You Will Be Mine

by Natasha Preston

  "So you killed my friends because I don't come home as much?" I screech, throwing my hands up. "Why didn't you tell me how you were feeling? And how could you have killed these people? That's not normal, Riley! You killed people! What's wrong with you?"

  He frowns. He fucking frowns like he has no idea what I'm talking about. "I just needed you home, Lylah. But you wanted to stay...for them. So I eliminated that obstacle for you."

  "I didn't stay for them; I stayed for me," I say softly. "Oh my God, I can't believe what I'm hearing. Tell me this isn't real. Please tell me there's been some mistake and you're not responsible for all of this." As I start to put the pieces together, I realize something else. "Shit, you grabbed me! In the alleyway. That was you!"

  I can't breathe. I'm going to pass out. My vision blurs, and I claw at my chest, trying to get my lungs to inflate again.

  "Lylah!" Riley shouts.

  He moves toward me, but I leap back.

  I shove my hand out, my palm facing him. "Don't! Do not come near me."

  "I'm not going to hurt you."

  "You already have. They were my friends, Riley. They were people. How could you? The things you did to them... How could you?"

  His eyebrows furrow in anger. "They had your heart, and you had theirs. I saw how you were with them, laughing and joking. You spent all of your time with five virtual strangers, and you couldn't leave them to visit your own brother."

  "You cut out their hearts out because we all cared for each other?"

  I repeat the sentence in my head, trying to get it to make sense.

  "It was difficult, but I practiced."

  "What?" I whisper, his words winding around me. He practiced?

  "Pigs."

  "You cut open pigs?"

  He stares at me, his eyes searching for something. Forgiveness? Acceptance? I don't know what, but he won't find them from me.

  "I've been working out. I'm stronger than I've ever been. The size of the pigs on the Daveys' farm isn't too far off the average weight of a person. I can keep us safe. I can make sure no one comes between our family again."

  Daveys' farm is just down the road from our place back home. Growing up we would always help the Daveys whenever one of the pigs escaped. It was thrilling to chase a pig down the road as a kid. We thought it was brilliant.

  The pigs' hearts. The ones Riley stuck to a noticeboard and sent in a box to make us think it was our friends' hearts.

  No.

  Why?

  "What the hell happened to you? When did you decide to do this? I was home at Christmas, Riley!"

  "You forced my hand, Lylah."

  Bullshit. There may be instances when I've taken the blame when I shouldn't have, but I won't take responsibility for this. He can't seriously justify everything he's done.

  "How long have you been planning this?" I demand.

  "I started to think about solutions for my problem when I came to see you in November. That's when you told me you weren't coming home for the anniversary of our parents' death. But see? Now we're together."

  "What the hell! I told you I wasn't sure if I felt strong enough to be at home with...with all of those memories. You said for me to stay!" I shouted.

  "Because I was worried about you. But that got me thinking about how much your friends have changed you. My sister would want to be with her family during emotional times. My sister wouldn't miss a birthday or anniversary. Can't you see it, Lylah? You're getting cold and detached here. Your friends kept you from me. I knew that I had to get you out of here."

  He takes a step closer, and I tense. Riley has always been my safety net, but now, he's shattered that. I am alone.

  "I know it's going to be hard, but I'll get you help, and we'll make our family better. We can go home now."

  "You really are insane if you think I'm going anywhere with you. How can you not see that you're the one who needs help? This isn't how you get someone to do what you want. If you were struggling without me, you should have told me. You talk to a therapist! You don't kill people!"

  Riley looks astonished. "This isn't about me. You're the one who needs me. I helped you. I can't believe you can't see it."

  My mind races. He is sick, unstable. I'm so out of my league trying to get out of this. What do I do? If I go to the cops, will they simply throw him in prison? He's obviously not well. He needs treatment. Therapy. Something. I am so angry at him, but he's still my brother. I can't just abandon him. My mind is spinning, trying to take in this revelation and figure out what to do. I need to keep him talking.

