Page 54 of Darkwater Lane (Stillhouse Lake #7)

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 shift my 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 na?ve 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?

I glance down at Sam and remember how recently I’d wondered how far he’d go to protect us. Whether he would kill for us. Whether he already had.

Except now, it’s me in that predicament, facing that question: What am I willing to do for my family?

Can I kill Madison to save Sam?

Absolutely I can.

But will I?

She watches me, and I wonder if she realizes that I’m weighing the value of her life. Wondering if she deserves to live. Maybe killing her would be a good thing—vigilante justice. Ridding the world of a brutal serial killer.

Except that’s not how it works. Whether someone lives or dies shouldn’t be up to me. Melvin thought he had the right to make that choice. Apparently, Madison does too.

None of us has that right.

We all deserve due process. Justice doesn’t exist without it.

I’m not like Melvin. I never will be.

I’ll have to find another way to save Sam.

Thankfully, just then something catches my eye past her shoulder—blue lights flashing in the distance, a police car turning onto the road that circles the lake.

Another trails behind it. I nearly go weak with relief.

Even if Diakos didn’t get my message about the lake, others would have heard the gunshot and called it in.

It won’t be long before they have a police boat in the water.

I grab Sam’s hand with my free one and squeeze. Hold on , I urge him silently. I slide my fingers to his wrist, finding his pulse—still steady and strong. I start to feel hope that this whole ordeal will be over soon .

That doesn’t mean I drop my gun. I shift my finger back to the barrel and keep the muzzle trained on her in case she decides to attack. I wouldn’t put it past her.

“This isn’t going to end well for you, Madison,” I warn her. Now that I know the truth, I plan to make sure she goes down for all those murders, clearing Sam’s name in the process.

She stands with her legs wide, feet braced near the sides of the narrow boat. She begins to shift her weight from side to side, rocking the boat. I drop Sam’s hand and reach for the gunwale to keep my balance.

I try to keep my gun trained on her, but it’s difficult with the boat pitching beneath me. I may only be a yard or two away, but with all this motion it’s not a guaranteed hit.

“You know how easy it would be to flip this thing?” she asks.

“It would be suicide,” I point out. “You’re still tethered to the cement block.”

She grins. “Maybe it would be worth it to take out Sam as well. Would be hard for him to swim given how unconscious he is. You might try to hold him above water, but we all watched Titanic and know how that ends.”

I grip the side of the boat tighter, trying to counterbalance her movements. It doesn’t do much to stop the rocking. I glance down at Sam. If we tip, I need to be ready to grab for him.

“It would be really great if you could wake up about now,” I murmur to him.

She tilts her head to the side. “You know, I’ve never understood why you’re so loyal to that man.

” She gestures toward Sam. “After everything he tried to do to destroy your family. He hunted you and your kids. He lied to you. He was a founding member of the Lost Angels. Yet, somehow, you’re okay with it all. ”

“My relationship with Sam is none of your business.” I’m so damn tired of having my life and my choices scrutinized.

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, God a fucking apologist. You’re better than that, Gina! You deserve more! I have to be honest with you. You have terrible taste in men.”

I grind my teeth, anger flushing my cheeks. “Why are you doing this, Madison? What do you want?”

She slows her rocking and meets my eyes. “You,” she says simply. “Gina Royal.”

I nearly laugh. Of any answer she could have given, I wasn’t expecting that one. “You want a milquetoast, na?ve housewife?”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s just us now, Gina. You don’t have to pretend.”

I shake my head. She’s not making any sense. “Pretend about what?”

She looks disappointed by my answer. I don’t care. My only goal is to keep her distracted until the police get here. Plus, the more I learn, the more ammo I have to use against her when all of this is over.

“I know you, Gina.” The continued sound of my old name on her lips makes my skin crawl.

“You know nothing about me.” I bite out.

She laughs. “You don’t understand. During your trial, I watched you in that courtroom. How well you played the victim, made everyone believe you knew nothing about Melvin’s crimes. That you weren’t involved.”

“That’s because I wasn’t involved.”

She ignores my outburst. “You gave me a look one day. It was during a sidebar, when your attorney was up arguing with the judge at the bench. You glanced around the courtroom and your eyes found mine and it was just…“ She pauses as if overcome with emotion.

