Page 86 of Ruined

Think.Just think. The gun. It had to be close.

He maneuvered his weight on top of me, flipping me over to face him, his cock hard against my thigh. He held the knife to my throat, jerked it so that I had to look up to him. My neck stung. He had cut me there.

“I knew your mother. Jessa, that stupid cunt. She would never speak to me inside of the Dahlia District, but when I saw her at the strip club, she begged me. That fucking whore worshipped me just so that she could pay a portion of her debts. I don’t usually associate with used up cunts like that, but she was so pathetic. I was doing her a service.”

I shook my head as much as I could with the knife on my throat. He yanked down my pants and underwear, and I tried so hard to whip myself out of his grip, but he still exposed me.

“You’re a monster,” I hissed.

“When she wouldn’t get rid of the kid, I got rid of them myself. I couldn’t have it affecting my marriage with Bella, now, could I?” He grasped my breast and I cried out. “And then I saw how easy it was to get away with.”

With a knife on my throat, he reached down to pull his cock free. I looked away. His skin touched mine.

“You’re pathetic. Just like your mother,” he said.

If I could guarantee her safety, it would be worth it. Even if I died.

At least Nora was with Lucas. He would give her a good life.

A sharp, dulled sound broke through us. Blood splattered on my face, but there was no pain. Was it his blood, or mine?

Aldrich’s ear was gone. He held a hand to the side of his face, blood dripping down over us. He looked over his shoulder. “What the—”

Another bullet landed in his head. He collapsed on top of me, drenching me in his blood.

What the hell had happened?

Footsteps. Then a shadow.

Mel kept the gun steady on Aldrich.

“Mel,” I breathed.

“He’s dead?” she asked.

Judging by the large hole in his cranium, he wouldn’t be coming back from that anytime soon. “I think so,” I managed.

She dropped the gun and started pulling at his sides until he rolled over. A river of crimson blood pooled around us. I stood up, adrenaline trembling through my limbs, making it hard to stay still. I tried wiping the blood off of me with my hands, but that made it worse. It was everywhere.

Mel stared at my blood-stained body, her eyes blank.

“He’s dead,” she murmured.

“He would’ve killed me,” I said.

Mel didn’t move. She stared at his body lying on the floor. I clicked through my phone trying to find Dahlia’s number, blood smearing on the screen, making it difficult to click through. Dahlia would know what to do.

But before I dialed, I wanted to express my gratitude. Things would move quickly after I called.

“You saved me,” I said, turning to Mel. I touched her arm. “Thank you.”

She wrenched out of my grasp. “You knew, didn’t you?” she asked, raising her voice.

“Knew what?”

“That Aldrich was crazy. That he killed women. You knew. You knew and you let me get close to him.”

I stared at her. She was mad at me, right now of all times? When she had just saved me from a murderer?