Page 60 of Shades of Ruin (Sharp Edges Duet #2)

Chapter Forty-Four

GREYSON

M y pretty little ruin must be in enormous pain, but there aren’t any tears in her eyes. Only fire and determination. A fighter forever and always. And I’ll love her for it until my heart stops beating.

“You okay, angel?” I rasp, my voice jagged with pain.

She manages to nod in response, but we both know she isn’t.

Her eyes dart behind her, trying to communicate something.

It takes me a moment before realization slams into me.

Toby is back there. I have more than just Angélica to worry about now.

I have a boy depending on me, too. A boy who doesn’t deserve to have any more pain in his life.

I crane my neck up to glare at Aurélie. “Where is Tobias?”

She scoffs. “So much concern for the boy who isn’t yours, Grey?

” Suddenly, there’s a noose of rope around my neck, pinning me to the back of the chair as she wraps it around me before tying it off.

“You have such an obsession with collecting lost, broken things that you neglect the people of true value standing right in front of you. ”

“Where is he?” I demand, the words strained thanks to the tight strangulation of the rope.

Rope twists around my chest, the pressure it puts on my wounded shoulder making me wince. “Tobias is sleeping down the hall,” Aurélie whispers in my ear. “I can assure you he won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

“What did you do to him?” I growl.

“Nothing to worry about. Just a little chloroform to chase away the nightmares. I wouldn’t want him to wake up and see me carving this one’s heart out of her chest.” She points her large chef’s knife in Angélica’s direction.

“I’ll just tell him she left like all the others. Kids will believe anything you know.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be involved in this,” I plead, my vision going a little hazy with blood loss.

“You’re right, he doesn’t,” Aurélie agrees with mock sympathy.

She ties my legs to the sides of the chair, making sure to press her hands into my wounded thighs as she does.

“It’s your fault he’s a part of this now, you know.

If you hadn’t insisted on interfering, if you hadn’t taken him to play a silly little game of house with your Colombian whore, he would be home in France waiting for his maman to return. ”

“I couldn’t leave him with someone like you.”

“Come now, Grey. As if you’re any better,” she tuts, and the vicious truth of her words riles the doubt and guilt that’s always lingered in my chest.

People like me don’t deserve to have a family. Those close to me always get hurt.

“Now I’ll have to think of a convincing threat to keep him from talking about this little incident with anyone he shouldn’t,” Aurélie sighs. “The boy has such a soft, weak heart that it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

A bright smile lights up her face. “And speaking of hearts, the food is getting cold.” She leans down and presses a venomous kiss against my cheek. “Be a good boy and wait quietly while I get dinner served.”

Worried that she’ll take any punishment for disobedience out on Angélica, I sit in silence until she’s out of the room. When the click of her heels finally fades, I focus on my girl and try to find a way to save her from this mess.

“How bad is it, angel?” I whisper harshly. “Do you still have feeling in your legs? Your hands?” She nods softly, the pain in her eyes more than obvious.

“Okay, that’s good. I’ll get you out of this fucking mess. I promise.” This time, she shakes her head. “No giving up on me now, little ruin. You’re stronger than that. You’re the most indestructible person I’ve ever met. Just hang in there.”

The sound of stilettos travels down the hall. “I love you,” I tell her quickly before the evil bitch comes back. “I love you so much I could die happily tonight—because I got to keep you for as long as I did.” Heartbreak flickers in Angélica’s brown eyes, but she nods her head in agreement.

“You and me to the end, angel. No take backs.”

Our vow hangs heavy in the air as Aurélie dances back into the room holding two plates. I avert my eyes from what’s on them.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she announces as she places one of the plates in front of me.

I turn my face away, trying not to inhale the scent of seared human hearts.

“It’s not every day you get to enjoy something this decadent.

” She sits down beside me and daintily drapes a napkin across her lap before picking up her fork.

Aurélie turns toward me, pouting when she sees I’ve ignored her dish. “Is my cooking suddenly not up to your standards, Grey? I don’t recall you ever turning it down before.”

