Page 148 of His Trick

The instructions.

The call.

It had been a setup.

A trap.

For me.

I thought of Xanthy, curled up, terrified, maybe drugged, maybe dead already. My stomach felt empty. I almost felt the cold grip of her fear, and it didn’t feel good. I felt guilty.

And the masks…those grins.

They weren’t just toys. They were messages.

Warnings.

Proof.

A gift.

I stumbled into the study. My eyes scanned the room. Empty except for the shadows that pooled in the corners. And then I saw a smudge of red—a trail of blood, faint but unmistakable, leading to the basement stairs.

My heart leapt into my throat. My legs wanted to run, but my mind screamed at me to leave. But something inside me reminded me that this was my fault. The raw, desperate need to make sure she was okay pushed me forward.

I descended slowly. Every creak of the stairs was like a fucking hammer against my skull. The mask glimmered in the dim light, every speck of red a warning and a promise. There was going to be a horror show to witness.

At the bottom, the air smelled of damp rust, and something sharper…iron? I stumbled into a room I hadn’t noticed before. And there, in the corner, there was a chair, tied to the floor. It was empty, except for a single ragged blanket tossed aside.

I froze. The rain outside sounded like a drumbeat now, and I panicked.

Carrington didn’t leave her.

He is here.

Somewhere.

Watching.

Waiting.

For me.

Every step I’d taken, every heartbeat, had been exactly where he wanted me. I had to divert this path and catch him off guard.

The storm outside, the masks, the darkness…they weren’t just decoration. They were the edge of the world Carrington had built.

And I was falling in deeper.

I dropped to my knees, shaking. Tears burned my eyes, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t think. All I could do was sit there, surrounded by the proof of my failure, whispering her name.

“Xanthy…Care Bear, please…please let her be okay.”

Whatever Carrington had planned…there was no going back.

The storm outside raged on like a living, fucking beast, beyond the walls of the mansion. I knew I couldn’t outrun my hunter. He always had me in his sight. The floorboards creaked in the silence of the room like they were waiting.

I sat there, looking out on my knees, because so was I.