“Right, the plan.” I shook my head to get rid of those lingering, pitiful emotions. “I have enough evidence to set my father up for most of the murders in Primrose and some of the ones in the other cities we lived in. Public fear will fill in the rest. However, I have to make the connection, which is why I stole one of Aeron’s freezers the other day.”
Aeron pulled away from me. “What the fuck?”
I turned to him, my grin softening, a playful edge creeping in. “Would you like to have dinner with me? A date? At Dad’s house.”
“Runo… I need you to explain thedetails.You keep jumping around without explaining anything. We could have just made food or something at my house.”
Killian: Stop playing with the poor man and cut to the chase.
That ruined all the fun, though. However, I had already given them a scare, saying that we should kill Samael. “Aeron, I need to leave evidence in his house, and with the freezer…”
Samael’s hand slammed on the table, the plates rattling. “That is a terrible idea.”
I shrugged. “And you forget that me and my alters have lived in a house with a police officer, not to mention that we’ve had a fascination with crime for years. I know how to clean up after myself.”
Samael still wasn’t on board. “Tyrone is already involved. It’s only a matter of time before this gets bigger than just Primrose.”
That was what they didn’t understand, though. “I don’t think you have any idea how fragile my father’s sense of worth is. He’s kept this contained with pitiful curfews for what, three years? You think that’s because he’s bad at his job? Quite the opposite. He’s that good at covering up tracks and making surethis doesn’t come back to him. He hasn’t been sure it wasn’t me, so he couldn’t just ‘catch’ the fuckers. And now he knows that it isn’t, but he’s in this just as deep as everyone else.”
Samael blew out a whistle. “Damn, you’ve really thought this out.”
“I just really want to see my father suffer.” I brushed off my voices, unable to stuff them down so I just ignored them. “Now, I asked Aeron out for a date, but I’m thinking we should make it a thing. Who’s up for a little night of fun?”
Slash groaned, his eyes searching mine. “Nothing with you is ever little. What does this night entail?”
There was no way this plan was going to go off without a hitch but I could try. “Dinner, some hard work, and hopefullydessert.” I wiggled my eyebrows, making sure that Samael knew exactly what I was asking for. The fucker had denied me dick the past few days but I was determined to get it.
Even if they never told me they loved me again, if they couldn’t loveRuno, the way they had loved the others, as long as they stayed, I would be happy. I tsked, becoming a little more excited about this plan. “It’s time to steal a body. Like old times. Well, you never stole a body. You stole a piece of it. This time, I need you to steal the whole thing.” I remember them telling me about the first time they truly gave into their demons, Samael stealing a few scraps from the morgue so that Aeron could eat it.
Samael frowned, his eyes narrowing at me. “Who are we stealing and why?”
My grin widened, the thrill surging through my veins. “I’m glad you asked. Dr. Harley. The poor bastard gets to make a second appearance! It’s going to be fantastic.”
Slash coughed, his face contorted up in confusion. “You’ve lost me. Why are we stealing bodies?”
“So that I can prop him up and pretend it’s Samael. They’ll find out it’s not...”
Samael still wasn’t convinced. “Just pause for a second, Runo. Why Dr. Harley? There’s no way topretendit’s me because we don’t look anything alike.”
A playful sigh fell from my lips. “No, that’s true. It’s more figurative. I’m doing this because I hated him. Dad knew it and still threw me back into his arms. I could use anyone but it’s more of a statement I guess? It’s easier to just show you. I’ll meet you at my house in like… three hours?”
Aeron’s eyes widened. “And we just come through the front?”
I snorted. “Hell no. Come through the back. We can’t have the whole neighborhood seeing you. That would be weird.”
“I have no idea what it must be like to live in your head,” Samael mused, his voice then turning serious, “but if this fails, that’s going to be the end.”
I shrugged, my grin faltering for a second. “We won’t survive either way. But hey, at least I’ll go out with a bang, and Dad will still suffer.” I blew him a kiss and then headed out before they could make the conversation uncomfortable again.
Killian: How long do we really have, Runo?
“No fucking clue but I don’t want to be stuck in Primrose when it happens.”
Killian: So, you think it’ll happen soon?
“You guys are already starting to act like each other, sometimes I don’t know who is speaking. You used to zone out all the time when Daemon and Finn were more present but there’s no more of us, not now anyway. Look, we just stick to the plan. Get out of Primrose and then we’ll figure it out. I just don’t want to end up like Mom.”
Silence met my words as I slid into my car and took off. No one ever stayed, I knew that much. However, until I lost my head, I wanted my men at my side. The crazier the plan, the better. They would stick around because they were excited to see the chaos. Ijust hoped that they meant all those words they said in there. My sanity was banking on it.