  "Riley, what happened to Jake?"

  "The pigs weren't my only practice. The pigs were key. They helped me hone my craft...and dispose of the evidence."

  Frowning, I shake my head. "What? I don't under..."

  Oh.

  His human practice was Jake.

  "You...you fed Jake to the pigs after you killed him?"

  The corner of his mouth ticks up in a smirk, and I don't recognize my brother. I'm staring at a stranger. This boy used to bring injured birds home to nurse them back to health. That boy is not the one standing in front of me.

  "Jake was so obsessed with you," Riley continued. "He came to see me after he dropped out of college. He said that he couldn't be around you after you rejected him. He tried to get over you, but then he saw how you would look at Chace... He came to see me to tell me that he couldn't be my friend either. And to tell me that I should watch out for you. That Chace was a player and would break your heart."

  "Wait, Jake came to see you?"

  "We were friends too, Lylah."

  Riley had visited me at school more than any of my housemates' family members, but I didn't know he was forging his own friendships with my friends.

  "Jake was texting me when he dropped out of school, so I invited him out for the weekend."

  Thinking back, I remember that Jake packed his stuff and left the weekend after Riley had come to visit. There was a special event on campus, so we had all hung out together.

  "What happened?" I ask, terrified of what Riley would tell me.

  "Jake got drunk and poured his heart out. The guy was in love with you and hated Chace," Riley said with disgust. "He said he couldn't be around you and not be with you. Jake knew that you wouldn't give up Chace for him, and he could see what I see--that you are willing to give up the people who truly care about you for people you won't see again after graduation."

  "You don't get to decide who I care about, Riley! They're my friends!" I run my hand over my face.

  "Your friends aren't good people."

  I shake my head. "What are you talking about? The people you killed were good people! You don't know them, and you've proved that you don't know me."

  I'm at a total loss. Detective Lina said the killer would be unstable, but this is way more than I anticipated. This is my brother, but I don't know him at all. I wish knew how to talk to him. He thinks I'm to blame for his actions, so what do I say to get through to him?

  "You've killed six people, Riley."

  He dips his head in a curt nod. "For you."

  Anger burns in my stomach, but I realize I can't say anything in response.

  He continues. "After you moved here, you weren't interested in spending time with me anymore. Every time I visited, you were preoccupied with your so-called friends. I tried so hard to get you to spend more time with me. I asked you to go to come home in January, but you were having a girls' night! It was always one thing or another. I got tired of your excuses."

  Riley was always an open book to me. Sometimes I knew what he was going to say before he did. We could practically complete each other's sentences. But this person, this evil human in front of me isn't my brother. "You look like you have a lot of questions, Lylah," he says suddenly. "And you look scared. Why are you afraid?"

  Duh!

  I try to keep my voice calm and even. "You confessed to murder, Riley. You killed my friends. You're telling me you did all these horrif
ic things, and you expect me to be grateful? I'm heartbroken for the people who have died. The people who have died at your hand. How could I not be scared of you?"

  "But I haven't hurt you." He reaches for me, and every nerve in my body screams at me to run. But running is too risky. He's too fast for me. "I would never hurt you. You're my sister."

  With my palms sweating and heart hammering, I grab hold of every ounce of courage I have and step forward, meeting him halfway.

  "I believe you, Riley," I whisper. "You've always taken care of me." The words I am saying disgust me. What I want is to scream at him. To hit him. To rewind time and undo this mess. "Will you tell me how the rest of it happened? I know why, but not how."

  "I knew I had to come for you. Jake was ranting about how much closer to Chace you were when he left. Every second you spent with your friends, you were drifting further from our family--from me. It was only a matter of time before you and Chace got together, and I couldn't stand it. You would follow him, move away after school, and would never give a shit about me again. The thought of you and him makes so angry and so disgusted, I wanted to put my hands around his neck and squeeze." His hands ball into fists and press against the side of his thighs.

