Page 122 of Die for You

I claw at the zip tie binding my wrists, tears burning and fingernails bleeding. The throbbing agony in my finger has barely subsided.

I’m just the bait. What Monica really wants is Knox. And she’s using me to get to him.

She hasn’t returned since she broke my ankle.

Monica is going to leave me here to die. Once I’m out of the way, she’ll have him all to herself.

But what she’ll learn is that he still doesn’t want her. After that, I don’t know what she’ll do to him.

If she can do this to me, I don’t want to imagine what she could do to someone who breaks her heart.

Footsteps overhead. My heart stupidly leaps with hope, even though I know the odds of it being anyone other than Monica are slim. I’ve heard her come and go each day, ignoring me like I’m not even down here. Leaving me to wallow in my own filth, towriggle out of my skirt with my hands tied behind my back just for something soft to lay my head on when the room started to spin, to talk to my parents in my mind like they’re still here so I don’t go insane in isolation.

But I guess I’m already there if I’m talking to ghosts.

Fresh tears spring up, pooling beneath my eyes. If my parents could see how my life turned out after they died, they’d be horrified. My life went to hell after I lost them.

Then I met the Devils. The first time that life didn’t seem all bad anymore. The first time I had hope again.

Damien. Knox. Finn.

I chant their names over and over in my head like I can will them to me. To find me here. To rescue me before Monica lets me die and rot in this basement.

Damien. Knox. Finn.

Damien, with his dark eyes and intimidating height and massive muscles that could crack a skull like a walnut. His infuriating smirk, his sharp commands, his deliciously rough hands.Finally. We found you.

Knox, with his bright green eyes and infectious smile and endless jokes. His ability to make me smile and laugh in any situation. His charm, his playful grin, his teasing winks. The way he talks me through everything, whether it’s to comfort me or prepare me for everything he has in store for me.We’ve seen you around before. On campus. Couldn’t take our eyes off you. We’ve been looking for you.

Finn, with his piercing blue eyes and stoic expressions and huge, delicious hands that can inflict pain as much as pleasure. That communicates his words better than his own lips. His silence rarely broken by an ocean-deep voice that makes my toes curl. The way he looks at me and understands, knows exactly what I’m thinking before I say a word.I’m right here. I love...your everything.

I’ll never see any of them again. The reality of it crushes me, chest caving in.

Monica’s footsteps approach until they come to a stop in front of the basement door. I hold my breath.

Then finally,finally, she opens the door.

The light from upstairs is nearly blinding. Fluorescent lighting. Is it dark outside? What time of day is it? I don’t even know what day it is.

Wooden steps groan under her weight, and the fluorescent light glints on something in her hand. Silver.

A blade.

A knife. She has a fuckingknife.

Even though no one can hear, even though nothing will stop her from doing whatever she plans to do to me, I shout around the gag in my mouth and try to scramble away.

She sighs and rolls her eyes when she notices my reaction. “What did I tell you? I’m not a killer.”

Monica crouches in front of me, my legs too weak to push me onto my feet. With her free hand, she pulls the gag from my mouth.

I gasp and cough, but my gaze never leaves that knife in her grip. My jaw aches from being wrenched open for so long. I can’t tell if the tears are from relief or endless pain. Every awful name I could spew at her runs through my mind, but I bite every single one back. That won’t get me what I want. Need.

“Have you changed your mind yet?” Monica’s gaze rakes over me with disgust. My pallid skin, my disheveled hair, my exposed legs. “I really don’t want to get rid of a body.”

My mind spins, the world with it. But I manage a nod. “No one is worth this.”

Monica smiles at me almost sweetly. But it’s tinged with a sinister edge. Just like everything she does. “I didn’t think so.”