He held up his palms. “In my defense, I did not need to compel Kelly. She was already in love with Tom. And he was attracted to her. It was only a matter of time before he would have cheated.”
I couldn’t believe his capacity for delusion. He dropped his hands when I just stared at him, fury building like a fatal storm.
“Get out of my sight, Karson,” I spat. “I never, ever want to see your face again.”
He looked like I had stabbed him. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, tears trickled down his face. “After everything we have been through, you are just going to walk out? Leave it all behind now that we can finally get out lives back?”
“It’s a fucking lie!” I shouted hoarsely. “Everything about you, about us, is a fucking lie!”
“Amelia, stop, just stop, please.” His voice was thick with desperation. “I love you, and I know you love me. Does it really matter how it started?”
I laughed. It was maniacal. I didn’t know why I laughed, it just fell out of my mouth. Other than I was broken, I was broken down to my soul. All the moments we’d shared, all the love I felt for him, the love he supposedly felt for me, all of it was one big fucking betrayal.
His brow flickered as I stepped closer, confusion, pain, and a spark of hope burning in the hazel of his gaze. I stepped so close I had to tilt my head up to look into his eyes.
“Yes, it matters,” I whispered, my hand remarkably steady as I pressed it to his chest. I could feel his heart thudding in fast, hard beats. “It matters,” I repeated, running my fingers down his chest to his stomach. My other hand moved with a speed outside myself as I drove the ash-bone blade Dahlia had given me into his black fucking heart. “Because the first time you saw me, and this all started, was the night you murdered my mother.”
He gasped, staggered back, his eyes wide with disbelief. Black vines twisted under his skin, up his chest, up his neck. He struggled to breathe as he murmured, “Amelia.”
I yanked the blade out.
He collapsed to his knees, face twisted in agony, tears slipping silently down his cheeks as he stared at me. “I love you.” His voice was ravaged with pain.
Guilt and grief panged through my chest at the sight of his despair. But I shoved it aside. He ruined me first.
I turned my back on him, my breathing scorching through my mouth as I heard him collapse to the floor. Maybe it wouldn’t kill The Death Bringer, but it would disable him long enough for me to get far, far away.
“Amelia, please,” he whispered.
“Burn in hell,” I grated as I slammed the door closed.
Chapter 76
Escape
Georgie and Josh were not in the foyer. My heart beating—breaking—wildly, I rushed down the stairs, the bag over my shoulder. My mind whirled, drowning in anger, sadness, and yes, guilt, even after everything he had done. I hated that I felt this way about someone I gave everything to, when he had taken everything from me.
The sound of glass clinking from the ballroom hit my ears. This was no time to fucking drink. We had to get out of here.
I rounded the corner. Josh and Georgie stood beside the bar. The top cupboards were all ajar, and a few bottles were lying on their side as if someone had rifled through them. Josh held a bottle of something behind his back, like a teenager I’d caught stealing. The other was shoved in his pocket. I didn’t care what they took. They could take the entire bar if they did it fast enough.
“We need to go.”
Georgie flushed and smiled sheepishly. “We just needed to get?—”
“I don’t care about what you’ve taken.” I gripped the edge of the door to steady my shaking legs. “We need to get out of here before the others come back.”
“Why don’t you two wait in the car.” Josh gave a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll be right behind you. I just need to grab something for Georgie first.”
I knew Georgie had a drinking problem, but I didn’t realize it had become an addiction. I didn’t realize she’d struggled so badly. Lately, she had seemed better … I sucked in a breath. We could get her the help she needed once we got her back home.
“Don’t worry about it, let’s go,” I said, exasperated.
Neither of them moved.
“I …”
The energy vibrated around my body, pulling at me, a magnet dragging me in. I frowned, confused. Something pulling on my chest pitched me forward. The urge to move closer grew stronger. Had the room been spelled to hold us there? Then I remembered the feeling, the same feeling as?—
