Page 56 of Havoc

He places the handle in my palm, and I find my center. The mouth of hell opens, ready to accept a soul, and I’m at peace.

Reyes is too beaten and bloody to form words, but it doesn’t stop him from trying to mumble something as I stop in front of him and grab his hair. I tug the back of his head to expose his neck. His dark eyes find mine, and I hope he sees the devil.

An empty abyss that will drink him down and offer nothing but torture until time blinks out.

They sterilized me.

I lift the blade to Reyes’s throat, and my voice wobbles as I choke on my final words to him. “This is for Aimee.”

I drag the blade across his skin, ripping through his vocal cords. No mercy or kindness. I tear him open likethey did to her in one brutal sweep. Blood spits from his artery, and I drop to my knees.

I bathe in his blood.

In death, as it fills the room. But this is not the end.

I’m going to make every last one of them pay for what they’ve done to her. Then I’ll beg her forgiveness because I couldn’t stop this from happening in the first place.

18

Aimee

“Please don’t do this.I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.” Tears spill over my cheeks.

Salt streaks my lips.

Titan grabs my chin and forces me to face him. He grins with the full force of his cigarette-stained teeth. He could have been beautiful with such intense, dark eyes and a strong jawline. Except he seeps evil from every pore.

“Please don’t,” I beg again, even as I know it’s no use.

“Oh, Aimee.” He drags his thumb over my lower lip. “I almost want to believe you. But do you know why I can’t?”

I try to shake my head, but I can barely move it with how hard his fingers are clenching my jaw.

“Desperation makes people promise anything. But promises are words, so easily broken. Do you know what can’t be taken back?” He leans in, brushing his lips over mine. “Action.”

Titan steps back, shoving my face to the side.

“You still think he’ll come for you. You still think you aren’t mine. It’s time to make it clear why that’s not the case.” Titan gazes at the men behind me. “Strap her down. And keep her awake for this. I want her to know who owns her now."

I jolt awake, drenched in sweat, as the door to Levi’s bedroom opens.

The sun is already high in the sky. He’s been gone all morning, and I’ve yet to leave his bed. Too afraid to move after my confession. Terrified of what it will mean for us.

That look in Levi’s eyes when I told him what the Iron Sinners did to me etched itself into my soul.

Devastation.

Heartbreak.

In my year with Titan, he relished in moments where he could remind me that Levi would never want me after what he’d done. Titan would tell me repeatedly that I might as well accept that he was the only one who wouldn’t be disgusted by a girl who isn’t whole.

That I should just give myself over to him.

His words still haunt me.

Which is why I understood Levi getting dressed and walking away. I didn’t try to stop him because it felt like this thin thread between us would break. I knew he needed time to process my confession, and I hoped he would come back.

I wished for Titan to be wrong.