Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Bad call.
Although now that I’m seeing Etta again in the flesh, it occurs to me that I might never have crossed paths with Meg if Etta hadn’t sent her to deceive me.
And that gives me pause.
Perhaps I’ll kill her fast, as a thank you.
Yes. Fast. That way, I can get back to my girl. Release her from the restraints.
Should I have chained her like that? My body has been in a state of shock since leaving her, as if my conscience is coming back to life more and more because of Meg. And now it’s the very thing making me feel like a fucking monster.
Do the job. Go home. Tend to her.
I’m going to give her a bath, feed her and finally figure out some clothes.
Maybe…maybe I’ll bring her to visit her family. I don’t know. I’m not sure yet. If she wants to return to them, I’m not sure I’d react well.
Stop thinking. Act.
Blade in hand, I step out of the shadows.
Etta catches the movement in her periphery and spins around with a gasp, backing into the kitchen and immediately reaching for a drawer.
“The gun isn’t there, Etta. You taught me better than that.”
She scoffs. “I have more than one weapon.”
“They aren’t there,” I enunciate slowly. “Anyway, we both know I could throw this knife end over end and bury it in your jugular before you manage to open that drawer.”
The jugular in question shifts with a heavy swallow. “Why are you here?”
“You know why I’m here. Her.” My stomach sinks with indescribable love. “Meg.”
Silence stretches. “Who?”
“I’ve decided to kill you quickly for sending her to me. Play dumb with me again and I won’t be so kind.”
Her face is white as a ghost. “You would kill the closest thing you have to a mother?”
“You’re not the closest thing I have to a mother. A mother doesn’t turn her son into a killing machine.” I flip the blade over in my hand. “I had someone closer to a mother. You had me kill her grandson while she slept upstairs. You’re the real monster.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes. “That’s why you left.” She pauses, looking me over thoughtfully. “And now you’re going to kill me over some overzealous child who is too mouthy for her own good?”
Her words only inspire a searing affection inside of me. “Yup.”
Etta tilts her head and glee flits across her face, making my blood turn to ice. I know that look. She knows something I don’t know. “Do you truly love Meg, then?”
“Yes,” I respond, raggedly. She’s chained on my floor—
“Then you better hurry.”
It doesn’t occur to me until that moment that I never asked Meg why.
Why she deceived me.
What was the threat that caused her to do it?
She tried to tell me at the train station, but…I cut her off, didn’t I? Drowned her out with my fear of her leaving me? Not loving me as she claimed?
Oh my God.
Acid shoots from my belly to my throat, choking me.
She’s chained on my floor.
She’s…
I let her down. I’ve failed her.
She told me everything and I didn’t fix anything.
“I gave her a week to convince you to return to work, but once I saw the way she looked at you tonight, I knew she’d never send you back to this dangerous world. Women who look at men like that only want to keep them close. Keep them safe. She is no use to me. And you know how I do things, Koen. I don’t waste time once I make a decision.” She taps her chin with her index finger. “I wonder if she’ll love you back when all of her siblings and father die in a house fire while you were standing here chitchatting with me.”
The knife slicing through the air can’t be heard over my bellow of denial.
Meg
The house is already on fire by the time I arrive.
It’s not fully engulfed yet, but fire is flickering quickly up one side, as if following a trail of fuel, like kerosene. I’m out of breath after hitchhiking to town, which was dangerous in itself, then sprinting the remaining mile. But I’m not too late. I’m refuse to be too late.
I run for the front door, my knees nearly buckling with relief when I find it open and I run inside, already formulating a game plan. Upstairs first—
Footsteps coming up the porch turn me around and I catch the barest glimpse of a man’s nondescript face…right before he slams the house door shut, closing me inside. Panic clogs my throat and I lunge, trying the handle, but…it doesn’t turn. It won’t turn! He’s put something beneath it to prevent anyone from exiting the house. In my haste to find a different means of egress, I look around and realize…
Boards have been hammered over all the windows.
Dizziness hits me hard, and I stagger back, but I don’t lose hope completely. No. There has to be a way out. But first, I must alert everyone to the fire. They’ll help me execute my plan, whenever one occurs to me. Better think fast.