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So it’s easier to act as if he’s one of the guys and not the man who’d been my obsession.
I fell for a serial killer. I couldn’t have hurt myself more.
A man who kills cannot be the one I choose as mine. I’ve experienced firsthand what men like him do.
“Sense of humor. I have to say I admire it over hysterics.” Santiago toasts his drink to me before taking a sip from the bottle. “Makes it more entertaining compared to constant begging and pleading.”
“You should have picked a different hobby than killing people if you wanted to be more entertained,” I deadpan. “Victims tend to plead and beg in hopes of finding the good in evil creatures.”
“Ah, I love it.” Florian sighs. “Calling someone evil without actually calling someone evil to their face. That’s a talent right there.”
“I wasn’t trying to be subtle.”
“Not much forward either,” he points out while I slide to the side, testing the chains imprisoning me and judging by the waves they make, they must be long.
Enough to drag me around the room if they so wished, but not enough for me to dart to any tables and grab a weapon to protect myself.
When one deals with a serial killer, they must always be alert as their moods change like the wind. You never know which storm might be your last.
And I haven’t survived all the shit in my life to be killed by these entitled assholes!
“Look at me,” Octavius orders. “Isla, look at me.” Taking a deep breath into my lungs, I gather all the strength I have and place it like a shield over my heart that breaks anyway when our gazes collide, the air hitching in my lungs at the connection still lingering between us, electricity nipping at my skin while I know better. “You’ve made a big mistake.”
“Yes. I know.”
We stare at one another, and I tense when he comes closer. I scoot back, only for my groan to reverberate through the space when he tangles his fingers in my hair and pulls at it so hard, it adds to my hurt as if thousands of needles pierce into my scalp. “You betrayed me.” Fury coats his words akin to the one spreading in my chest because his touch has been nothing but gentle.
And now it brings me pain, although it’s overshadowed with the one flaring in my heart.
A hysteric laughter bubbles up inside me and erupts before I can stop it while the absurd situation registers in my mind. “I betrayed you? No, Octavius. You betrayed me,” I whisper, wincing when he angles my head a little, and we share a breath. “You’re a murderer.” How could he have done this to me?
Although that’s a rather stupid question, isn’t it?
Serial killers are psychopaths incapable of caring about anyone but themselves.
“Yes, a murderer who you chased all over Chicago for months.” Shame fills my entire system. Octavius clearly won’t hold back any punches. “I told you to stay away, and you didn’t listen.” I hiss through my teeth when he pulls me harsher until I get up, and to my surprise, the chains allow me some movement. “Now you have to face the consequences of your decisions.” An odd note laces his tone, but I have no time to examine it. “You see, kitten. Those who cross us don’t live for long.” Is he actually threatening me?
Swallowing, I raise my chin and slap his arm away, although it does nothing to loosen his grip on my hair that might be nonexistent at the end of this conversation. “I called Noah. We’ve worked together on a case.” That’s a huge stretch, of course. Agent Noah is a well-known profiler with a whole team to deal with, and we know each other because they helped us catch a serial child predator by giving his psychological portrait. There was a kidnapping, and we had less than twenty-four hours to find the kid alive. Still, I think he’ll make time for me. “He’ll help me. You can’t kill me.”
I expect any kind of reaction to my bluff threat. Truth be told, I’m not sure they give a fuck about any evidence and probably can cover up any crime they wish with their money and power.
However, I blink in shock when amusement flashes in his deadly orbs and several chuckles ring in the air, indicating his friends share his sentiments. “Kitten, if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” He points with a finger behind me, and I twist a bit to see a huge-ass thing behind me. I’m confused as hell about what it is until he explains and my stomach flips several times as the bile rises up again. “I’d cremate your body, and there would have been only ashes to remember you by.”
Oh my God.
How pathetic and tragic it is that this man has been inside me as I gave myself to him, yet he’s the one who’s hurt God knows how many people? “What do you want then?” I challenge him, refusing to show him how scared and devastated I am right now because monsters are attracted to blood.
He cannot see he made me bleed as denying him satisfaction is my only weapon right now. “Your call alerted Noah that you know something about the Four Dark Horsemen. He might investigate us, and he has enough legal power to do so.” I shift, trying to free myself from his grip, but he only pushes me closer until my chest brushes against his, electricity zapping between us at the contact, and I huff in disgust. He tilts my head again farther. “They’ve wanted to put us behind bars ever since we killed that fucker.” I guess that’s what he calls his stepfather, and while, according to reports, he has never been overly affectionate with Octavius, they had no right to kill him! “The process promises to be difficult for everyone involved. I know Noah well; he’ll go into the war if he thinks he has the evidence to back up his claims. He’s a man of honor.”
A surreal moment to me because I’ve never heard a serial killer have any respect for law enforcement, let alone FBI agents.
Actually, this whole situation is surreal to me, and the fact that I’m acting so calm impresses even me. “Yes. So he won’t rest either.”
“He will ask you to testify everything you know. You’ll be their main witness, right?”
Realization hits me at once. I didn’t even think about it.
Of course.