“I’m sure your cooking is just as spectacularly mediocre as it’s always been, Aurélie,” I seethe.

She lashes out and slaps me across the face, her red nails raking into my skin. “Talk to me like that again, and I’ll take it out on her instead,” Aurélie warns, glaring down the table at Angélica.

I don’t like the way my girl’s golden skin has suddenly turned pale.

She needs help soon, or there won’t be any saving for either of us.

Subtly, she nods her head, as if agreeing with Aurélie.

She wants me to goad my crazy ex into punishing her?

Maybe she’s just ready to be put out of her misery.

I don’t like the thought of her giving up so easily.

“Now, you’re going to eat this divine meal because I took the time to make it just for you.

” Her fork and knife scrape against the plate with a jarring screech that leaves me cringing in my seat.

She cuts a large piece of heart and swirls it through a rivulet of truffle and garlic jus before putting the fork up to my lips.

“Medium rare just how you like it,” she says with a smile.

I can’t force myself to part my lips. I can’t willingly allow her to put a piece of one of my friends in my mouth. The fact that it smells delicious makes me want to throw up on the table.

“Come on, Grey. I know how much you love truffle oil. Have a little taste,” she coaxes, smearing the bite over my mouth until the red juice from the heart coats my lips.

“Burn in hell, Aurélie,” I bite out of clenched teeth.

A frown mars her pretty face. “You can still make it out of this, Grey. You don’t both have to die.

I would take you back. I would love you like I always have.

” Her expression turns calculated and cruel.

“But I would need a little assurance from you that you wouldn’t turn on me. I’d need a true act of love in return.”

“And what the fuck would that be?”

“Nothing much,” she purrs. “You can start by eating your dinner.” Again, the damn fork prods my lips.

I have to play her game for a little while.

I have to buy time so I can figure out how to save Angélica.

At this point, I don’t give a fuck about saving myself.

My soul is already a lost cause as it is.

So I open my mouth and let her feed me a perfectly seared piece of heart.

My stomach churns as I try to chew, even as my taste buds flare to life at the decadent flavor.

It would be easier if it didn’t taste so good.

Aurélie smiles happily and takes a few bites from her own plate, dabbing at her red lips with her napkin after every time like she’s in some high-society restaurant where people would give a fuck what she looks like as she devours human hearts.

I dread the moment she brings the fork to my lips again, but I open a second time and try to think of anything else as my teeth tear into the sinuous meat.

“So how did you manage to pull off the Pandemonium murder?” I ask after choking down what’s in my mouth.

She tried to pin the blame for Collette on my girl, and I want to see if Aurélie will condemn herself in any way that could be taken to the police, just in case Angélica makes it out of this night alive and I don’t.

“Are you finally asking for my secrets, Gavin Greyson?” Aurélie says, thrilled that I’m finally taking an interest in her gruesome work. “I’ve been dying to tell you everything.” She forces another bite into my mouth, and I chew it dutifully.

“So your little kink club ended up being the easiest hit of them all,” she informs me, leaning over the table like she’s spilling the juiciest gossip.

“I discovered one of your high ranking members had a torture porn obsession and liked to spend his time on the dark web looking at snuff films and other naughty mischief. I offered to make all his dreams come true, and he happily accepted.”

“A member of the club?” I repeat, unable to believe she found someone willing to help her murder an innocent woman. That goes way fucking far beyond the realm of kink. That’s pure, goddamn evil .

“Yes. Xander Cavenaugh?” Another bite of heart.

“He mentioned you two had gotten into a few arguments in the past. I imagine taking down your little whore helped to sweeten the deal. The two of us lured Collette upstairs to Xander’s private room and fucked her before I got to work with my knife.

She was dead long before I had Xander cut the lights to move her down to the main room. ”

Fucking Xander . If I make it to tomorrow alive, killing him is at the top of my list.

“So it was you in the bathroom with Angélica?” I ask to keep her talking. “You wiped the blood on her hands?”