She blows out a trembling breath and smiles.

“You don’t understand. All my life, I’ve felt different than everyone around me.

I thought maybe it was because I was an orphan, but even in college, when no one knew my history, I had trouble making friends and connecting with others.

There was something always missing. There were times I’d get so angry and I would just—” She cuts herself off, opening and closing her hands into fists.

“That day. That moment—when you looked at me and held my eyes for so long. You saw me. I felt this…connection between us. I knew right then that you were like me. We were the same. That part of me that no one else understood? You got it.”

She sounds rapturous, like she’s describing a moment of spiritual conversion.

“That’s when I knew the truth about you—that you’d been the mastermind behind all those murders.

That Melvin was your patsy—the same way Sam’s your patsy now.

I knew right then and there that I was going to follow in your footsteps.

That one day I would prove myself worthy of you. ”

I stare at her, dumbstruck. I try to remember the moment she’s talking about, but the entire trial is a blur. I remember nothing like she’s describing. More than likely, I was staring into space, and she happened to be in my line of sight, and I didn’t realize it.

Madison’s expression gleams with fervor as she leans toward me. “All of this, the men I killed, setting Sam up, it was to prove to you that I’m ready to be your partner. I’m ready to fulfill that promise we made to each other back then.”

I’m so stunned by everything she’s saying that I almost miss the confession. It’s like a gut punch: not just her admitting to all the murders and trying to pin them on Sam, but that they were all for me. That somehow, I was her inspiration.

I feel sick. I never wanted any of this.

I have no idea what to say—how to respond.

I look at Madison. There’s such naked desperation in her eyes.

She’s laid herself bare before me, hungry for my approval.

I’m struck by the familiarity of it. How many times have I seen that expression on my kids’ faces?

The desire to impress when what they really wanted was just to be seen and loved. Cherished.

For a moment, all I see is this lonely little girl who lost her parents and just wanted someone in her life to take care of her, to understand her. The mother in me aches for her and mourns what she’s become.

“I’m sorry, Madison,” I say softly. “That’s not who I am. That’s not who I’ll ever be.”

“You are,” she cries, petulant. Reminding me how incredibly young she still is. “You’re Gina Royal.”

“I’m not.” I say it gently, the way I would to a child when explaining that Santa isn’t real, knowing that you’re breaking some part of them in the process.

She stares at me, waiting for me to take it back. I don’t. Her eyes flood with tears.

In the distance, I hear the sound of a boat engine catching. The wail of a siren cuts through the stillness. It won’t be long before the police arrive.

Madison hears it too and knows what it means.

She shifts, sending the boat rocking. I grab at the gunwale, terrified she might really tip us over.

Instead, she reaches into the bottom of the boat and lifts up the cinderblock—the one that’s tied to her ankle.

“We could have been partners. True partners.” She sets her shoulders and glances toward the water.

With a jolt, I realize what she’s about to do.

I lower my finger to the trigger, training the gun on her. “Don’t do anything stupid, Madison,” I warn her.

She smiles a little at that. “What are you going to do? Shoot me? Prove me right that you’re a killer?”

I clench my teeth. If I shoot her and she falls, she might capsize the boat, pitching Sam into the water as well.

“If I can’t be your partner, at least I know he won’t be either,” she says, nodding toward Sam.

“He’ll go down for my murder. You can try to tell everyone what happened out here, but no one’s going to believe you.

The first time you marry a serial killer, it’s a mistake. The second time…?” She shrugs .

I realize she’s right. “If you care about me at all, Madison, you won’t do this.” I’m desperate, willing to say anything to get her to stop. I look wildly around the boat, searching for anything I can use to stop her.

“It’s because I care about you so much, Gina. You deserve better than him. He’s not worthy of you. I thought I might be, but…” She trails off and shrugs mournfully.

“Madison, please—” I shift into a crouch, moving toward the stern where the rope is coiled, hoping maybe I can grab it. Even if she goes overboard, I can stop her from being dragged into the lake. I can cut the rope and save her.

She gives me one last sad smile. “Goodbye, Gina Royal.” With the cinderblock clutched in her arms, she jumps.