Page 128 of From Hell

Part of me wanted the Ripper to fuck me until I broke as if the damage he did to me all those years ago could only be healed if I fully let him in. Part of me wanted to taste the darkness and come back from it, like a ghost crossing over to the right side of the living. But the rest was terrified, though I’ll never admit it.

“No, but I’ll take some getting used to.”

Warmth melts and expands inside my chest, and I pull Jaxon down into a deep, passionate kiss; as he fucks me until I can’t walk if I tried, bringing me to screaming release. The imprint of my teeth is still raw on his neck. If it leaves a mark, good, it’ll be a reminder, a promise to myself to tame the Ripper inside Jaxon and make them both mine.

But that can wait…

…until next time.

* * *

TWO WEEKS LATER

“So how are the Rhône-Alpes?” Nola asks, heavy machinery noises cutting into our discussion every so often.

I promised to call her and Sage once we got to Vienna, but we didn’t get there. We took a detour to a cozy cabin in the snowy peaked mountains. I have zero signal out here, but if I wrap myself in layers, tug on some fur boots and a woolly hat, and trudge out to what looks like the edge of the world, I can just about make a call.

“Cold. Have you heard from Sage?” I ask her. I haven’t heard from her since she texted me a week ago.

Nola sighs. “Not a peep. I’m worried.”

Sage has her bachelorette party this weekend, and I wanted to make sure she was alright, but she’s not answering her phone. Nola and I weren’t invited to any of it since her mother organized it, and she doesn’t allow Sage to have friends outside of their circle of trust funds.

“Maybe she has her hands full with wedding planning.”

“She hasn’t turned up to meetings or kickboxing.”

“Fuck, maybe I should come back.”

“No, stay. Enjoy your trip. I’m sure she’s just trying to figure out her shit out before she has to share a bed with that fucker. The wedding date is not far off.”

“Do you really think her fiance killed her sister?”

Nola snorts. “Oh, he did it, alright. No man that notorious can be trusted.”

River Champion-Barrow’s family is renowned for their shady commercial dealings. Plenty of officials who have gone up against his property expansions have mysteriously disappeared. Sage let it slip once that she overheard his staff talking about the foundations of his buildings hiding bodies in the concrete.

“What about you?” Nola asks. “Any loose ends you want help tying up?”

The last thing Jaxon did before joining me on this slow travel holiday was put in motion a cleaning operation, taking down the corruption of the Lucians from the inside as well as the outside with a little help from the anonymous tip I gave the police. The Foundation, the public arm of the establishment, has already folded. It’s only a matter of time before every follower mentioned in the evidence is caught or goes into hiding.

Jaxon won’t need to since his involvement burned to the ground when Berners House went up in flames. Only the papers he gave me could prove anything, and they’ve now gone. I made sure of that.

“There’s nothing else to tie up.”

“So your man is out of it now? For good?”

“He’s out of it.” Jaxon is so good at changing himself to be what the world wants to see that even if the police were investigating him, I doubt he would let himself be caught.

“And the Ripper? Can you accept what he did?”

I bite my lower lip and look back at the cabin, lit from within with candles. From here, I can see the rose petals on the snow, scattered like breadcrumbs, leading me back to him. Jaxon has something special planned for tonight as part of making it up to me. He’s still trying. And it’s working.

Slowly.

Since their masks are fully off, Jaxon and Jack seem to switch in and out more now. And it doesn’t feel strange to talk to Jaxon one minute, and Jack the next, but something else is happening. I can no longer tell who is who. But that’s not a bad thing since alters in therapy can eventually merge. Jaxon is nowhere near healed, but dealing with the past is helping him with control.

The best part is that sex and therapy seem to be enough to keep both of them interested and satisfied—that and teaching me survival skills. I can already make a fire. Fishing through that’s another thing entirely. At least we’re living off-grid, which warms the embers of my eco-warrior heart, and we’re doing it in style, which means massages, natural spas, and amazing food on tap.