Page 65 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions (Till Death Do Us Part #7)

Chapter Fifty-Five

Holly

As Jason took the unconscious bodies of Emmet Renfrew, Kaylee Collins, and Rachel Steiner into the fishery, I stood by the van with Jerome Roberts. I had not given him the sedative as I had the others. While I’d wanted him conscious and lucid, I had not expected him to become a willing prisoner.

He hadn’t even looked surprised to see us.

The van we’d used to transport Emmet, Kaylee, Rachel, and Jerome to the fishery was doomed for the bottom of the sea.

We’d used special lasers on the roof to blind any traffic cameras while taking a very obscure route.

Then Jason had pulled onto a side road, where we’d peeled a fake wrap off the van and added stickers to mimic a different brand of vehicle.

It never would have held up under close inspection, but it got us where we needed to go.

The sedative we’d used on my new prisoners was the same one we’d used on the FBI agents, including the two in the nondescript car down the road from the safe house, and the next-door neighbors.

No one would be waking any time soon to call in the issue.

They might miss a check-in, but that would still take time.

Jason and I were extremely fast and efficient, and the leotard suits we wore risked no DNA being left behind.

As soon as I’d taken the hood of my leotard off in the back of the van, Jerome had gasped, “Oh God, you are alive,” before crumbling into tears.

Now we were alone in the middle of a large open parking lot, watching Jason use a wheelbarrow to carry our former classmates away.

I reached into the glove compartment of the van, pulling out the zippered case Jason had procured for me earlier. The slider door of the van was open and Jerome was sitting on the plastic floor, staring up at the moon. He looked resigned.

As I approached, he wiped his eyes with the bottom of his palms. “Telling you how sorry I am seems so pointless.”

I sat down next to him, placing the open case between us. “It doesn’t change anything,” I said resolutely, “but you’d be the first to actually say it and mean it.”

“I keep seeing it. That day, over and over, in my head. I can’t figure out why . I mean, I knew better. I know better. I just…” He shook his head, his black curls bouncing like tiny springs. “I can’t believe I fell for his lie.”

“What lie?” I asked.

“Emmet. He told us you were into it. That you wanted it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And me telling you to stop didn’t clue you in otherwise?”

He winced. “He said you’d always dreamed of losing your virginity that way.” Shaking his head, he wiped more tears. “He said it was all an act.”

“It wasn’t,” I said shortly.

Jerome nodded, still not able to look at me.

“I know. I… knew . I just didn’t want to think I was capable of such…

” He cleared his throat. Glancing down, he let out a resigned sigh.

He reached for the case next to his right hip with a shaky hand.

Picking it up, he brought it to his lap, holding the case between both hands. “I take it this is for me.”

Though rhetorical, I nodded anyway. “You were the only one who ever showed any remorse. You will die, Jerome, but I wanted to give you this out first. If you follow me down to where the others are being taken, you’ll live a few days longer, maybe a week or two more, and they’ll be painful.

You’ll suffer, but you’ll be alive.” I tipped my chin at the heroin syringes.

“I read your suicide note. You confessed to everything, but I wasn’t ready for the world to know yet.

Because of that, I’m offering this to you now. ”

“You were the one who called 911?” he asked, glancing towards me without looking at my face. “That night, I could never figure out who called.”

“I did. It wasn’t your time yet, nor did you have the right to die before I was ready. You didn’t get to escape your guilt that easily.”

A breathy sob left his mouth. “I got sober. I tried to help… I volunteered at the shelter and I…” His voice trailed off.

“Jerome, you raped me. Your remorse and history of drug abuse proves you were the only one affected by that day, but it doesn’t excuse what you did. I know you don’t want to die, but you will . I am offering you the choice of it being now by your own hands, or later, very painfully, by mine.”

His hands violently shook the case, but the bands around the syringes held them in place. “I don’t want to die.”

“And I didn’t want to be raped, humiliated, and made out to be the town whore before being forced into an asylum.”

His chin quivered as he turned even more away from me. “I never wanted that.”

“Jerome, my patience is wearing thin. I am not going to sit here all night and reminisce about the day you and your buddies raped me. Take the heroin or don’t, but make your decision.

I am not in the mood to discuss your guilt.

Don’t mistake this offer for any sign of forgiveness or mercy on my part. ”

He nodded quickly. “I know. And I know I deserve this. We all do. We deserve to die for what we did to you, but I don’t want to go to Hell. And I know that’s where I’m going. I just…” His tears started falling faster. He looked down at the syringes. “I swore I’d never touch another needle.”

“You still don’t have to,” I reminded him.

Jerome swallowed hard, then lifted one hand to slide the top needle out of the bands. “Yes, I do.” He handed me the other needle still inside the case. Removing his jacket, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a patch of scars at the crook of his elbow.

I held up a teal rubber tourniquet.

Jerome’s eyes snapped up to mine for the first time.

His held such a depth of sadness, but it did not affect me or sway me as he reached forward to take the rubber band.

He stared at the tourniquet and capped needle in his hands for a long moment.

“Can you… I mean, I know I have no right to ask, but I was just wondering if you’re happy, Holly? ”

My name on his lips struck me in the chest with the force of a punch. It sounded… wrong , tainted in a way.

But his question gave me pause. Was I happy? I was finally getting the revenge I’d trained and planned for since I was eighteen years old. It was everything I’d wanted for so long…but… I turned my head in the direction of the fishery. Was I happy ?

My hand went to my thigh, as if seeking my phone that wasn’t there. I missed my Master something awful. It absolutely sucked, and was a bit ironic, that he’d been ordered to remain in Atelihai Valley now that I had moved my operation to the mainland.

Maybe there was a way I could get him to sneak back to his house? I hadn’t even had a chance to try out the dance pole he’d installed in his bedroom for me.

“Truth is,” I answered, though I owed Jerome no explanation, “I think I finally am. Or am on my way to being happy. There are a few things I have to wrap up,” I said vaguely.

It was more like names to cross off my list, but I had no desire to chase him through the fields if that caused him to bolt.

“But I think I could be. I want to be,” I added, more firmly.

Jerome nodded slowly. “I’m glad. Some unsolicited advice?” he offered, and I figured what the hell, so I nodded. “Find that happiness, Holly. Whatever it is, whether it’s considered normal or not. Seize it and don’t let it go. Of all of us in this shit world, you deserve it.”

Without waiting for my reply, Jerome wrapped the tourniquet around his arm one-handed, using his teeth to pull it tight. Despite being sober for over two years, his movements were well-practiced.

Then he popped the cap off of the syringe, located a vein, and pressed the sharp needle through his skin.

Jerome leaned his head against the doorframe of the van, as the sadness on his face was replaced with utter rapture.

In the silence of the night, there was nothing to disturb his prayer as he pressed down on the plunger.

“Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name…”