“Of course. I wasn’t supposed to interact with her, but I just couldn’t help myself. And it was so much fun watching all of you scramble to prove her innocence. It was well worth the risk.”

I don’t tell Aurélie that the cops picked up a print from the blood on Angélica’s hands. And she just confirmed it’s hers.

I look down to see both our plates are empty, the nauseating evidence that I’ve eaten an entire heart sitting heavy in my stomach. And I’m not sure I want to know what Aurélie has planned for the rest of the night.

“I think it’s time for dessert, don’t you?” Aurélie asks as she stacks our empty plates and pushes them across the table.

“What are we having? I suppose we’re keeping with the theme of the evening. Eyeball sorbet, maybe? Tongue tartlet?”

“Oh Grey,” she laughs. “You always did have a wicked sense of humor.” She picks up the large chef’s knife beside her and points the tip toward Angélica. “Now I want you to take this knife and plunge it into your angel’s heart until it stops beating.”

“No,” I snarl. Beneath the table, I’m working to loosen the rope around my legs.

She didn’t tie it very well, and I can feel the grip slipping.

If I can get my legs free, I can throw back the chair and hopefully break it enough to make a run for Angélica.

I just wish my damn hands weren’t cuffed.

I try to move my wrists, but there’s no give at all.

My fingers have gone cold, and there’s barely any feeling left in them.

“No?” Aurélie pushes back her chair and stands, glaring down at me. “But you didn’t even hear the other options.”

“Knowing you, they only get worse.”

“Naturally,” she agrees with a feline smile. She runs her finger down the edge of the blade, not even flinching when it slices her skin. “Stab this knife into her heart, or I’ll do it in front of you and force you to watch her bleed out. Then I’ll drag Tobias from his bed and carve him open too.”

The blood drains from my face. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, you know perfectly well I would, chéri .”

“Fuck you, I’m not playing this game.” I tug frantically on the rope, hoping for a miracle. Hoping this isn’t the way it ends.

“Option two it is then,” she announces with a maniacal edge that’s terrifying before stalking to the other end of the table.

“Wait!” I shout, trying to stall. I get one leg free and start to work on the other, my fingers trembling with adrenaline.

She turns toward me, and it’s like looking an angel of death in the face. “I’ve waited for ten years, Grey. I’m not waiting any longer.”

She reaches Angélica sooner than I expect, and I have a sinking feeling that I won’t be able to get to her in time. I won’t be able to save her. I’m going to lose her after I’ve only just found her. And that’s the cruelest injustice of all.

“You don’t have to do this, Aurélie. This isn’t you. You aren’t a killer.”

“Darling, I’ve never been more myself in my entire life.

” Her blue eyes glisten brightly, and I know she’s telling the truth.

This is the version of herself she kept hidden when we shared a kitchen all those years ago.

The sweet innocence was merely the calculated mask of a monster.

“This is exactly what I am. Now stop begging for her life before I decide to really make it hurt for her.”

Aurélie holds the knife in one hand and yanks the gag from Angélica’s mouth with the other. “Any last words before I spill your blood all over this pretty knife?”

No, no, no . This can’t be the end.

I capture Angélica’s gaze from across the table.

Her warm brown eyes are still filled with determination.

That fire of hers will never fade, not even when there’s no hope left.

“I love you,” I mouth, and I know she feels the truth of my words.

She smiles up at me, the satisfaction on her lips so out of place with our situation.

She won’t give Aurélie the satisfaction of her fear.

“I love you, too,” she whispers back, the words so faint I have to read her lips to know she feels the same.

“What was that, whore? I couldn’t hear you,” Aurélie hisses. She leans in closer, intent on relishing the last words of a dying girl. The only fucking girl I ever truly loved.

“I said rot in hell, you crazy bitch,” my little ruin spits, vicious to her last breath.

And I can’t wait to join her in the peaceful silence of death.

The knife slides in, and my world stops for a moment.