He’s dead.
Why am I hallucinating? I took my medication.
I vomit onto the bedsheets.
“Hello, little sapphire.”
He steps forward. I step back.
“You’re not real. I saw you die. I watched the life leave your eyes.”
“My death was staged. The society I belong to helped me escape. The body wasn’t mine—another student. It was his execution.”
I shake my head.
Irvin keeps a gun in the nightstand. I rush for it—empty.
“You looking for this?” Emerson waves it, tucking it into his waistband.
“What do you want from me?”
“You.”
I stand still.
“Someone put a hit on your parents. My job was to earn their trust—then kill them. I was supposed to kill you too.”
“Why?”
“Your father owed powerful people money. But that doesn’t matter.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
He steps closer. Again. Again.
“Because I love you. I’m too obsessed to let you go. Now that Irvin’s out of the picture, we can be together.”
His cologne hits me—spice and rot. He’s bigger now. Muscle packed onto his frame. Hair cut close to the scalp. Midnight eyes sharp.
Five years ago, I would’ve fallen at his feet. Now I hate everything about him.
He grins.
“You did all the work for me, little sapphire.”
I scan the room—no clear exit.
“What are you talking about?”
“I killed everyone on campus to frame your husband. The locket. The texts. The auditorium. The video. The hallucinations. I erased your phone and left Irvin’s tracking software. I planted the IDs.” He smirks.
He fucked with my mind. He gaslit me. He made me believe I was seeing shit. I thought I was going crazy.
“I even caused your dissociative amnesia. You saw me on campus and blacked out.”
My knees buckle. I step back, tripping over the suitcase. I sob.
I blamed the wrong man. Trusted the wrong monster.
