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WHEN EVIL FALLS

DIYA

L eaving Holland on the floor, I pushed myself to my feet, my breath unsteady. I winced when I took in a deep breath. The air smelled rotten.

I trailed my fingers along the cracked walls, looking around the tight space. There were no windows, no way to let the air or light in. On the rusted metal shelf were crates filled with packets of freeze-dried vegetables, cold meat, and pickles that had lost their shine. And there were more glass jars filled with spiders.

A bunker.

The place was ancient, and the walls hummed with things better left forgotten. No one knew this was here—except the ones who built it, and the monsters still crawling in and out of its shadows.

A perfect place to hide and kill.

I looked around, my stomach roiling. Walls stained with blood. A lone chair… like a throne made for someone to watch. Maybe she sat here watching as he raped them. A chain bolted to the floor. A stained mattress shoved in the corner like an afterthought.

This was their playground.

Where they kept their victims. Broke them. Played house with their pain.

I clenched my fists, breathing through my teeth.

These sick assholes.

The door above creaked, making my body rigid.

I stilled, my breath coming out in rage and relief. She was here. She stepped down the ladder like she owned the dark.

The bitch came here looking for a show, and I’d give her something worth clapping for.

“Holland, are you…” Ellis came to a halt when she saw the macabre art I had left for her. Her husband sprawled on his own blood, naked, bleeding from his male organs—well, minced organs, spiders moving in a frenzied line all over him.

It was glorious to see that look on her face.

He wailed, pathetically low, like a wounded animal when he saw her.

I laughed, shaking my head.

“Hi there, Ellis. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Her eyes narrowed as she took a step back from me, her body tensing.

“You’re good,” she said, her smile vacant. There was no anger in her voice, no fear. She looked like a perfect statue.

“You poisoned the girls. You kept him safe.”

Holland would’ve been caught a lot sooner if it weren’t for this bitch.

“Well…” she trailed off. “I love him.”

She gave a soft tut, and the disgust in her eyes when she looked at him now… said everything.

“You don’t. He loves you, but I don’t think you love him.”

“Is that the psychiatrist talking?” she asked, studying her green nails.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter whether you love him or not. You’ll both pay for your sins.”

I gripped the knife tighter as she took another step back.

“Well… what do they say? Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, you--”

Before she could finish, the trap door above the room creaked open again, and Layne jumped in, tackling Ellis to the floor with a shout.

“You fucking bitch.” She pulled Ellis’s blonde hair out of her perfect bun with a snarl. “I’ll make you fucking bald.”

Asher climbed down the rickety ladder, his eyes never leaving mine. I ran to him, and he pulled me in a hug, his body hard and warm around me, and I was finally home.

I sighed, taking in his scent. Warm and soothing. Home-baked cookies.

There would be no home for me without him, either. Even with Layne and Trina… I needed this man.

“Holy fuck, what did you do to him?” Asher whispered, his hands tightening around me.

“Nothing he didn’t deserve. Do you think Riley would love this?”

“She would. She would, Diya. I don’t know how to thank you.” His voice was hoarse. “Thank you.”

He pulled back and pressed a kiss to my lips.

“Here, it’s yours.” He gave me the anklet. “We found you because of this. Maybe it’s your mom that led us to you.”

I sighed when he pulled me closer to him again, his fingers digging into my skin, like he was afraid I’d disappear if he didn’t hold on tighter.

“I… God… I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t... Don’t scare me like that ever again.”

His fingers knotted into my hair as he took a deep breath, his nose pressed against my neck like he was trying to memorize my scent, my body.

“I was too.”

“I-I love you, Diya Sharma. Please, don’t ever leave me.” His voice was velvet, his body shuddering with fear and desperation.

And his words didn’t frighten me. Not anymore. They made me complete.

He loved me, and I trusted him to not hurt me.

“I love you, Asher Maddox, and I have no intentions of leaving you.” I looked at him with a smile, and he thumbed my lips with a soft sigh, his eyes turning dark.