  I squirm, frowning at his words. "When did you arrive?"

  "Two days before I killed Sonny," he says simply. "But I have been back and forth since the new year."

  His words are a punch to the stomach. He's been watching us--me--for more than a month. I press my lips together and breathe through my nose.

  "Why Sonny first?"

  Well, second, I guess, after Jake.

  "He was cocky, always had been. I had to get rid of him first or he would have shouted his mouth off about what I was doing. I knew the police would make you keep quiet about aspects of my mission, but Sonny would have told everyone too soon about what was happening. Nothing would have been secret. I wanted people to know when I was ready, and he would have taken that away from me."

  "You killed Charlotte and left her exposed in a public place! How could you do that to her? To anyone?"

  He tilts his head. "Lylah, you disobeyed my terms. There are always consequences."

  I still didn't understand. I pressed him. "How did you get into our house?"

  "Lylah." He looks up to the ceiling, smirking and shaking his head like he can't believe how stupid my very valid question is. Somehow he was getting into my house. "I made a copy of your key when you visited at Christmas."

  My lungs deflated. I'd misplaced them for an entire morning. Riley had found them behind the end table in the hallway. God, I'd looked there too, but he said I must not have looked properly.

  He took them because he was planning to stalk me and kill my friends.

  "What about after we changed the locks?"

  "That was annoying. I knew I couldn't get to your key again. But thankfully I have a friend with...questionable morals who was only too happy to show me how to pick a lock. I wish I'd gone to him from the start; it was much more exhilarating to get in that way."

  Oh my God. "How frequently were you in the house?"

  "Only when I needed to be."

  And how often was that?

  "Right," I say, still in shock at his latest confession.

  "I just wanted you to come home. When you refused, I knew I had to get rid of the barriers, the people who were keeping you here. Sonny, Isaac, Charlotte, Chace. They were all stopping you."

  "But not Sienna? She's my best friend. And Jake had already left school! What about the cop? What did he do? He had a family! And Nora--she was completely innocent!"

  Riley sighs in frustration, like the reasons he killed these people are obvious, and I'm just not getting it. He has always been very smart. I used to envy his mind. Not anymore. I don't want to be anything like him.

  "Please, I need answers," I beg. And I need to figure out how to call for help or get out of here.

  "Sienna wouldn't hold you back. She's always told you to go back home when I've asked you to visit in front of your friends. She was the only one who encouraged you to spend time with your family."

  My head is spinning.

  "Nora," he says, narrowing his eyes. "She spent the night with me when I visited at Halloween. We were both drunk, and I confessed how I felt about you never coming home, how I hated your friends. I didn't think she'd remember, but she mentioned it in the morning. I apologized for venting to her, and she agreed not to tell you. But when I arrived back in town this month, she caught me watching the house and put two and two together. I didn't want to hurt her, but I had to. She would have figured out it was me and turned me in before I could finish my work."

  "You and Nora were...together?" I know that's not the detail I should focus on, but I never would have imagined them together. She was quiet and reserved, and he's always been loud and outgoing. Was that why she was trying to befriend me? She liked my brother and was trying to reconnect with him?

  He rolls his eyes, and I get a glimpse of the big brother I knew. "She'd messed up some assignment or something and came to The Bar to get drunk. I was angry because you'd ditched spending time with me, yet again, for a dinner with Charlotte."

  I remembered that. Char got one bad grade and was stressing over it, so I took her out.

  "The cop caught me when I was trying to leave a note. He looked like he was asleep in his car, but he wasn't. He started to come after me, so I had to act fast. Thankfully I'd perfected my technique."

  Technique. That's what he calls murder and mutilation.

  I look away and close my eyes. What the hell would our parents think?

  "What's the rest of your plan?" I whisper, looking at him, scared to hear the answer.

  "You go back to the house and pack. We tell the cops that you're coming home with me. I'll come back and finish the job. The police will still suspect Jake...but they'll never find him. It's all tied up."

