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But we couldn’t hold them hostage forever. London knew that.
“There’s a body!” The faint words reached us from the riverbank. News crews snapped to attention. The red and blue lights sent sparks in my eyes as that faint voice cried out. “Oh, my GOD. It’s HAELSTROM HALE!”
“What. The. Fuck?” London’s eyes bulged.
We all moved, striding toward the growing commotion. They seemed to come out of nowhere, more news vans, more people.
“Move!” London barged a cameraman out of the way as he readied himself for the story of a lifetime.
“Hey!” the asshole responded.
But none of us cared, stepping down to where the dark water lapped the high river edge. Faint red and blue lights bounced off the surface of the dark water in a moody kaleidoscope. The sight froze me to the spot as the four police officers crowding the edge pulled something toward the bank.
“This can’t be happening.” The words slipped from my lips as they hauled a very bloated body from the water.
All my rage.
All my hate.
Directed at one man alone.
Now I felt…cheated.
“No fucking way!” Carven took a step forward before he turned to London. “So that’s it? HE’S GONE?”
Heads turned toward us.
I clenched my fists, my body shaking with uncontrollable rage. I wanted to launch myself toward them and slap that body across the face. Wake up! WAKE THE FUCK UP! He’s not dead. He can’t be…
“That’s it. It’s over,” Carven whispered. “He’s gone.”
I waited for someone to respond, for them to say ‘the fuck it is!’
But no one did.
“It’s Hale!” A woman cried out behind the detectives as they loaded the body onto a stretcher and hauled it up the embankment. “It’s Haelstrom Hale.”
I didn’t want to look at the body as they came closer, didn’t want to see that same fucking face that haunted my nightmares. But as the two officers headed past us toward the white coroner’s van, I found myself unable to look away.
Not him.
Not him.
I stared, finding the same face I’d seen so many times before. It was him. It was Haelstrom Hale. I turned away as my stomach clenched tight, driving acid all the way into the back of my throat.
No.
I lunged, tearing away from them, and stumbled forward in the dark.
“Vivienne?” London called.
But I couldn’t stop. I had to get away from them as fast as I possibly could. Acid burned in the back of my throat. I fell to my knees, stiffening my arms on the cold ground as I retched.
“Vivienne?” London was right beside me, dropping to rub my back. “Easy now.”
I shook my head as tears came once more. Why the fuck was I always crying? I didn’t want to cry. I wanted to shoot Haelstrom Hale in the head and beat his stiff corpse until my body was as numb as my mind.
Beep.
