Page 29

Dakota

A s soon as we were back inside his murder house, Blake and I both tried to fix our dishevelled appearances. I was able to smooth down my clothes and my hair with ease, but I couldn’t stop shaking. I felt it. Felt them. Something had happened, and Chance and Kali were involved.

I just knew.

Blake wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me to the kitchen table, where he sat me down. ‘Fuck, baby, you’re shivering. Just sit tight. I’ll put on some tea.’

I kept my eyes on him as he pulled out a kettle, filled it in the sink, then set it to boil on the stove. He pulled out two mugs and stuffed them with tea bags. They were generic black things that mirrored the complete lack of emotion he had so successfully hidden until now.

Everything in this place was just… off, like something wasn’t right. It was like the house itself was whispering its secrets, angry at how deeply it had been desecrated by the evil residing within. Like it, too, wanted justice.

When Blake had first called, I hadn’t picked up.

I’d panicked and dropped my phone, cracking the screen in the process, but I didn’t care.

That was fixable. Blake wasn’t. Mikey had been the one to calm me down yet again, then he’d convinced me to contact the police and clue them in.

Rhodes had mentioned that the first officer who had spoken to him, Detective DeLuca, was the one who was looking into Blake, that he was taking this investigation seriously.

The other officers were merely called out to the scene and hadn’t found anything, which wasn’t helpful.

They needed someone on the inside to get them the evidence they required to put him away.

So, I’d called Detective DeLuca with the number Rhodes had been given, and we’d set up a meeting.

He came over to the house, and the four of us sat down together to discuss what to do next.

DeLuca had informed us that his partner had received a mysterious note that had appeared out of nowhere on her desk, and that he hadn’t heard from her since she decided to look into it.

The general consensus was that Blake either had her or he had killed her when he realised she was onto him.

If she was still alive, action needed to be taken soon before that changed.

That was when we’d come up with a plan. I needed to keep up the pretence of a spurned wife, but give him hope that we could fix our marriage before it fell into shambles.

I would keep an eye out for anything suspicious, search for any sign of where he could be keeping the women he took.

Or where he killed them. Detective DeLuca suspected he would be using the same space for both.

He sat beside me when I called Blake back and instructed me on what to say and what to do, and when Blake invited me over to his secret murder house, I reluctantly agreed.

The only thing that kept one foot moving in front of the other was that this wasn’t just about me.

I was in danger, and Blake needed to be behind bars where he couldn’t hurt anyone else, but it was more than that.

It was justice for Kali. For Chance. For all those women he had kidnapped and murdered, stealing them from their loved ones forever.

It was those thoughts that gave me the strength to keep going, to see this through.

What I hadn’t expected was how hard it was.

Obviously, I knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but I hadn’t anticipated how it would feel.

I was angry with Blake. My heart was broken, smashed into a million pieces that I knew would never be whole again.

There were too many shards, the puzzle too great to ever complete.

But what hurt the most was how much I wanted to believe him.

When he explained why he had the house and why he’d kept it a secret, it all sounded so simple, so believable, and I had almost caved.

But then I saw her again. It was just a glimpse, a reflection in the glass of a picture frame hanging on the wall behind Blake’s head, but she was right there .

It brought everything back into startling clarity, and I pulled up my big girl panties and did what needed to be done.

Now, sitting at the table while he fetched me some tea because he thought I was cold, my heart clenched again.

Grief threatened to consume me. Rage roared inside my veins.

It was all a fucking lie, and I hated that I still loved him.

It wasn’t something I could turn off at the top of a hat. And, unfortunately, those feelings brought a desire to bury my head in the sand, to ignore everything I had learned and pretend that everything was normal. That he loved me.

But I’d seen that dead look in his eyes. His smile might have reached them on a surface level, but now that I knew where to look and what to look for, there was no hiding the cold, dead emptiness he hid inside.

This was a man who did not feel. It was a mask. An act. A character he played.

My husband wasn’t real.

I had fallen for the lie, and now I was mourning the loss of a man who had never even existed. It was like falling for a love interest in a book, only worse, because this wasn’t a book. This was real life, my life, and I couldn’t just pick up another book and find a new character to escape in.

I was alone. I had always been alone. And that was the most painful part to accept.

I thought I had found my happily ever after, my Prince Charming who would whisk me away to a life of love and wonder and adventure.

Instead, it was like I’d eaten the fruit and drank the wine, only now the veil had been pulled away from my eyes and I could see it for what it truly was: rotten and stale, covered in maggots and mould.

I wanted to throw up.

A high-pitched keening noise dragged me out of my head and back into the hell I was currently living in.

Blake quickly removed the kettle from the heat and poured the boiling water into the mugs.

He placed one in front of me, and I reached out my hands to warm them on the heat it offered.

I wasn’t cold because of the temperature; I was cold because there was nothing left in my life to keep me warm.

The mug burned my palms. I didn’t bother to move them.

‘Kota, babe, are you okay?’ Blake asked, the false concern making me want to scream. But I didn’t. I tilted my lips up into an impersonation of a smile and forced out the biggest lie of them all.

‘I’m fine.’

I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not, but he seemed to accept the answer because he moved on like nothing had even happened.