“Aww, how romantic,” Layne drawled, her voice strained. Ellis was sitting on Layne, trying to punch my sister in her perfect nose. “But maybe save the confessions until after we deal with the homicidal bitch here?” Layne grunted, shoving Ellis off her stomach, and punching her in her mouth.

Ellis thrashed harder, wilder, screaming, cursing.

“Oh, come on!” Layne snapped, wrestling Ellis’s wrists down, slamming them against the concrete floor for good measure. “I have fought drunk assholes with better manners.” She sat on top of Ellis, and Ellis bucked beneath her, nearly knocking Layne off. Layne grabbed a fistful of Ellis’s hair, slamming her against the floor. Twice. “Jesus, she’s like a feral cat on meth. Hold still.”

“You said you love me,” Asher whispered, eyes wide.

“She did. You’re not going mad, but I am, Asher,” Layne said, panting. “I need help.”

I smiled at Asher with a nod.

“I did. I love you, Asher. I love you. And I’m going to fight for you…”

“You don’t have to. You already have me,” he whispered, eyes softer.

Layne’s hysterical laughter made me turn to her again. Her lips were bruised, but Ellis looked way worse.

“Anytime you two wanna stop eye-banging each other and maybe, I don’t know, help me tie this bitch up, that’d be super helpful!”

“Oh, and here…” Asher said, handing me a bag. “Layne brought this for you.”

I smiled.

“Come on. We have to help Layne before she decides to kill us instead.”

“You took your sweet fucking time,” Layne said, as we used the metal chains to shackle the rabid bitch to the only chair in the bunker. Her throne.

“I know you can take care of yourself,” I said to Layne.

“I’ll kill you,” Ellis hissed, baring her teeth. “I’ll rip your uterus right out before I choke you with…”

“This mannerless bitch.” Layne punched her right in her mouth as Ellis thrashed, screaming, cursing.

“Fight harder. There’s something oddly satisfying about breaking an animal that fights back,” I said with a satisfied smile.

She recognized that.

“I’ll bury you. Like I… did to all those bitches.”

“Your husband said that to me just before I took everything he treasured from him,” I scoffed.

“You won’t get away with this,” Ellis spat. “You’re nothing. You deserve to die like all the bitches who died before you.”

Layne punched her again, harder this time, making Ellis scream.

“Well, from where I’m standing, my chances of getting away are higher than yours,” I said, rubbing my hands together.

“Those ugly… useless…”

“Tch. Shut up. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say,” Layne hissed, pressing the knife under Ellis’s eyes, making her cry tears of red. “Your story isn’t important now.”

“Shall we do this then, Ellis?”

I pulled the vial filled with violet flowers from my pocket. “They’re so beautiful, aren’t they? You already know how beautiful poisons can be.

Ellis strained against the chain, shaking her head, cursing, screaming.

“You loved mercury, didn’t you? Now, I’ll do to you what you did to Riley, Millie, and all the other girls.”

I slipped on the gloves Layne had packed along with the poisons. One must be careful when dealing with such delicate flowers.

Ellis’s eyes widened.

“I won’t kill you,” I murmured, rolling the delicate, violet petals between my gloved fingers. “I’ll take something more important from you. Control. Power. He felt powerful when he raped them, and you—” I tilted my head, watching her struggle. “You controlled the powerful predator. You got high off of turning these girls into nothing but a tool. Something to use, something to control and break. And you watched him rape them, destroy them.” I wanted blood too. This time, I wanted more. “Did you watch them from this chair?”

She grunted.

“He wanted them, and I made him kill them.”

“So you’re just a jealous bitch?”

“I am—” Ellis started, and Layne punched her.

“We have heard enough. Like I said, your story is not important. You’re just as pathetic as him.”

“I’m not pathetic. Holland would have killed me at first, you know, but I made him my puppet. How could I match that?” She scoffed, looking derisively at Holland.

Her smile was full of unsaid horror.

Layne choked her, making her smile wider.

I crushed the petals, staining the gloves purple. “Aconitum,” I said. “It’s a neurotoxin. It won’t kill you. Not right away. But it will paralyze you. First, your fingers, then your arms, your legs, until you’re trapped in your own body. Like a fucking statue made of stone.”

