Page 31

MARISELA

SEVERAL HOURS PRIOR

I didn’t think he’d actually do it…

Not until I saw all the blood. So much blood.

Seeping into the sheets and dripping onto the floor.

Covering my feet and his hands. He stared back at me over a shoulder, his mask firmly in place but I didn’t need to see his face to know what he was looking for.

My approval. He was trying to read me. Figure out if I was disgusted or appeased.

If I was gonna scream and go running or if we were about to skip off towards our own version of a happily ever after.

It was no minor ask. Having someone kill for you.

But my shadow man never hesitated. Not when he’d followed me out into the hall, my father’s men within shouting distance.

Not when I’d used the spare key I made to unlock my mother’s bedroom door.

Not when we crept up to the side of the bed or even when we’d found her eyes wide open and staring back at us.

She’d been so still, lifeless but breathing. The same way she’d been since the night my father had her dragged out of the house kicking and cursing. And spitting. I’d never seen my mother spit before that night. Now all she could do was drool.

She hadn’t bothered to fight us off. She’d barely made a sound as he ran the razor-sharp blade across the largest vein in her throat and we watched her bleed out in front of us. Almost like she’d been expecting it. Some lost part of her wanting and waiting for it.

It was the humane thing to do when you saw someone you loved suffering. I also couldn’t leave her behind… with him . I could only imagine what my father would do to her when he found out what I was planning. We’d taken that option from him.

And now that it was done, we could run away together. It seemed like a brilliant idea when you were both drugged out of your mind. Less brilliant when you were sober. But we had a few hours before that would happen.

I nodded once, and my shadow man tucked the blade back into his waistband as he leaned forward and pressed a hand to my mother’s throat and again to her wrist. We had to make sure she was dead if any of this was going to work.

I also didn’t have long before the extra Molly I’d slipped him wore off, and I couldn’t chance him changing his mind.

Or me losing my nerve. I could already feel that warm sensation slipping away while my shadow man could barely stand upright.

It was clear only one of us was a chronic user.

It was the same one of us who knew shit about disposing of a body.

Which meant I had no choice but to leave my mother lying here.

I knew it was selfish. Everything about tonight was. Because asking this stranger to slit my mother’s throat wasn’t just about putting her out of her misery. It was about ensuring no one could use her against me.

She would have understood, though. If she were in her right mind enough for me to explain it, she would have understood. At least, I hoped she would…