I’d left his Christmas present at Ari’s house so I wouldn’t lose it, but would Eddie accept it after he found out I’d killed his father? Fuck if I knew. His bad luck—or was it good luck?—had killed all the other men on my list. This time I was doing the job for both of us.
Chuck had to go.
My stomach churned and I rubbed it furiously as Ari concentrated on driving, a rare but delightfully scary smirk on his face that didn’t make me feel any better about this. I didn’t think being a serial killer was in my future. After Chuck, I was putting down my vengeful dagger and living in peace with my perfect boyfriend.
I wasn’t like Ari.
I ran the tip of my finger over the bumps on my scarred face, closing my left eye to remind myself of what Chuck had done. All that met me out of my right eye was a few straggling lights that meant nothing. He’d done this to me. He’d also ruined Eddie’s life.
“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked out loud, opening my left eye again.
Ari glanced at me, his smirk widening. “Yes, you are. He deserves to die.” He pointed at my left arm. “Just like the asshole at Smoke and Sizzle who left you in pain after you burned yourself. Wouldn’t let you go to the hospital. I might join them one day, but at least I’ll do it by taking some of those pricks out with me.”
I swallowed and leaned back against my seat. He was right. I’d been weak and let these men take advantage of me. It was time for revenge.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Ari whooped with way too much excitement.
He drove until we reached a metal gate that was hanging open. Chains were wrapped around part of it, like they might’vebeen cut at some point. He took us along a service road to an old, rusty water tower with New Gothenburg on the side in yellow paint that was newish—and by that, I meant the paint was probably twenty years old. Without all the wintertime light pollution, the letters probably wouldn’t be visible in the dark. I glanced out the windshield, taking in the tall structure with a spike of guilt.
The city didn’t use this tower anymore. The old ones had been kicked out of the system, from what I understood, and replaced by new ones, but they hadn’t bothered to get rid of the defunct ones. I wasn’t sure if it was the smartest idea to use it in our murder, but Ari promised it was a great idea. He’d said he’d always wanted to do this to someone.
He pulled the car up to the tower, and I took a deep breath.
“It’s good, trust me. They don’t have cameras around here. The closest thing to this place is a junkyard, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t have any security cameras. We’ll be fine.”
I trusted him. “How many times have you done this? Murder?”
Ari merely winked at me as he opened the car door and slid out. Taking a deep breath, I followed him and peeked inside the trunk when he popped it. Chuck was still snoozing as Ari grabbed his upper arms and tugged him out, and I helped with his ankles.
“All right. This is what we’re going to do.” He pointed to the top of the tower. “We’ll winch him from up there. Tie a rope on one of the metal bars on the water tower and drag him up. As soon as we get him up there, we’ll tie his ankles and throw him into the water and ta da!” He gave me spirit fingers. “He drowns. They don’t maintain these old towers. By the time someone has a reason to peek inside, he’ll be bloated and nearly unrecognizable. Or bones on the bottom.”
Bile rose in my throat and I shoved the reaction down deep with a sharp nod. “Why is there water in there? I mean, if it’s old, shouldn’t it be empty?”
He shrugged. “No clue, but there is. I found this place last summer. I’ll go up first and tie the winch. When I throw down the rope, wrap it around his waist tight and make sure he can’t slip out. Then, come up, and we’ll lift him together.” Ari didn’t wait for acknowledgement. He grabbed rope from the trunk and marched toward the ladder with confidence I wished I had.
I waited with bated breath, a shiver passing through me as a gust of cold air hit my face. I buried my chin in my collar and shoved my gloved hands into my pockets. Our surroundings were quiet, and somewhere from my left came a soft hoot that made me jump. My heart hammered against my ribs as I closed my eyes and told myself everything was fine. Ari wasn’t leaving me to get caught.
Finally, a rope hit the ground beside the water tower. I strode over to the rope, then yanked it toward Chuck’s body. I did as Ari had instructed, wrapping it around Chuck’s waist until I was sure it was secure. The last thing we needed was for him to slip out of any knots halfway up, because that’d beverymessy.
When I was happy with my work, I ran to the ladder and made my way up, holding the rungs as tight as I could. The higher I went, the chillier the wind became, reminding me that it was too fucking cold for this shit. I needed to take Eddie somewhere tropical.
I finally reached the top of the ladder, and Ari gave me his hand, which I took with a quiet “thank you.” When I was firmly on my feet, he waved me over to his winch setup.
“It’s a good thing we have gloves and there’s two of us.” He chuckled, his eyes bright. “Wrap this around your hands.” He shoved a thick cord of rope at me. “And we’ll start pulling him up together. He good down there?”
I nodded confidently. I wasn’t going to second-guess my work. Fuck whatever Chuck might say if he was conscious. “He’s ready to go.”
Ari’s smile was shinier than a kid’s on Christmas. “Then, let’s pull.”
I took a deep breath and watched as Ari pressed a foot into one of the steel bars surrounding the tower. I did the same and braced myself as Ari said, “Go!”
Together, we tugged as hard as we could, dragging Chuck’s heavy body up with every yank of our rope. Sweat beaded on my forehead and cheeks, which made the whip of the wind icier against my skin.
Each time Ari said “pull,” we moved in unison.Finally, Chuck’s body appeared in our line of sight. Ari hooked his arm under Chuck’s armpit, and I copied him. We yanked him over the bar and onto the tower.
I panted, my brain catching up with what we were about to do now that I wasn’t exerting myself. Chuck was still unconscious. We were going to kill him. Throw him in the tower to drown. Was that what I wanted?