Her breathing turned ragged, and her smile fell.

“You like control, Ellis?” I leaned in, my lips just by her ear. “Let’s see how you feel when it’s taken away from you.”

Ellis thrashed, her body twisting against the restraints as Layne pried her lips apart. Screams turned into gurgled gasps.

I shoved the petals past her teeth. She clamped her mouth shut, eyes blazing.

“Swallow it,” I hissed. She spat it. I gave Layne a look as I poured another dose. Layne pinched her nose closed with one hand, and pressed the other against her throat.

Her eyes widened in panic as she couldn’t breathe anymore. She swallowed, her eyes burning with desperation.

I fed her just enough aconitum to keep her trapped, not enough to kill. I wanted her to feel it, to feel the pain, the helplessness. I wanted her conscious, and aware. I wanted her to know exactly how powerless she was.

I wanted her to be afraid.

“That’s for Riley. You might have killed her, but she still won. Riley and Millie unraveled your perfect crime. They did it, one from beyond the grave and the other from the prison you made for her.” I laughed. “This… is justice.”

She coughed, her eyes darting from Asher’s to mine.

“Wh-what?” Ellis spat. I told her everything. Millie’s and Riley’s stories were more important than hers.

Oh, she deserved to hear it, every detail. How her perfect little crime had been torn apart by the very girls she’d used and discarded. How the predator had been outsmarted by her prey.

She looked like she’d just swallowed dynamite, ready to explode.

“Your lavender perfume, his watch.” I laughed as her eyes widened in desperation, in fear. She wasn’t so calm or collected anymore. Slowly, her prim mask slipped, revealing an animal fighting to stay in control. And losing.

“Let’s move on to the next one, shall we?” I asked, watching her panicked gasp. “This is belladonna.” I fingered the vial. It looked innocent. The liquid inside shimmered violet. A mix of nightshade and mistletoe.

Just a few drops. “To new beginnings and endings.”

The belladonna worked faster, and mixed with mistletoe... she would soon be deprived of oxygen.

Her body seized.

“You loved watching those girls die slowly, didn’t you? Now… watch yourself.”

Her eyes were locked in terror. Paralyzed. Broken. Alive.

She let out a strangled gasp, her eyes no longer filled with smug superiority.

“Does it hurt, Ellis? But I’m not done yet. This…” I grabbed my favorite poison. “It is foxglove.”

I looked at Asher. When he met my eyes, his eyes were full of satisfaction.

“It’ll increase your heart rate. Don’t worry. I’m giving just enough to make you suffer and not kill.” I fed her the foxglove as a wail left her.

Taking a step back from Ellis, I turned to Asher. “Go on, then. The kill is yours. And Asher… she killed Riley.”

His eyes snapped to mine. “What?”

“I don’t think Riley committed suicide. Yes, they tried to break her, but she held on. For you. So Ellis had to kill her. Holland told me she was tenacious.”

Something in him broke. I saw it.

He looked at Holland and Ellis, eyes burning, fists clenched at his sides. “She was waiting for me…” he whispered, broken. “I should’ve come back sooner.”

I gently rubbed his back. “Yes, but it’s her fault.”

“It was hard, wasn’t it? Carrying the guilt. Kill them, and you’ll feel better. Of course, you’ll always miss Riley, but you’ll remember the good times too,” Layne said, her voice soft, and he nodded.

“Looking at them like this… I know Riley would forgive me for abandoning her.” Asher blinked, walking toward Holland. He grabbed him by his hair before slamming his head against the floor. Once, twice. Holland opened his eyes and looked at Asher, and then closed his eyes again in resignation.

He knew.

“This is for my best friend, you pathetic asshole.” Asher plunged his beloved dagger into Holland’s right eye with a growl.

He screamed, and Ellis’s eyes widened as she watched.

“This is for trying to hurt the love of my fucking life.” Asher pushed the knife into Holland’s throat twice. Blood gurgled out in a steady stream.

Layne leaned her head against my shoulder.

“That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I know. God, I love him.”

“Yes, and he loves you.”