“Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile. “How did you know my name? Wait, I do know you. You were at the library the other day. I saw you talking with Carmen, Lex, and Roberta while I was tutoring Lillie, Rob, Jenna, and Liam—”
“My name is Dante Delamarre, I’m a cop,” he interrupted, assuming that, once again, she was going to continue talking until he stopped her. “The one who was working this case, looking for the man who brought us both here. I understand you know him, and that he’s obsessed with you. It’s Ed O’Rourk.”
Sydney shook her head, but before he could ask her why, a figure on the other side of the metal bars stepped forward.
“Actually, my name is James, and Syd and I go way back. She knows who I am, just like she knows that it’s her own fault she’s here.”
At the sound of the voice, Sydney moved closer to him, standing behind him. His protective instincts went into overdrive, and he immediately moved so he stood between her and the man on the other side of the bars.
Sydney might know who James was, but he had no idea. That she was afraid of this man was plain to see. Given what he knew about the killer, she had good reason to be. But why did the killer believe that Sydney deserved to be here? He couldn’t imagine Sydney doing anything deserving of being abducted by a serial killer. He’d known her all of two minutes and he already knew she was a sweet woman, albeit a little quirky.
Was he wrong about her?
Or was she just another innocent victim of a vicious psychopath?
“Tell him, Syd.” The killer walked up and wrapped his hands around the bars. “Tell him why you’re here. Tell him why this is all your fault.”
12:49 P.M.
Sydney trembled as James stared at her with pure hatred in his eyes.
She was so glad that Dante was here and that he was between her and James because she was terrified of what he would do to her when he came in here to get her.
Kill her, of course, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a quick death. She was pretty sure it would be a long and slow and agonizing death as possible.
She was terrified.
Of James.
Of what he was going to do to her.
Of what he was going to do to Dante.
Dante moved a little more so that his body blocked her from James. She knew that he was a cop, and he was just doing his job, but it was still reassuring.
She remembered seeing him the other day. She’d felt eyes on her, and for a moment she’d thought they were Mitch’s. It had taken her a second to remember that was impossible because her husband had been dead for half a decade, and then she’d seen Dante. She might not have known who he was, but his gaze warmed her somehow. Took that icy block that had been planted in her stomach when Mitch left her and melted it a little.
“Why don’t you tell me who you are and why you believe that Sydney deserves to be here,” Dante said to James. If he thought that him being a cop was going to help him get out of here alive, then he was mistaken. He didn’t know James like she did.
“Don’t,” she hissed, fearful he was going to make James angry.
“It’s all right,” he murmured, trying to reassure her but she wasn’t reassured. She was scared and she wanted to go home, only she had little faith she would ever leave this cave alive.
“I think the story would be better coming from Syd,” James said. “After all, this is all her fault. It’s her fault that those other women died, it’s her fault you’re here, and it’s her fault that I became the beast that I am.”
“I think you should leave her out of this,” Dante said.
What was he doing?
Why was he antagonising James?
Didn’t he realize how dangerous James was?
“I think you should shut your mouth. Sydney, talk. Now,” he barked.
Afraid of what would happen if she didn’t, Sydney said, “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I’ll tell you what he wants you to know. James and I met about seven years ago.” She wasn’t sure how much detail she should add. If she said what really happened, then she might make James angry, but if she didn’t tell it like it happened, she might make him angry. She was probably stuck in a no-win situation. “James asked me out, and I said no. I-uh-I didn’t think that we had much in common.” That was a nice way of saying that James scared her even from the very first time they met.
“She turned you down, so you did all of this?” Dante asked.
“Do I look like an idiot?” James snapped.
“James was, uh …” She searched for the right word, “… persistent. He kept asking me out, but I had already met someone that I was falling in love with. His name was Mitch and he was just like me, a little bit of a geek, and we both loved books, and we just clicked. But James couldn’t let it go. He kept trying to convince me to go out with him. Even once Mitch proposed he didn’t stop … he even tried to ruin my wedding. And then Mitch died in a fire and I never heard from James again,” she finished softly. At least there would be one good thing about being dead; she would be reunited with her husband.
“You killed Mitch, didn’t you?” Dante asked. “You killed Sydney’s husband.”
“What?” She took a startled step forward, only to be grabbed by Dante and yanked back, where he protectively put her behind him again. “You killed Mitch? You killed your own brother?”
“Mitch was your brother?” Dante looked confused, like he was trying to keep up, but they kept throwing new information at him and he was struggling to put it all together and figure out how to use it to his advantage.
“I didn’t know that when I met Mitch. He used to come to the library where I worked. Then James asked me out, and I didn’t know until months later that they were brothers,” she said softly. She wanted James to deny what Dante had said. How could he do that to his own brother? And all because of her. It was her fault that Mitch was dead.
“You killed your own brother to get Sydney,” Dante said accusingly.
