“Rex.”She’s looking at me with sorrow and pity.“Two broken people don’t make a whole.There are things you’ve done, that I’ve done–”
“What have you done?”
She presses her lips together, and my anger flares.She’s holding back.Again.
I knew I should’ve shattered her when I had the chance.Broken her into so many pieces that only I could put her back together.
There’s still time.
If she thinks I’m a monster, I can prove her right.
I want all of her.I need her mind and body under my possession, and if I don’t get it, I’ll go mad.And then the monster will truly be unleashed.
I grapple with my intense feelings and force myself to speak softly.“You’re saying this because you’re terrified.You’ve always been afraid—and with good reason.”I think of the terror she went through as a child.“But you know me.You’ve trusted me with your body.”If I stripped her naked, she’d be covered in my marks, proof of our compatibility written on her skin.“You can trust me to keep you safe.”
I’m appealing to what drew her to me in the first place.It’s ruthless, but I’ll use any weapon I have to keep her at my side.
And she looks tempted, her face filled with yearning when I murmur, “Let me be your safe place to land.”
She shakes her head slightly.“Safety is an illusion.And I don’t think you want me.You just want to own me.”
I shrug.“It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not.You’ve fixated on me.You enjoy dangerous games, but everything in your life has come easy.I was something you couldn’t have for far too long.Now I’m just a challenge to overcome, a prize to be won.”
I smirk.“Such a lovely prize.”It’s the wrong thing to say.
She pushes to her feet.“I’m leaving, Rex.I have a job to do, and it needs me more than ever.”
I rise also, kicking myself.I forgot myself and fell into the fun of fighting with her and went too far.“No,” I blurt, rage and panic pumping through my heart until I’m made of emotion.I need to stop her, but I can’t lose control.“Inara, think about this.It’s not safe for you?—”
She whirls to argue, but we’re interrupted when Hamish glides through the door.
“Sir, there’s something you should see.”
“Not now, Hamish.”He wouldn’t interrupt unless it was important.I don’t care if every stock I own is tanking or every business I own burns to the ground.Nothing is as important as keeping Inara here.
“You’ll want to see this news briefing.There’s been another murder.”
Inara blanches, and I reach to comfort her.She’s just been through her worst nightmare, and I want to give her what she needs.
But she pushes past me and barks a demand at Hamish.“Show me.”
In the short walk from the breakfast room to the study, Inara fully transforms into the hardened version of herself she becomes as a detective.She’s wan and withdrawn, the flickering light of the television emphasizing the bruised hollows under her eyes.
“I’m on location at the scene of a second murder,” the TV reporter says, standing on a sidewalk corner with the wind tugging at her blonde hair.“An inside source says this new murder might be related to the horrific Green Street killings we reported on yesterday.NRPD has yet to comment.”
Green Street is the crime scene where I met Inara yesterday.Where she almost collapsed after seeing a scene that matched her family’s murder.
“In both cases, the killer entered the home at midnight while the victims slept.This time, his target was twenty-five-year-old Emily Rodriguez?—”
A picture of the victim flashes on the screen.It shows the young woman at a happier time, when she was alive and well, instead of as a now mangled corpse.Horror hits me.The shape of the victim’s face, her long dark hair—she looks like Inara.
The reporting continues, showing B-roll of the neighborhood, charming brownstones and old oak trees now marred by yellow crime scene tape.I don’t hear a word over the high-pitched whine in my ear.
The killer wanted Inara.He targeted her first with the letters and then with a series of murders.First, a family was killed in the exact way her family died years ago.Now, a woman who looks like Inara.It can’t be a coincidence.
I need to focus, to think.But all I can see is Inara lying dead on the ground.It could’ve been her.
