Page 121 of Caged

“Give me…my… ring,” I stammer, words now becoming difficult to form.

“Did you like it when I kissed you earlier?” the bitch continues to taunt. “I felt your stiff cock between my legs. It’s a shame you’ll never get to fuck me with it again.”

“Fuck you, Monroe,” I spit. This isnothow we were supposed to end. I was supposed to fuckingcatch her. I was supposed to have her again, fuck her again, call her mine again. Andthenkill her.

Failure sluices through my veins like ice, andI don’t fail.

“Shut… up,” I shake. “Shut up, you worthless cunt.”

“Worthless? Now there’s the Kieren Ionce loved,” she insincerely pouts. Her glinting, deep blue eyes mock me with sick delight, and at the intentional flaunt of her bygone love, I snap. Because she was always supposed to love me, no matter what I fucking did.Mine until the bitter end.

Pushed to the edge of my sanity, my vision begins to blur. My hand grabs her throat, my physical movements now disconnected from my brain, and I squeeze with as much strength as I have left. “Do it,” she begs, barely able to get a breath down. “Do it, you fucking pussy.”

Rage. My entire body floods with rage. I can’t see. I can’t stop myself from shaking. I’m losing control.

“Come find me in hell, Kieren, and when you do, I’ll give you a big fucking kiss.”

I don’t know if I did it. I don’t know if I pushed her, or if she slipped off the ledge of the footbridge, but in the blink of an eye, she’s gone.

Then I hear it, and the sickening crack of her body colliding with the still water of the lake swallows me, and all I had planned for my sweet puppy, whole.

EPILOGUE

MONROE

Two Months Prior to Present Day

Queens, New York

“That’s a strange mix of things you’ve got in your trunk,” my aunt Nikki comments as she circles the silver Audi A4 gifted to me by my step-cousins. It was the least they could do given all the work I did for them over the summer. To their credit, they gave me a decent amount of cash and a fuck ton of firearms, so I guess we’ll call it even.

“Guns, axes, knives of all shapes and sizes and a scuba suit with a full tank of oxygen. I didn’t know you knew how to scuba dive, Monroe?”

“You can learn how to do anything by watching a handful of YouTube videos,” I answer with a shrug as I rearrange the items in my trunk so the weapons are concealed under the false flap.

“Thanks for not telling my mom I was here all summer,” I say earnestly. I was certain the first phone call my aunt Nikki would make when I showed up on her doorstep would be to Otisville, but true to her word, she didn’t.

“Not my place. Not my business,” my aunt responds. “For what it’s worth, Monroe, I always found your mother to be rather hard on you, placing blame where blame wasn’t deserved.”

“That’s the understatement of the century,” I scoff. “She’s a raging narcissist who used me as bait to lure in new boyfriends.”

Aunt Nikki takes in my words as she studies her shoes. “She cares about you though, in her own way.”

“I doubt she knows how to care for anything or anyone other than her own needs,” I say, slamming the trunk shut as I walk around to the driver’s side door.

“Your cousins told me what you asked for, by the way. You planning to make a run for the border after whatever it is you’re doing with all that weaponry is done?”

“Something like that,” I say. The regret and sorrow in my voice gives my true feelings away. I always did wear my heart on my sleeve.

My aunt nods. “A clean slate. I understand. You did well this summer, you know? You’ll always have a place with us, if you want to continue exploring your talents. Your cousins were quite impressed. They said you’re a natural.”

I huff a laugh, unsure if I should take that as a compliment or if I should be seriously concerned about my ability to switch off my morality when the situation requires a bit of finesse.

“Will you come back and visit, or at least find a way to let me know you’re alive?” she asks.

I nod. I owe her that much for the kindness she showed me these last three months. My belly was always full, and I had a bed to call my own. Most importantly, I had freedom.

“You know my new name, right?” I ask.