James just shrugged.
Like it was no big deal.
Like he didn’t even care about what he had done.
“She was supposed to die that night, too. I didn’t know that she’d gone out. I thought that they were both in there when I started that fire.”
So, it was true.
James had killed Mitch.
He’d tried to kill her, too, only her baby sister who had only been sixteen at the time had been at a party and gotten uncomfortable when everyone started getting drunk so she’d called her and asked for a ride home so their parents wouldn’t know where she’d been since she hadn’t gotten permission to be at the party.
If it hadn’t been for that, she’d be dead right now.
“All of this was so you could come back for Sydney,” Dante said, like he was catching on. “The other murders were just a decoy so we wouldn’t know who you were really going after. That way you were able to get your hands on her and finish what you started.”
“That’s up to her,” James said. “She can admit that she made the wrong choice, picked the wrong brother, and decide that she’s willing to spend the rest of her life living by my rules, or she can die. You, on the other hand, don’t have a choice. I know you. You have the same darkness inside you that I have inside myself. I could feel it that day in the woods when you looked right at me even though I knew you couldn’t see me. You’re no different from me. We’re both beasts. You hunt prey just like I do; you just do it with a badge. I can’t have you out there; you’ll always be a danger to me. I’ll be back later, and I expect an answer, Syd.”
She just stared at him.
She couldn’t think right now. The only thing filling her head was that she was the reason Mitch was dead.
Why should she care what happened to her now?
James was right; she did deserve this.
1:06 P.M.
If they were dealing with a man who would kill his own brother without a second thought or an ounce of remorse, then Dante didn’t l
ike their chances of getting out of here alive.
Not that he was giving up.
Something would come to him.
And if it didn’t, then he would fight with every bit of strength he had to save himself and Sydney.
Which reminded him that she was still standing behind him where he’d put her so at least he knew there was something between her and the beast on the other side of the bars.
Dante turned around and found Sydney staring blankly into space.
She was in shock.
He could only imagine what was running through her head having learned that her stalker had killed her husband. Despite the way Sydney had told the story, he was sure there was a lot more to it than she had mentioned. If James had gone to these lengths to kill her, then he was sure the man had relentlessly pursued her when she turned him down. His ego couldn’t let him do anything else.
“Syd,” he said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders and waiting for her eyes to slowly shift so they met his.
This woman.
There was something about her.
She made him want to wrap her up in his arms and promise her that everything would be okay even though there were no facts to base that on. Anything to wipe away the fear and pain in her eyes, anything to make her smile and ramble incoherently in that adorable way she did.
“You doing okay?” he asked. He wasn’t used to being tender like this. It felt odd, and it didn’t seem to be working anyway. Sydney was still staring straight through him. “Sydney, snap out of it,” he said briskly, giving her a small shake.
That seemed to do the trick and she dragged in a shaky breath. “I’m okay. It’s just … I just … I didn’t know. I thought it was an accident. They said it was an accident. I didn’t know that it was James. I suppose that was stupid of me. I knew that he was obsessed. I knew he hated that I was with his brother. I should have known that it was him, but—”
He knew the drill, he knew that she would continue to berate herself for not knowing what James had done until he put a stop to it, so he did. He grabbed her and yanked her up against his body, dipped his head, found her lips, and kissed her.
He wasn’t sure why he did it.
It certainly wasn’t the smart thing to do right now.
And he didn’t even ask Sydney if it was what she wanted. He just acted on instinct.
She didn’t seem to mind. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back just as fervently as he was kissing her.
“Sorry,” he murmured against her lips when they both paused to draw in air.
“I’m not,” she said with a smile, and he knew that she was back.
This woman confused him.
He didn’t know what to make of her or of these feelings he seemed to have toward her.
There was no point denying it. He did have feelings for her—they were just feelings that he wasn’t ready to confront yet.
“You trying to undress me with your eyes, or something?” Sydney asked with a giggle. “You’re staring at me so intently, it’s like you want to see straight through my clothes.” She laughed again, nervously this time. “Good one, Syd. That was kind of inappropriate. You just met this guy, and this is hardly the time or the place to be undressing each other and making out. And he—I mean, you—probably don’t even want to make out with me, anyway, sorry, that was very presumptuous of—”
“Do I have to kiss you again to get you to stop talking?”
“Is that supposed to make me stay quiet?” She arched a blonde brow.
“Nope.” He winked, surprised that he was enjoying their banter. “And I was just appreciating the view.” His eyes travelled from her face, down her slender neck, lingered on her breasts, then froze.
Blood.
There was blood on her arm.
He’d been kissing her and thinking about undressing her and making out, and he’d forgotten where they were.
This wasn’t a time for kissing or thinking about confusing feelings. They had both been abducted and were being held prisoner by a man who thought he was a beast and was out for revenge.
