Page 42 of The Games of Madmen

Jeremiah’s dead eyes stare up at the ceiling, and a red welt across his throat has leaked nearly all his blood across the bed. Bile creeps up my throat and a terrified sob rattles out of me.

Did I do this in my sleep?

Has my hatred for him finally exploded and I killed him while blacked out?

I shake my head, trying to make sense of this. None of it makes sense.

“I thought you were never going to wake up,” a small, familiar voice says from across the room. “You’re a heavy sleeper.”

I blink in utter confusion. “Whhhattt the…no fucking way…”

The girl smirks at me. “Way.”

Joy.

Sweet, probably a virgin, nun girl Joy.

Why is she here? Furthermore, why did she kill my boyfriend?

Joy points a bloodied knife in my direction.The murder weapon.“Sorry about the broken glass by the side of the bed. I needed to pee and wanted to hear if you got up. Crunch, crunch. Fantastic alarm system.”

She shrugs. Fucking shrugs. Who puts broken glass by someone’s bed to hear them cry out when they step on it? A psycho bitch, that's who.

“Who are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Her eyebrow arches up and pure evil dances in her once innocent eyes. “You know, if you weren’t up to your eyeballs in boy drama, you probably could have figured it out. Or, who knows, maybe the bleach fried one too many brain cells and we may never have gotten to this point without me hurrying it along.”

First of all, I’m a natural blonde.

Second of all… I need to focus. This girl is crazy enough to kill Jeremiah Cunningham. This is bad for so many reasons.

“What are you doing here?” I demand. “In my home?”

She laughs. “Jeremiah’s home, not yours. You just pay him in pussy to live here.”

I could take her. Probably. Or, maybe not at all. She’s small but she’s obviously insane. There’s no way I’ll take that chance unless I absolutely have to.

“The games are cute,” I say sharply. “Tell me or get the fuck out.”

Where did Jeremiah put his gun?

“You thinking you’re in charge right now is what’s cute.” She laughs at me, dark and really disturbed sounding. “I was just the girl sent with my uncle to check things out over here. Once Yuri found out about the twins picking up and bringing their gorgeous asses out to the good ol’ US of A, he just wanted us to do a little surveillance and report back. Suspicious and ambitious that man.” She taps at her temple with the butt ofher knife. “Imagine my surprise when you came up to the bar that night. Color me shocked. That’s hard to do. It was obviously fate.”

Fate?

What the hell is she talking about?

I absolutely need to find that gun. My feet are on fire. The glass was more than an alarm. It was to incapacitate me. She clearly wants to toy with me. Crazy bitch.

“Yuri sent you here?” I choke out, my thoughts shooting in a thousand different directions. “Why?”

I know damned well why.

“That man can hold a grudge.” She rolls her eyes and begins picking blood flakes from under her nails with the knife tip. “My daddy is the man he hires to do his dirty work.” Her face darkens, eyes locking on me. “Well, hewasthe man he hired. That is, until you or those twins killed him. Now my uncle is that man.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This is bad. Very bad.