Page 42 of Dangerous Deviance

—into pieces.

“I’m fine,” I said, though I knew I was anything but. Just when I thought I had it under control, the voice was stronger now. I knew this wasn’t over. I had almost trusted Wil. Almost thought I could work with him. As a team. Imagined us as a normal couple.

Cut him like he cut her.

I forced a smile, and that seemed to relax him. His shoulders loosened, though he still watched me.

“You need ibuprofen? Acetaminophen? Something stronger?” he asked.

I shook my head. No. I needed his head on a platter.

But this wasn’t the same Wil as the voice had said it was. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t be responsible for her death.

But he is. He killed your sister.

I followed him to the table, and it was as if my body was someone else’s and I was watching myself go through the motions. What was left of my breakfast was scattered on the table and floor: some of the eggs and potatoes, a bite of toast, a quartered strawberry.

“What happened?” I asked.

Hack his body—

“I should be asking you that question. You don’t remember?” he asked. I shook my head. “You started screaming, grabbing your head.”

“A bad headache,” I mumbled.

His forehead scrunched up. “Sure,” he said.

—so that he’ll never come back.

I kneeled down, picking up a chunk of strawberry. Wil shook his head. “I’ll pick it up later,” he said. Red juice marked its spot on the floor, like a chalk outline at a crime scene. Like a warning.

The image of her chopped up body surfaced in my mind: the blood on the ground, soaking into the earth. Her eyes gazing to the sky, never to see again.

—so that he’ll never kill again.

Wil put our plates and mugs on the kitchen counter. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, but it wasn’t real. How could he stand there, acting like everything was fine, as if he was helping me, when he was the reason I was there in the first place?

He killed your sister, Ellie.

I knew that now. Knew that that’s what I was doing here. If I took down at least one Adler, even if I died trying, then that would be enough. I could do my part to avenge my sister.

He came towards me, placing a hand on my lower back. The contact made me flinch. I hated that I was naked now. Bare and vulnerable and exposed to him, when he deserved nothing.

But if that’s what made him think I was weak, then so be it.

I closed my eyes, holding my forehead again.He murdered her when she had no way to defend herself, the words vibrated in my chest, coming from my core.He murdered her, Ellie. Cold-blooded murder.

“Let’s get you into bed,” he said. “You need some rest.”

“No.” I grabbed his arm, holding him tight. I stared into his eyes and saw two men: the man who I had grown attached to, the one who had fucked me and used me and made me feel more alive than I had ever felt, the one who helped me find memories when I thought I had none, when I thought I had nothing.

And I saw the man who had murdered my sister.

But it couldn’t be him. It had to be his brothers, his father—they were all responsible. But it couldn’t have been Wil’s hands who had taken her life. He wasn’t like that.

Was he?

No. He had to pay. All of them did.