A man who could return at any second.
“You’re hurt,” he said.
Sydney’s gaze dropped down to the blood on her arm. “He was angry with me when he brought me here. He had on these weird fake teeth that looked like a bear’s teeth, and he had on these gloves with metal claws.”
“Did he bite you or scratch you?” he asked, as he pushed her down to sit on the ground, crouching before her and shoving up the sleeve of her sweater to see the wound. He hissed as he saw the deep gash in her arm. The edges were ragged and torn. It was still oozing blood and would no doubt need stitches.
“I think he did both,” she said, her eyes fixed on the blood.
“Don’t look at it,” he said, ripping off his shirt and wrapping it tightly around her arm. He needed to stop getting distracted. He needed a plan, and if he didn’t figure something out and get them out of here, then Sydney’s wound would get infected. Without treatment, that could lead to sepsis, and eventually death. Assuming they lived long enough for that. “Tell me everything you know about James. He wasn’t just persistent in asking you out, was he? He made your life a living hell.”
“He did,” she agreed, resting her head back on the rock behind her. “He was stalking me. He would turn up at my work … he’d turn up at my home. He’d get angry when I told him no. When he realized that I was dating his brother, he lost it; he trashed my car.”
“Didn’t you go to the cops?”
“Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Go to the cops, what a great idea.” Fire brewed in Sydney’s eyes. “Of course, I went to the cops. I went at least a dozen times, but most of the time there wasn’t anything they could do. It’s not a crime for him to be somewhere. I work at a library … it’s a public place … James had every right to be there. The time he vandalized my car, he was arrested, but he had a clean record, so he took a deal, paid a fine, and that was that.”
“Only it wasn’t, was it?”
“No,” she said softly. “When he found out I was engaged to his brother, he lost it again. He punched a hole in the door. Mitch was there … we were both afraid for our lives. We got a restraining order, but James turned up at our wedding. He threw a fit, screaming and cussing and throwing things. The cops were called but he was gone before they arrived, and I never saw him again. Until last night, anyway.”
There were more questions he wanted to ask, but Sydney was starting to look worn out. She’d been here a lot longer than he had. She was hurt, and she’d had a huge shock. She needed to rest.
“Why don’t you try to get a little sleep. I don’t think James is coming back for a while,” he said, moving so he was sitting beside her. With only the briefest of hesitations, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and couldn’t deny that he was pleased when she immediately leaned into him.
Making promises he couldn’t keep was a bad idea.
Dante knew he shouldn’t do it.
And yet, he couldn’t stop the words from coming out. “I won’t let him hurt you again, Syd, I promise.”
He wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she nestled her head on his shoulder and snuggled a little closer.
He prayed he could keep that promise.
5:28 P.M.
Everything was perfect.
Every little detail had worked out just like he planned.
Every piece of the puzzle was falling into place.
There was only one thing left to do, and then he would finally have what he wanted.
James couldn’t be happier.
He had worked so hard on this, making sure that the cops would have no reason to even know his name. They had no way to know what he was after. He was careful that he left behind no witnesses and no forensics.
Basically, he had committed the perfect murders and he was going to get away with it.
The only two people who knew that he was the killer were Sy
dney and the cop, and neither of them would be telling anyone.
He chuckled to himself.
He was really flying high.
To make sure that the cops, at least temporarily, thought that Sydney was already dead, he had committed another murder of someone who resembled Syd. Now he had a bit of time to take care of the cop and then find out what choice Sydney was going to make.
Part of him hoped she was willing to finally say that she would be his, but part of him wanted her to say she wouldn’t, so he could kill her.
All his life, he had heard from their parents that he wasn’t as smart as his brother, that he wasn’t as good at sports, that he wasn’t as kind, as thoughtful of others—basically, that he wasn’t as good as Mitch.
Then he’d met Sydney.
On his part, the attraction had been instantaneous, and he had been determined to have her.
Only once again, he had lost out to his brother.
Mitch thought he had won but James had proved him wrong. He had killed his brother and now he would either walk away with Sydney as his prize, or he would end her life like he ended Mitch’s.
It was time to get ready for the final stage of his plan. His few belongings were packed and ready for him to leave town. There was no going back. He was walking away from the life he had been living, and it was time to embrace a new one.
Shedding his clothes, he donned his claws and his teeth and stepped out into the evening. The woods were quiet and peaceful. They embraced him as part of them. This was where he belonged; this was where he was meant to be.
His family had betrayed him.
His brother had betrayed him.
Sydney had betrayed him.
But the woods and the animals had always been there for him when he needed them. From fishing and camping as a young boy, to providing him a place to hide his prey, to providing him with a place where he could safely live as the beast he believed himself to be.
He had been born in blood, his birth almost costing his mother her life, and then he had been reborn in blood as he took lives to shed his old skin and don another.
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