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I hug the mask to my chest. Pinch my eyes closed, lie on my side, and curl into a ball.

A few deep breaths, and my brain finally, blissfully, shuts down.

Tomorrow will be better.

Tomorrow, I’ll be stronger. I won’t feel any of this.

Hopefully, with Kaleb far, far away from here.

As much as I want him, as much as I need to confront this fear, he can’t be here.

Truthfully, I don’t care whether he kills me or not.

I care about him.

He can’t risk getting caught again.

After years of wrongful imprisonment, Kaleb Leo Blackwood deserves to be free.

4

KALEB

Crazy. Volatile. Violent.

A murderer.

My mother always knew what I was. Shiloh’s dad called me that and more to my face. The few idiots who waited for me outside the courthouse were equally creative.

Not Dr. Reynolds. He calls meinteresting.

His special mask-wearing patient. My blatant lack of remorse for killing two innocents.

Or so the rest of the world had believed before Shiloh’s dad swept the story under the rug.

Why wouldn’t they? No charges were ever pressed against the kids who assaulted Shiloh. NDAs were signed, preventing everyone involved from ever speaking about it. The two boys and my stepsister were dismissed.

Imagine my wrath. At Shiloh’s dad. At the kids who made her feel so small. Soinsignificant.

After two weeks of the so-calledinvestigation, the charges were dropped.

Boys will be boys.

Her dad would’ve paid for it with his life if I’d had more time. If I hadn’t been focused on killing her attackers first and watching after her every other waking minute.

Until the police arrived, she cried herself to sleep every night. She clung to me at home and couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder.

She needed me. And I let her dad live. Temporarily.

Anyway.

Calling those kids innocents? What a load of crap.

As soon as Shiloh stepped into the house with her red-rimmed eyes. With her tormented gaze.

When the first tear slipped.

I knew.