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“E ddie!” Gina screamed as she stepped back. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Get inside,” Victor demanded, still glaring at me as I threw my hands in the air.

Call me crazy, but he looked like a completely different person now. That cheeriness he carried was now concealed by a darkness I couldn’t comprehend. His hazel eyes were murky, his lips pinched tight, his nostrils flared.

He seemed like such a simple man before. Not overly toned. Not very tall. Your average build. But as he stood there in this moment, I could see that he had strength. With his spine stacked and his chest out, he looked sturdier.

Deadlier .

“Eddie!” Gina yelled again as she clung to her daughter.

“Take Emily back to her room, Gina. Now .”

“I don’t understand what’s going on!” she cried.

“There’s nothing to understand!” he barked over his shoulder. “Just fucking take her!”

I stepped away.

He noticed.

He grabbed my forearm and yanked me into the kitchen. I yelped as he wrangled me close.

“Eddie, please,” I pleaded.

“You shouldn’t be so fucking nosy , Rose. But you can’t help it, can you?” he growled in my ear. “Fucking reporters. Can never stay out of people’s business. Go that way.” He released my arm to shove me away, then pointed at a door on the opposite side of the kitchen.

I shuffled forward, biting back tears.

“Open the door,” he ordered.

I twisted the doorknob, only to be greeted with darkness. He reached around me and tugged on a string connected to a bulb, revealing a long stretch of descending stairs to a basement.

“Go on.” He nudged the center of my back with the gun.

“Eddie, I don’t understand,” I breathed, taking the stairs down slowly. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I’m not stupid,” he muttered. “I know you know.”

“Know what ?”

“About me and Eve.”

I shuddered a breath. “I don’t know anything.”

Scoffing, he nudged me again. When I made it to the basement floor, he moved around me but kept the gun pointed my way. The basement was mostly empty, minus a kayak and a few folded chairs.

Grabbing one of the chairs, he unfolded it, then pointed at it with the gun. “Sit down.”

My legs were like Jell-O, but I did as he instructed.

Someone clambered down the stairs and it didn’t take long for Gina to appear. “Eddie! What in the hell are you doing?” she hissed at him. “You’re scaring me! You’re scaring Emily !”

“Gina, grab that rope over there,” he called out, ignoring her.

She frowned, looking to where he was pointing with his free hand as he stood behind me. Her mouth trembled as she took all the stairs down and looked from him to me.

“Eddie, I’m not letting you do this.” She squared her shoulders, attempting a defiant stance, but I could see the fear in her eyes. “You’re being stupid. Always getting yourself mixed up in these terrible situations! This woman didn’t do anything to you!”

“Gina. Get the damn rope ,” Victor growled through gritted teeth.

Her breaths came out unsteady as she waited him out. Then she caved in and turned for the rope stacked on top of a box in the corner. She handed it to him, but not without giving me an apologetic look first. I looked away, trying to stop my body from shaking.

“Is this about that girl?” Gina asked, stepping back as Victor placed the gun down. I glanced at it as he began to unravel the rope. He’d placed the gun too far away, but if I lunged quickly enough, I could make it.

“The one who called my phone?” Gina proceeded.

“Just go back upstairs,” he muttered, shaking the rope out.

I glanced at the gun again. Then at Gina. She was eyeing the gun too. Her eyes connected to mine, and she shook her head, silently pleading with me. I could imagine her thinking don’t do it, don’t do it .

Fuck that. I was doing it.

I shot out of the chair and yelled as I pushed past Victor.

He dropped the rope just as I was about to grab the gun and shoved me to the right.

Gina shrieked as I fell down on my side.

Victor stormed my way and started to reach for my throat but I caught his wrist. I wrapped a leg around his ankle and brought him down to the ground with me.

A move I’d mastered in my jiujitsu defense classes.

I was about to climb on top of him and aim for his Adam’s apple, but he pushed me off and slammed me onto my back. The back of my head hit the cement floor. I was left with no choice but to freeze as the pain took over.

“Don’t be stupid, Rose,” Victor snarled. He wrapped a hand around my throat and used his other to grab the gun. I glanced at Gina and groaned. She had backed up with her hands cupping her mouth. Frozen too.

Victor tightened his grip around my throat, and I clawed at his hand.

His jaw ticked as he pointed the gun at my head.

“You’re going to get back in that chair, and you’re going to be still.

You won’t try anything else, or I swear I’ll put a bullet through your head right now and end your worthless life. ”

His eyes flared as I choked. Black seeped around the edges of my vision. My grip slackened as I lost oxygen. Just when I thought I’d lose consciousness, he let go and I inhaled a sharp breath.

Is that what he’d done to Eve?

Choked her to death?

Victor jerked me off the ground and lugged me to the chair again.

I slumped in it, rubbing my sore throat, still dragging in deep breaths.

This time, he tucked the gun into the waistband of his sweats before snatching up the rope.

He gripped my shoulder to pull me back, then wrapped the rope around my chest. As he went lower, I felt it digging into the lower part of my ribs.

I winced. “Eve,” I croaked, swinging my eyes to Gina. “Are you talking about Eve? Is she the one who called you?”

“Yes! That’s her name!” Gina said, her misty eyes wider.

“I was right, then. Wasn’t I, Eddie? You were fucking her.

” The anger seemed to throttle her. “You lied to me! You said she was a friend—a colleague. You said nothing happened. I canceled our fucking divorce because you promised it was nothing! You promised you would focus on our family and our future! I should’ve known you were lying! ”

“I think he killed her, Gina,” I rasped. Right after, Victor slapped me so hard I saw stars.

“You don’t know shit!” he spat in my face.

Blood flooded my mouth as I closed my eyes and groaned.

“I don’t know what you did to the other girl, but you need to leave this one alone.” Gina stepped forward, tipping her chin. “I should’ve known not to trust you. I should’ve listened to my instincts. You let her go now, or I’m calling the police.”

Gina clenched a fist as Victor stepped closer to her.

“I’m not letting her go, G. And you aren’t calling the cops on me. You’re not foolish. You know how bad this will make you and the company look.”

Gina’s hand shook. “I don’t care. You’ve underestimated me enough.” She twisted around and stormed halfway up the stairs.

Before she could make it, Victor raised the gun.

I screamed when the gunshot echoed through the basement.