“Logan will do it,” adds Damien, and I shudder.
All my pleas fell on deaf ears. He really doesn’t give a shit about me. It’s hard to believe he ever did.
Logan grows pale.
“Me?”
Damien nods his confirmation.
“I don’t want to,” says Logan quietly.
“It’s not a request,” Damien tells him, his voice brittle. “It’s an order.”
“No. I’m not here to do your dirty work, Damien. You can’t make me.”
Damien draws closer to him and speaks in a low tone. “Come on, Logan. Have some pity.”
Logan stares at him for a few moments, then swallows hard.
“Fine.”
I feel my entire body sag. I’m on the verge of collapse, but Damien grabs me and keeps me propped up. I close my eyes, feeling his warm chest against me. It’s insane that he soothes me even now.
“I’ll bring her up to my apartment,” decides Logan. “I’d like to do it in private.”
Damien nods and peels himself off me. Logan folds his arm around me, and I try to shrink away from it, but it’s like a band of steel encircling me.
“Let’s go,” he says quietly, his voice devoid of emotion.
I follow him dumbly to the elevator, catching one last glance of Damien, whose face is ashen as he looks at me with unseeing eyes.
Then Logan presses the ninth-floor button and the doors close on him and my last shred of hope.
The ding of the elevator feels like lead at the pit of my stomach.
The doors open onto a luxurious entryway, but I barely notice the quiet wealth that pervades every room as Logan leads me to a small office.
He closes the door behind me and I look around, searchingfor the weapon that he will end my life with. But I don’t see a thing, so I look back at him, my heart thundering in my chest.
He takes a step toward me, and I cringe away, feeling like I’m about to pass out.
But he manages to reach me, and wraps an arm around me once more as he whispers in my ear, “You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to kill you.”
28
Damien
I’ve killed my pet. I’ve killed my pet. I’ve killed my pet.
The words echo in my mind like a horrific refrain, haunting me, preventing me from sleeping. Life has devolved into a single endless migraine, and every breath I take feels like a desperate gasp for air.
She’s gone. I’ve killed her.
-
The previous day.
“You’re not going to believe what we’ve found.”
