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“Developing a soft spot for my first husband, Grey? Maybe regretting your decision to butcher him like an animal? It was beautiful work, I have to admit.”

Of course she would appreciate the blood and gore. She’s a monster just as much as I am.

“Not at all. I’ll never regret sending one more bastard to hell.” I meet her gaze, trying to sift out the predator who lurks behind those blue eyes. “But now I’m not so sure you don’t belong there with him.”

Her face lights with genuine glee, the smile on her lips the same one she’d wear when we’d sneak kisses ten years ago. “I knew you would figure it out eventually,” she gasps with excitement. “I just didn’t expect you to let the body count get so high.”

My blood turns to ice. “So it was you. The dead girls with the missing hearts.” It’s not a question because I already know the answer. I just need her to say it.

“Of course,mon chéri,” she purrs. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

“Blaise wasn’t for fun,” I snarl, hating how casual she is about taking an innocent life.

“Now who’s lying?” she asks as her smile turns sly. “I know you felt it too. That rush of heat that penetrates your core when the warm blood starts to slicken your skin. The power of holding their life in your hands and feeling it slowly fade out. You know, I came the first time I killed? Rode my bloody hand while the bitch spasmed and died beneath me.”

My stomach twists inside me. “You’re sick, Aurélie.”

“Sinners don’t get to judge, Grey. Your hands are just as dirty as mine.”

“Mine aren’t stained with the blood of innocents.” I may not have many lines I won’t cross, butthatis one of them.

“Who can really be the judge of innocence?” Aurélie scoffs. “Satine was a strung-out whore who needed pain to drown out all the times daddy hurt her. Collette was a selfish, petty bitch who bullied every person she could to compensate for her own boring insignificance. Sophie was a meddlesome old cunt who dragged you to a sex den full ofputesandpédésso that you would forget me. The world is no worsewithout them.”

My heart stops beating altogether.Sophie. “What the fuck did you do to Sophie?” I demand, my voice rising with each word until I’m practically shouting.

“Oh Grey, did you not figure that one out?” Her eyes twinkle with cruel delight as I’m forced to stare at the killer of my oldest friend. My first true family, apart from my sister. “I hear her heart just gave out, poor old thing,” Aurélie continues. “They never recovered it, you know.Her heart.”

“I will kill you.” It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.

“Oh I doubt that.” She leans against the table, framing her face with her red nails. “You see, if you try, I’ll come for everyone left that you hold dear.” She taps her nails against her cheek. “What about your sister and her sweet little girl? Elia, was it?”

“Stop,” I choke out, unable to clear my mind of the image of their faces lying amongst Aurélie’s carnage.

“Or there’s your beloved M at your filthy little sex club in Paris.”

“I swear to god?—”

“Or there’s your newest friend, Kara. From what I hear, I wouldn’t even be the first in line wanting to slit her pretty throat.”

“Fucking stop!” I shout, jolting to my feet and letting my chair fall to the floor. I don’t turn to see who’s noticed the scene. I don’t dare take my eyes off the blonde, apex predator in front of me.

“Or I could skip right to dessert,” Aurélie taunts, flicking her tongue over her lips. “Angélica tastes so sweet, doesn’t she?”

I see red, everything in my vision tinged in a bloody shade. “Don’t you fucking go anywherenearher.”

“Do you think the heart of the girl you’ve fallen for looks any different from the others? Or will it bleed red just the same?”

“You’ll never have the privilege of finding out,” I hiss.

“Oh please, that pastry whore is just a sad little knock-off ofme. Why waste time on the imitation when you can have the real thing?”

“No, Aurélie.Youhave been the one trying to steal her life for ten years. It was never meant to be you. It was always meant to beher.”

Aurélie’s sweet smile falters. “What do you mean? I know nothing of her. She was a nobody until she showed up at your restaurant eight months ago. Being close to you is the only thing that ever made her special.”

“No, Aurélie. That girl has been special her entire life, in more ways than you can even dream of. You stole her place ten years ago at Dix. She would have been mine then. Instead, I had to wait a goddamn decade to finally find her. You fucked with her fate, and I hope to God fate fucks you right back.”

It’s a moment before recognition flickers in her eyes. “The girl from Colombia?That’swho you’ve gone soft for?”