Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“This is illegal, and you know it,” I tell her, but she completely ignores me and uses my thumb to unlock the main screen.
“I’m way too invested in all of this,” she says, as she gets up again and swipes through my phone like it’s her plaything too. “Interesting. Let’s play it back.”
She opens the voicemail tab on my phone and presses the Play button on the message.
“Hi, Atreus, this is Mark from the bureau. I wanted to call because it’s important, but you’re not picking up. Please call me as soon as you can. The officers stationed on Spine Ridge U campus caught suspicious movement near the rose maze at nine p.m. Screams were audible. An officer who was stationed there is also missing, Bob Eizenheimer.”
My eyes widen.
Shit.
Someone’s targeting my officers.
My eyes skitter from the clock to the face of the woman in front of me, who looks just as flabbergasted as I am.
Nine p.m. was just ten minutes ago, so there’s no way it could’ve been her.
“Anyway, please call back.”
The call ends.
The killer is on the loose, probably murdering Bob as we speak, and it isn’t her.
Who is this woman?
The phone drops from her hand onto the small cabinet in front of my couch.
“Get me out of here, right now,” I bark at her.
But she keeps shaking her head, all confused like she can’t believe what’s going on.
“I gotta go.” She grabs the rest of her things and tucks them into the bag again, including the knife stuck next to my head.
Then she turns around, picks up her leather jacket along with her bag, and bolts off.
“Hey! You can’t just leave me here like this!” I yell. “You haven’t even told me what you promised you would!”
But as I scoot forward, I can hear the balcony doors in my bedroom open.
“Sorry, we have to make it a rain check. TTYL. Hope you had as much fun as I did. See you next time.”
“Next time?!” I bark.
THWACK!
The doors are shut, along with my only possibility of escaping these zip ties.
That motherfucking woman…
Is going to beg she never crossed paths with me.
CHAPTER 19
Xavier
Twenty minutes ago
The man I lured into the rose maze looks up at me with shock in his eyes as I raise my knife in the moonlight.
“What the fuck? You’re that killer we’re looking for,” he growls.
He pulls out a gun and aims, but before he can shoot, I’ve already rammed the knife into his gut. Blood splutters out of his mouth and onto my shoulder as I pull the knife out of his abdomen and glance at the badge on his chest.
Officer Bob Eizenheimer.
Kissed by the fucking sun.
His filthy skin does not deserve to have touched her perfect lips.
“You fucking asshole,” I growl, stealing his gun. “You thought a kiss from her would come without a price?”
I kick him in the balls and shove him into the prickly rose bushes, staining his shirt when he coughs up blood.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he mutters.
“Of course, you do!” I grip his hair and make him look at me. “You don’t deserve to be scorched by her fucking flames.”
I thrust the knife into his side and watch him squint and yelp in pain.
“Please …” he begs, panic filling his eyes. “It wasn’t my choice. That woman came to me.”
“Why?” I bark through gritted teeth.
“Phone number…”
She asked for his phone number?
No, she would never do that. A killer like her can’t be interested in a fucker like him.
“She came onto me and asked for a date,” he groans.
“Don’t lie to me!” I yell, and I grab him by the throat.
He holds his hands up. “No lies, I swear.”
Fuck that. I will fucking end him.
“You came here to search for her.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
“She is not yours to take.”
I spin him around and push my bloodied knife underneath his chin.
“That kiss was the last you’ll ever feel,” I whisper into his ear. “Enjoy the afterlife.”
I slice his throat right there and then, and blood squirts out onto the roses like paint.
After his body goes limp, I let go and watch the onslaught of my undying rage with bated breath.
Still, I can’t quench the thirst for more blood.
“What the hell, Xavier?”
I throw a glance over my shoulder to wherever the sound came from. The passageway leading to the Tartarus House, where a party is still ongoing.
Orion Navarro stares at me from the corner of the bushes, clutching his long robe like it’s going to protect him from my wrath.
“What are you doing here?” I growl.
“I could ask you the same thing!” he hisses back.
“Are you fucking spying on me?”
“Shhh!” He puts a finger against his lips. “Keep your voice down. Someone might hear.”
“You shouldn’t have come here,” I say.
“I saw you sneaking around. I knew you were up to no good.” He glances at the body beneath my feet and rubs his lips. “What the hell have you done?”