Page 8 of Chasing After You

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I needed something. Anything.

My hand found the lamp on Daniel’s desk before my mind even registered it. Ceramic. Heavy.

I swung it.

Hard.

The sickeningcrackresounded around the room.

Daniel slumped sideways immediately. A strange, wet wheeze came from his mouth before he crumpled to the floor beside Dorian—his body dead weight, his chest still.

Dorian sucked in a desperate breath, coughing as he rolled onto his side, hands gripping his throat. I dropped the lamp, my hands trembling violently.

“ I-oh my god—I didn’t mean—” My knees hit the floor. “I didn’t—he wasn’t—he was going tokillyou, I had to—Oh my god…”

“Josh,” Dorian rasped, eyes wide with a strange mix of fear and gratitude. “It’s okay. You saved me. He was going to—he was actually going to—”

But then the office door slammed open.

Victoria stood there, her silk robe flowing around her legs, a look of absolute horror frozen across her face. She stared at her husband’s crumpled form… then slowly turned to look at me.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My throat was thick with panic.

“I’ll call 911,” I managed to gasp out. “ I-I have to—he might still be—”

“No.” Her voice was sharp. Unfeeling.

“What?”

She stepped inside, her gaze never leaving the blood on the floor. “Put that down. Don’t touch anything else.”

“Ikilledhim,” I whispered. “Victoria, please—call someone.Please.”

“I said no,” she snapped, suddenly composed. She looked at me like she was sizing me up. Calculating. “Come with me. Now.”

“But Dorian—” I reached toward him instinctively, and she raised a hand like she might slap me.

“Now, Joshua.”

Dorian tried to speak, but his voice was still shot, his mouth opening in slow protest as Victoria yanked me out of the room by the arm and down the hall into one of the sitting rooms. She shut the door behind us with a softclick, sealing us in like a vault.

I stood there, shaking. “Are you going to call the police? You gotta—”

“No.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“Good.”

My head snapped up. “What?”

“I saidgood,” she repeated. She moved to the bar cart in the corner and poured herself a drink with steady hands, completely unbothered. “You did something I’ve fantasized about for fifteen years.”

“I don’t—w-what are you talking about?”

Victoria sipped her drink and let out a sigh of what could only be described asrelief. “Daniel was a tyrant. A charming, polished, well-connected tyrant. And now he’s gone.”