Page 125 of On Edge

I nod.

His hand slides from my throat to the base of my neck and down my back. I’m trembling as he pulls me closer, his voice in my ear. “The question is... what am I going to do with you now?”

“You could let me go.” I want to sound bold, but I’m practically shaking.

“No.” He exhales softly. “I’ll take you inside the damn tower. You’re freezing, and you came all this way.” He releases me, suddenly, unexpectedly, and gestures to the open tower door behind me. “Go. Get inside, you’re shivering.”

I stare at him.

“Now. Before I forget that I’m supposed to be angry with you.”

The loss of his body heat makes me colder inside, but I move away from him, stumbling into the darkness of the tower out of the rain.

He follows, blocking the only exit.

Outside, the storm can be heard, growing stronger by the second. I glance up at the tower as the wind pummels it, echoing loud enough to make me feel like I’m in a piñata. And in the darkness, his forest-green eyes cut into mine.

“Warmer?”

I bite my lip and nod.

“Good.” He takes a step closer. “So tell me, Sage, what are you looking for in here? Proof of what you’ve already decided is true?”

My mind tries to flutter away with anxiety, but I lock it down.

“No.”

“Then what, Sage? Something to take back to daddy? Did he take away your shopping allowance unless you did as you were told?”

“I don’t need evidence. I know what you are.”

He cocks his head, coming closer. “And what’s that, little finch?”

“Y-you’re a murderer.”

His bottle green eyes gleam. “Now, why would you think that?”

I blink at him, my jaw clenching, trying to stifle the sob in my throat. It’s a fair question, but I’m not quite sure how to answer.

Nell told me…doesn’t quite cut it.

Another step. “Do you know what I think? I think you and your father made this whole thing up to try and put me away again, so you can take everything I’ve damn near killed myself to rebuild.”

“Because Tobias Ragg’s dead body is in your freezer. You killed him!”

The muscle in his jaw ticks. There’s a beat and then, “You think I killed him.”

“I-Iknowyou did it.”

“Do you now? And you’re telling me this when I have you trapped inside a tower during a storm?”

“Shit.”

He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. Then he comes too close.

I eye him warily and back away, trying to keep distance between us. The menace emanating from him is almost too frightening. I’ve never seen him like this before, not even when I woke up and he was glaring down at me in his bed.

This is the monster everyone warned me about.