Page 108 of Darkwater Lane

Could he kill to protect us? Yes.

Wouldhe? Maybe.

That’s the problem, I can’t definitively say he wouldn’t.

But I do know he wouldn’t do it like this. Melvin dumped his victims in a lake after murdering them. Sam would never do anything to echo Melvin. Sam’s not cruel like Melvin was.

Sam isn’t a monster.

“You’re lying,” I spit at her.

She shakes her head. “I swear, I’m not! He was about to throw me in. Just like Rowan. But I was able to get his gun from him. That’s what you saw—me defending myself. You have to believe me, Gwen.” She tugs on the rope. “I wouldn’t do this to myself.”

She’s so convincing with her tangled hair and wide eyes. The expression, the cowering, the crack in her voice, the way her lower lip trembles. She looks young and afraid, and the mother in me wants to go to her, pull her into my arms, and tell her it will be okay.

Except it’s not real. None of it is. I have to remind myself that some of the deadliest creatures in the world are the most beautiful.

I want to tell her that I know she’s full of shit and that she was the one who dug up Melvin’s grave and killed those men. But I don’t because, more than anything else, I just want her gone so I can help Sam.

I shake my head. Steady my aim. “Get in the other boat.”

She blinks, setting tears streaming down her cheeks. She waits for me to waver. When I don’t, she heaves a trembling breath and crawls to the side. The boats have drifted apart slightly, and I shiftmy weight to keep us from tipping as she leans out over the water to reach for the other craft and pull it close.

Except instead of grabbing it, she shoves it away. Our own boat dips from her movement, and I throw myself to the other side to keep us from capsizing.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I shout, watching helplessly as the other boat drifts away. There’s no question that it was deliberate on her part. Rage and helplessness pour through me. I raise my gun, aiming it at her chest. “Start the engine. Now.”

She laughs, throwing her arms wide. “What are you going to do? Shoot me? Good! Go for it! I’ve been waiting for the real Gina Royal to show up for a while now.”

I grind my teeth. Am I willing to shoot her to save Sam?

My heart thunders against my ribs.

“Do it,” Madison says. Taunting me.

Something in her has snapped. It’s like she’s become a different person. Gone are the tears, the trembling lip, the Bambi eyes.

Now, I see it: her madness. This is the woman who killed all those men and set Sam up to take the fall. The psychopath who dug up Melvin’s grave. The woman who methodically found her way into my life so she could unravel it from the inside out.

How did I never notice it before? How was she able to fool me so completely?

Just like Melvin did.

People died because I fell for Madison’s deceit.

Just like with Melvin.

How, after all these years, after everything I’ve been through, am I still naïve little Gina Royal, who can’t even find the monster when it’s standing right in front of her?

Except when Gina Royal was confronted with a monster, she ran and hid.

That’s not who I am anymore.

I shift my grip on the gun, dropping my finger to the trigger.

I could do it. Pull the trigger and be done with her. Or, I could lunge for the concrete block and toss it overboard. I could argue self-defense.

But would it be?