A wicked smile crossed his face. “Let me prove it to you.”
My heart slammed against my ribcage as I watched his fingers turn the dial.
Rose’s arm jumped on the table.
“No!”I lunged forward.
“Stopor I’ll do it again!” Theo bellowed.
I froze and stared down the barrel of the gun inches from my face.
“See?” Theo cackled a laugh. “See, Phoenix? You’re so overcome with panic, you just made a decision that would not only end your life, but hers as well. I’d electrocute her to death and shoot you between the eyes. You’d both be dead. You lose, like always.”
The words pierced me. Not because they were true—but because hewantedthem to be.
He was toying with me. Psych warfare.A game.
He backed up, breathing harder now.
“The question is…” He tilted his head like a deranged puppet. “What am I going to do with you now?”
But I saw it. Behind the manic confidence, the smug smile—there was something fraying.
Everyone had a weakness. And I’d found his.
“If you want to talk about weakness, Theo,” I said, steadying my voice, “let’s talk about yours.”
His eyebrows lifted, amused.
“You’re not the only one who’s done research,” I said, taking a slow step forward. “Your lovely ex-wife, Lillian. No one’s seen her in a while.”
There it was. The flicker. A muscle twitch below his eye.
“I made a few calls. The local PD is conducting a welfare check at her house right now. Should be combing through her property any minute.”
His eyes rounded. Blood drained from his face.
“They’re going to find her body, aren’t they, Theo?”
He blinked, shaken. Swallowed. His hand faltered slightly on the trigger.
“You killed her. You loved her, maybe even more than you loved this sick experiment you built. And when she left you—when sherejectedyou—you cracked. She filed for divorce, shattered your delusion of control, and you snapped.”
He said nothing. But his silence said everything.
“She was your first kill, wasn’t she?” I kept going. “You regretted it. But not enough to stop. No, you turned it into something else. You kept doing it, trying to feel that rush again—or kill the guilt. ‘Do the thing that scares you until it doesn’t,’ right? Isn’t that what they say in therapy?”
His breathing hitched. Hands trembling now.
“You kept killing to desensitize yourself. Like a ritual.But the truth is—you never stopped missing her. Never stopped punishing the world for what she did to you.”
His body began to shake.
“Give me the gun, Theo,” I said, low and calm.
His chin quivered. “No.” Tears streaked his face. “No, they won’t get me.”
And as he turned the gun on himself, I threw myself over Rose’s body to shield her from the spray.