  Oh my God, you're crazy.

  "Riley, you need help."

  "We'll help each other. It's what we've done since Mom and Dad died, and it's what we need to do again." He smiles at me, and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. I hold my ground, knowing I can't back down, even though I want to recoil.

  "Wait--what do you mean finish the job?"

  "Chace." Riley smirks. "You won't be free until you cut ties with him. So I'm going to sever the hold he has on you."

  My lungs empty. "No. No, Riley, you can't. Please."

  "It has to be done. Do you think he'll let you leave? He'll follow you, Lylah. Once he's gone, this will all be over. How can you not see that?"

  I shake my head, my eyes filling with tears. My heart aches in the worst way. We haven't been a couple for long, but my feelings for him run deep. We've been friends long before we were together. I have to protect Chace.

  "Riley, I'll tell Chace I don't love him," I plead. "I'll explain that I was looking for a replacement, someone to take care of me, and that my feelings got muddled. That I was upset about our friends' deaths, and that I need my space to move on. He won't come looking for me if he knows there's no chance of us being together."

  Riley's eyes, now void of humanity, stare straight through me. "No." He tilts his head to the side and grins. "I'm going to kill him and serve you his heart."

  28

  Wednesday

  February 14

  My ears are ringing. Riley's words are alien. He doesn't speak like that. Hell, he doesn't even think like that.

  I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

  Riley smiles sweetly, and I get a glimpse of my brother again.

  How ill is he? What's wrong with my brother?

  He folds his arms. "Why are you still standing there? We need to get you back to the house so you can pack. I already have my things together. I'm ready."

  What?

  He's planning to kill Chace, and he expects me to go along with it, simply going home to pack and leaving him to his business? His murder business?

  So
mehow, I need to find a way to talk to this terrifying version of my brother. If I can do that, maybe I can talk him down. Maybe I can get him into police custody, where he won't harm anyone else--or himself.

  "Riley, you're my brother, and I love you, but what you're doing, what you've done, is wrong. It's time to do the right thing. I'll stand by you, and I'll fight to get you the best help out there, but I won't protect you for what you've done, and I won't let you hurt anyone else."

  "Family. First," he growls. "A person's heart belongs to their family, not their friends. When did you forget that? They had your heart, so I took theirs from them."

  He bends over and lifts the lid on a wooden box on the table.

  I crumble. Gagging, I almost sink to the ground. "No! No, Riley!"

  Four hearts.

  Sonny, Nora, Isaac, Charlotte.

  The cop had his when they found his body, and Jake's was fed to pigs.

  The hearts are dark, almost black, and squashed together. Who's is who's? Does Riley even know? Does he even care?

  My stomach lurches.

  "Oh God, you kept them." Pressing my palm to my mouth, I avert my tear-filled eyes and try to focus as my mind short-circuits. The smell is so rotten and vile that I retch. "How could you do that? You cut their hearts out and kept them." The words don't make sense even as I speak them out loud.

  Why has he kept them? Are they trophies? How sick is he to put their hearts in a box?

  "Calm down, Lylah. They are organs. They can't hurt you." He lets go of the lid and it slams shut.

  I'm not worried about them hurting me! I'm worried about you hurting me--hurting Chace! I want to scream.

  "I know this is a bit of shock, and I'm sorry that it's information overload. I had to tell you everything so you understand how much I love you, so we can move forward. You understand that, right? We've always understood each other, haven't we?" He looks deep into my eyes, and I don't recognize the person staring at me.

  Rearing back, I almost choke. He killed my friends and cut out their hearts because he thinks I love my friends more than him.

  Clenching my hands behind my back, I take a deep breath and know what I have to do. I reply in a whisper, "Yes, I understand. I do know you better than anyone, so I know you didn't mean this."

  His eyes tighten. I've said the wrong thing. I keep talking. "You put me first so many times--you always put me first--of course you did all this for me. You are my brother. You always take care of me."