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Chapter Seventeen

Tessa

I pull open the door, pausing at the threshold. For an awful moment, I imagine my dad standing right outside the door, listening to my call this whole time, but all I find is air.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling through my nose, I pray that I’m not shaking too hard and that he won’t take one look at my ashen face and know everything.

I can do this . He doesn’t appear to be armed. He has a terrible hacking cough and even looked ill.

I step back into the living room and find him standing with a hanky pressed to his nose and holding the remainder of his glass of water out away from his body like it might have feces in it.

Something else raises the hairs on my nape. His smile is the cruelest I’ve ever seen.

I don’t have time to process what he’s doing, all I feel is the chill running down my spine. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt that he has a sinister agenda tonight.

…if I go and Tessa asks those questions, he’ll play those deadly games again.

I may not have read the journals, but I remember that line from the first time Warner told me about reopening the case.

Praying that my voice doesn’t betray my terror, I say, “Sorry about that. Work has been quite hectic the past couple of weeks, and now, I’ve just been asked to deliver a report first thing Monday. I’m going to need some coffee so I can get right to it. Do you want one?”

Without waiting, I start toward the kitchen, but his cold voice stops me.

“Work, huh? You little whore. That was King on the phone, wasn’t it? You’re going to meet him tonight after I leave, aren’t you? You’re going to tell him everything we discussed.”

I break out in a cold sweat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You think I don’t know that you’re spreading your legs for that shitstain King, just like your mother did. I asked you if anyone else had the journals, and you said no. Well, he’s got it, and he plans on using it.”

Shit, how does he know? Did the detectives tell him? “I have no idea how he got it,” I deny.

He only shakes his head, anger causing his face to turn red and lines to wrinkle his forehead.

“All the while, everyone thought I was the only one cheating. But for eight good years, Black fucked my wife. Way more than I ever did. Even after I killed him, she never stopped wanting him. Dreaming of him. Moaning his name. Imagining I was him whenever I was inside her. Did you know that Ciaran means black?”

I’m rooted to the spot, trying hard to remember what I should do.

Okay, kitchen, backdoor, outside.

I start to back away, slowly, but he follows, still talking all the while.

“And then, you saw Black’s identical twin, and you became obsessed with him. You stopped being daddy’s girl, and like a bitch in heat, you started panting after a man twice your age. When you gave him a lap dance in full-view of the whole town, I knew then that you and your mother were both possessed with Black’s evil. And I knew what I needed to do.”

I’m speechless. He saw me that night on the pier? And he waited this long to say anything?

“Only, you ran away, didn’t you? Did he tell you to go? What was it that fucker said to make you leave town that night?”

I back away faster, but as if he knows what I might do, he goes around the island in three quick strides and blocks the back door with his body before he starts to advance on me.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice high with fear, as he gets even closer to me.

“Something I should have done a long time ago.”

Run! I turn back to the living room, hoping to get out through the front door instead.

Before I can fully turn away, however, he just tosses the water remaining in his glass at me. It hits me square in my face.

What the hell! Water sprays up my nose, and a horrible, pungent smell fills the air.

I scrub at my face frantically. “Acid! Oh, my God, Dad, you threw acid on me!”

He starts to laugh maniacally, even as the room feels lighter and begins to wobble.

“Acid would be eating through your flesh by now, my darling, dumb bitch. No, this is much better. It’s untraceable. Completely degrades in fifteen minutes. But even more fascinating is the things it makes you want to do. Interestingly bizarre things, like flying down the balcony to meet your waiting lover.”

“Oh, God.” My vision darkens, and I can no longer see his face, but I still am faintly processing what he’s saying.

“Or take a swim in the freezing-cold Lake Orange,” he adds. “You, though,” he says, and his voice sounds like it’s coming from a great distance, like an echo, “you’ll want to have a nice, warm, and relaxing soak because you’re tense, aren’t you?”

As I try to make sense of what’s happening, he continues, “It means you won’t show up for your booty call tonight, so King will have to come and find his little whore naked and waiting for him. Too bad you won’t be breathing anymore.”

Suddenly, I want nothing more than to have a bath. But it doesn’t make sense to do so right now because I need to leave the apartment, even though I can’t remember why.

I fight the feeling for as long as I can, but it’s too strong. Resisting that insane desire drains so much energy out of me until I’m left with no more strength.

Finally, after what feels like ages, but it may only have been seconds, I give in to the insane urge. I start to walk out of the kitchen. Immediately, an intense feeling of peace envelopes me, rewarding my capitulation.

Everything appears pitch-black, but the way to my bathroom is lit like a beacon, drawing me closer. I make my way as though moving through molasses, my only thought about how soothing the water will feel around me.

I fill the tub, checking the water temperature. It has to be warm , I say to myself.

I can no longer hear my dad’s voice behind me, only blissful silence and a deep-seated fulfillment in doing what needs to be done.

I don’t want to remove my clothes, as it seems like too much hassle when all I long for is the feel of the warm water surrounding me, but I find myself physically unable to skip that crucial step.

With great effort, I peel off all of my clothes and finally slip into the warm, welcoming depths of the water, feeling the last of my doubts melt away.

I can’t wait for him to get here. Nathan’s gorgeous face with his slight smirk is the last thing I see before I’m drawn into a peaceful sleep.