‘So, what do you think of the place? It’s great, right? Cosy, with all this land, and the woods, and the river. Isn’t it perfect?’

A perfect cover.

‘Sure. It’s nice.’

‘Maybe we could vacation here this winter or something. You should see it with the fireplace on. We could set up a bonfire out back and make s’mores, then we could spend the night in front of the fire, building up a heat of our own.

’ He winked suggestively, and I had to actively fight the urge to toss the hot liquid in his face.

I swallowed down the bile that rose up before I answered. ‘I think that sounds lovely.’

Was my tone too dull? Could he tell I was lying? Did he even care?

I was fucking this up. I couldn’t afford to screw up our chances before I got the evidence DeLuca needed to put him away.

I hadn’t seen anything that could lead to somewhere he could keep someone prisoner.

I hadn’t heard a peep from anyone else. No screams, no scratching, or banging, or pleading for help.

If there was someone here, they were so well hidden I wasn’t sure I would be able to find them in time.

I had the worst feeling that in order to get anywhere, I would need to keep putting myself in harm’s way and stay the night.

The other problem with that was if there was someone trapped here, Blake wouldn’t be seeing that they were fed while I was around.

I needed to call DeLuca and ask him what to do. I didn’t think I could make that decision myself.

I was saved the trouble of trying to figure out how to do that without Blake noticing when my phone rang, making me jump. I got up to grab my purse from where I’d left it by the door, and pulled out my phone. Mikey’s name flashed on the screen, and I answered before I could think better of it.

‘Mikey? Is everything okay?’

‘You should get back here, Kota. It’s Rhodes.’

My heart dropped into my ass so fast it almost dragged me down with it. ‘I’m on my way.’

‘What’s going on?’ Blake asked, joining me in the entryway.

‘I’ve been staying with Rhodes,’ I told him, panic infusing in my voice.

He frowned. ‘Who?’

‘The guy who owns the campsite. Chance and the others hung around his place for a while for their investigation. Something about a lot of activity in the woods behind his house. But Rhodes has cancer, and he’s dying.

When everyone left to go back home, I stayed behind to take care of him because he doesn’t really have anyone else. He doesn’t have much time left.’

‘And Mikey,’ he said in a dangerous tone.

I thought he might have been trying to seem jealous, and there was a definite possessiveness as he glared me down, but it wasn’t out of love.

No, he was worried someone else might be trying to move in on what he considered belonged to him, and he wasn’t going to tolerate that.

It was a reaction I had seem from him before, but back then I thought he really was just jealous. Now I knew better, it scared me. He was dangerous. Unpredictable. I had to tread carefully here, or else I could endanger Mikey by accident.

‘Mikey stayed behind because he’s waiting for Chance,’ I said, doing my best to hide the way my voice quivered on his name.

‘Oh. Where did Chance go?’

You know exactly where he went, you sick bastard , I wanted to scream at him. Instead, I forced my shoulders to lift in a shrug. ‘I don’t know. Something about following a lead.’

‘Well, I’m sure he’ll be back soon, then you can go home.’

Right. Home. With him. Fuck.

‘Anyway,’ I said, backing away. I hoped it looked like I was just eager to get back to my dying friend and not that I was running from him. The last thing I wanted was for him to take chase. Monsters did that, right? Chased their prey?

Like hell was I going to be his prey.

‘I need to get back. Something’s wrong with Rhodes.’

He looked like he wanted to argue, but then he pasted on his most agreeable smile. ‘I’ll come with you.’

‘Oh, that’s not necessary,’ I tried to protest, but he wasn’t having it.

‘No, if your friend is dying, you should have the support you need. I’ll be right with you from here on out, honey. I promise, I’m not going anywhere again.’

Fuck. Shit. This was not in the plan.

But what choice did I have?

‘Okay,’ I agreed, shooting him what I hoped came across as a sad but grateful smile.

‘Lead the way,’ he said, ushering me out the door.

When he locked up behind us, just before the door closed, I saw something.

Just a glimpse. It could have been nothing, but it could have been everything.

Scuff marks on the floor by a large bookcase that covered an entire wall.

Floor to ceiling. But it was a little too big for the scant number of books and trinkets that lined its shelves.

Had he pushed it in front of something? Was that where he was hiding the detective?

Was that where he killed them?

When Blake took my hand in his, it didn’t feel like the romantic gesture it used to be.

It felt like he was holding me in place, his grip the shackles around my wrist that kept me an unwitting prisoner.

Those same fingers that sliced into people, that stole their lives, and god only knew what else, felt like burning coals of doom.

It didn’t bother me before when he was just a surgeon, but now…

I shuddered.

He tugged me closer, wrapping an arm around me and rubbing up and down my free arm to create heat from the friction. It was a fruitless effort. ‘You’re still cold.’

I snuggled into him, hating the way my body relaxed against his, even if it was just out of habit. ‘It’s been a long day.’

‘I’m here, honey. I know I went a bit MIA, but you have me. I’ll always be here for you.’

The promise in his words was meant to be reassuring, but after everything I had learned, it took on a menacing tone.

When the glowing red eyes peered out at me from the shadows of the trees, I couldn’t decide which monster was worse. The creatures of the night that stalked me every move, or my husband.