Page 92 of The Midnight Club

“I think you know.”

It was twilight when they stopped at a gas station. Waving hello at the gas station owner, Ori waited in the car as Maceo filled the car and went to pay.

Her phone buzzed, and she was looking down at it as the driver’s door opened.

“Hey, all set?”

No answer and, expecting Maceo, she was shocked when she looked up into the face of a stranger. Not the face, but a black mask pulled down. Ori had no time to yell; her attacker clamped his hand over her face and with his other hand, tore her T-shirt open.

Ori, beyond terror now, watched in disbelief as he placed the tip of the knife against her navel and for a second she thought he was just going to threaten her again. That he was here just to scare her. Terrorize her. He removed his hand from her mouth.

“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t.”

The moment he drove the blade into her, all the way to the hilt, she knew she was wrong. The steel sliced through her belly as if it were butter and as he stabbed her over and over, she wondered how she could ever have been so stupid to think she was ever safe.

Maceo... my love, my life.

As her attacker finally let her be, Ori felt her body betray her, her head slumping against the cold window, her hand clamped over her torn belly, trying to stem the blood gushing from her wounds and knowing that she would not survive this.

“Why?” Barely a whisper.

Her attacker pulled his mask up enough to reveal his lips and kissed her as she bled to death. “Because … this is how I show my love, Orianthi,” he whispered.

Ori barely felt it when he stabbed her twice more and then left her to die.

Maceo was chattingto the gas station owner and his wife as he paid for the gas. He was still smiling when he walked out to the car and got in.

“Great people, great ….”

He looked over at his love and for a second could not comprehend what he was seeing. Her lovely face was pale, her eyes closed, her breathing ragged and shallow. His eyes dropped, and he saw the torn flesh and the blood, so much blood, and knew in an instant what had happened.

The gas station owner would never forget the young man’s howl of utter despair and grief …