Page 27 of Devil’s Night (The Shadows of Darkness Universe #3)

“Wasn’t it!” she screams, slamming her arms forward, fury bursting out of her like a bomb. “You fucking pigs. You think you’re any better than my family? You torture, you kill, you manipulate. You stalk. You prey.”

Her voice climbs, cracking with emotion as her words pierce through the glass like bullets.

“Echo Kane,” she growls. “Powerful, untouchable Echo fucking Kane. You got into my head. Made me think I could trust you. Made me feel safe. What was the plan, huh?” Her smile is deranged now, tears streaking down her cheeks as she loses control. “Kidnap me? Torture me? Use me? Fu-”

“That’s enough, Katya,” I bark, voice sharp as steel, stopping her before she can tear into the one word that would finish me.

But it’s already too late.

Her voice lowers again, poisonous.

“So,” she hisses, “it wasn’t part of the plan.”

Roman turns toward me, his jaw locked. “What is she talking about?”

My hands tremble. I curl them into fists to hide it.

“She’s playing her games,” I lie, the words tasting like rot in my mouth.

Katya grins, feral. “What does his face look like now?” she taunts the room. “Does he look scared?” She cocks her head, mocking. “Are his hands shaking?”

I dig my nails into my palms hard enough to break skin. Anything to stop the tremor from rising.

“What do you want?” I ask, the words barely holding together.

Her eyes flash.

“For everyone but you to leave that damn room,” she snaps. “I want to speak to you. Alone. No fucking cameras. No eyes. Think you can manage that, Echo?”

There’s silence.

Roman shifts beside me, disbelief etched across his face. “Echo-”

“Everyone out,” I say, voice low but final.

Roman takes a step forward, hand outstretched. “Echo, think about what you’re-”

“Roman.” My voice cuts through the room like a knife. My jaw tightens, my stare locked on the glass. “I said get out.”

The room empties slowly, one shadow at a time peeling away until only silence remains.

The hum of the overhead light buzzes in my ears, louder now that I’m alone.

My hands tremble as I fumble with the lock, the key slick in my grasp.

It slips once, twice, before I shove it in and turn it, the click echoing like a gunshot in my chest. I pocket the key, a final barrier between us erased.

The door creaks open as I step into her space, into the wreckage I made with my own hands.

She doesn’t flinch.

Her eyes lock onto mine the second I cross the threshold, bloody, glassy and dead. Her body doesn’t move, but her gaze is a weapon sharpened on my throat. I swallow hard, drawing in a breath I don’t deserve.

“Well, look who’s listening to commands now,” she whispers, voice soft but dripping with venom.

“Katya-” I start, but the name sounds foreign even to me, like I’m saying it from the wrong mouth. Her face twists before the second syllable escapes.

“Don’t.” Her voice cracks like lightning. “Don’t fucking say my name. Don’t say it like you know me.”

Her words hit harder than any bullet I’ve ever taken. I step closer anyway. My body moves on instinct, but my soul recoils with every inch. I don’t know what I’m doing, I just know I need to be closer. I reach out.

She doesn’t stop me, but her eyes dare me to.

When my hand strikes her cheek, it’s like the room explodes.

The sound is soft. Too soft. But my hand trembles where it falls. The shame hits instantly, rushing up my throat like bile. I can’t look away, but I can’t stand the sight of what I’ve done either. Not again.

“Stop,” I snap, low and raw. “Stop running your fucking mouth before you get yourself killed.”

She gasps, but not from fear. It’s disgust. My thumb brushes her lip where blood gathers, smearing it away in a slow, shaking motion. My fingers graze her jaw like they’re apologizing, but the damage is already done.

“Do you understand me?” I ask, quieter now.

She laughs, dark and unhinged. Her voice is a dagger she drags across my chest.

“Like you give a fuck.”

She thrashes in the chair, rattling the restraints, teeth bared like an animal backed into a corner. “You used me,” she spits. “You broke me down, inch by inch, and then you fucked me like I was nothing.”

“I did not fucking use you,” I hiss back, stepping closer, fists clenched at my sides. “You think this was all some kind of plan?”

“Yes,” she screams, tears rising now, fury breaking into something deeper. “Look at me! Look at what you did to me!”

I try. I do.

But her face… bruised, bloodied, haunted. It’s too much. I glance down, eyes stuck on the floor like a coward. She sees it.

“I protected you,” she growls. “I could have run, more than once. I could’ve let Nikolai kill the both of you and walked away without a scratch. But I didn’t.”

“But you didn’t,” I snap, voice rising to meet hers, my chest caving in with the weight of it. “You didn’t. You stayed with me. You stayed because you didn’t want to leave me.”

Her head jerks up, eyes blazing. “No. I stayed because you were in my head. You manipulated me. You made me think I was safe. Made me think you cared.”

I step closer, breath ragged. “You don’t think I care?”

She doesn’t answer.

She doesn’t have to.

Her silence says everything. And it carves me open.

“You’re going to use me again,” she whispers, almost childlike. “Just like you did before.”

I stare at her for a long moment, my body numb and humming, my mind splitting in two.

Then, slowly, I kneel. The metal clinks as I begin undoing the shackles around her wrists.

She flinches. Her eyes widen, breath hitching, heart beating so loud I swear I can hear it.

“Maybe you’re right,” I whisper, not even sure if I’m lying anymore.

Because maybe I did use her. Maybe I still am.

And maybe I don’t know how to stop.