his pig voice.
Pushing against the floor, I sit up to see he isn’t dead. His arm is bleeding, but it appears that’s the only shot that hit him. Tears flood my eyes. I’m so stupid. I failed, and now he’s going to kill me.
“You tried to hurt me when all I want to do is love you!” He starts to pace, walking back and forth in front of me like a caged lion.
“You killed Ramona… you killed Grace. Admit it!” I might as well get my truth.
“Killed?” He lifts the gun, scrubbing it against his forehead. “What does that word even mean? There is no death. There’s only the next level in the game.”
My chin drops. My hip is throbbing, and I allow the sobs to wrack me. “You’re insane. You killed all of them. You raped and murdered those women…”
He charges to where I’m sitting and drops to his knees. I try to scramble back, but he grabs my face and forces me to look at him. “I loved those women!” he screams at me. “They only wanted money just like all of you!”
I’m trembling, and my cheeks are slick with tears. “So you murdered them.”
“I set them free.”
He shoves me away and returns to pacing, looking at the gun. He’s mumbling to himself, rubbing his forehead and repeating words over and over.
He stops and faces me again. “I wanted you. I wanted to keep you. You were supposed to be mine. Now I have to set you free.”
Tears keep streaming down my cheeks, but I’m not crying. I’m trying to think of a way out of this. I didn’t plan for failure, and now all I can think about is survival. I have to make it out of this. He can’t win.
Keeping my voice level, not attacking, I try to find an answer, a way to get the gun back. “What would you do if we were together?”
“No… no no no.” He shakes his head. “It’s all spoiled now. I can’t have you. You want to hurt me just like they did.”
“I understand you…” My voice cracks, and I rack my brain, trying to follow his twisted logic. “You came to me wanting money. I thought you had to go to the next level.”
His movements still. He lowers the gun and stares at me several long moments. I concentrate on smoothing my expression, making my eyes round, looking up at him as if I were still a child.
“You did?” He speaks in childish voice.
“Yes!” Oh God, it might be working… “You only wanted money. I didn’t know you really loved me. I understand now.”
He exhales, and his face crumbles as he starts to cry. “My beautiful Ava!” Dropping to his knees in front of me, he puts both hands on my shoulders. “I knew it was you. You were always the one.”
I’m pulled into a hug, and acrid body odor surrounds me. Breathing through my mouth, I count slowly to ten before I carefully say the words. “Put down the gun. I want you to love me again.”
His hands move down my body, and I hear the rattle of metal hitting conc
rete.
Chapter 27
Rowan
Circling the streets of Monagasco in the dark rain searching for a madman is a form of torture I’ve never experienced. We wait for a break in the clouds or any sign that Vega is still on the move and not somewhere in an alley or on the beach committing a crime.
My eyes go to the clock, and I see it’s ten. “Anything? Cal? Freddie? André?”
“He’s not here,” André answers.
Cal is next. “I’m walking into Café Steele. It’s the third bar I’ve checked, and still nothing.”
