"No."
A gaping wound severs my chest in half.
Without another word, I leave her alone, waltzing through her house in nothing but my fucking underwear while my best friend does the same.
"Clothes?" he asks by way of greeting.
"Bathroom floor."
He nods, tilting his head and approaching me cautiously. "There's something else you should probably know, but I'm not sure if it's going to send you off the deep end, so I need to remind youfirstthat he's already dead."
"What?"
He holds up a syringe filled with clear liquid between his thumb and forefinger, "Now, I can't say for sure what it is, but based on the video, I'd say this is probably the same thing we used to sedate people before taking care of them."
“What?” I storm forward, listening in case the shower stops and Brigit comes out. She's already lived through it once; there's no need for her to again.
He gestures for me over with his head, turning her laptop to face me before looking at his watch. "I'll be back in an hour or so with everything I need to take care of the mess. But Leo and Tate will be here any second for the body."
"Leo and Tate?" I think back to the day I met—or re-met — the two underground security guards.
"Yeah, they'll pose as professional carpet cleaners and carry him out," he messes with buttons on the laptop until the security cameras from every angle, both hers and mine, show tonight's events. "She also recorded the whole thing on her phone. Not necessary with the other cameras but..." he shrugs. "She was in survival mode so I won't blame her for being extra cautious. It's just more to scrub. I figured you'd want to see it all first."
Truthfully, I'm not sure that I do.
I don't know that I could take seeing him attack her.
Two quick knocks signal Sky to open the door for the two giant guards rolling through with a cart, uniformed and professional, not looking at all like the monstrous men I've briefly met.
Without a word, they follow Skyler to the office, and no more than 30 seconds later, they've left the way they came, body in tow.
"I probably don't need to tell you this," Skyler says, throwing fresh clothes on, putting a matching stack on the counter for me, "But it's a good idea to get her out of here until we've taken care of this problem."
Then he's gone, too, leaving me in a silent kitchen, my only company the slowly coagulating blood on the floor.
Collapsing onto a stool at the island, I let the videos play, watching from every angle, over and over, the moments before he got in, Brigit planning, snatching her gun from its hiding place.That was a good one.A subtle smile tugs at my lips, something like pride blooming watching her fight to survive, though I hate that she had to.
The security cameras have some sound, but not enough to make out what's being said before she runs and he strikes.
I watch it on her phone last, though there's not much to see. Just hazy, dark shots of the wall behind her until the lens cracks as she hits the wall. The world around me loses all focus, and I can hear my blood pounding in my ears, a wild fog of furor taking over my senses.
Over the sound of my rapidly increasing heart rate, her desperate cries for mercy crackle out of her speaker, her frantic voice shaking until he forced it quiet.
Then all I can hear is the moment she stops breathing just before the deafening shot goes off.
She stopped pleading, stopped begging, and just accepted that there was only one way she was getting out. And she had to hold her breath to do it.
What a silly thing to focus on, but that moment of silence as shesteeled herself holds more courage than most men could muster in their entire lives.
This man was a coward.
He wasn't even fucking worthy to breathe the same air as Brigit. And he came in here, with every intention of not just killing her, but making the world believe thatIwas capable of taking such a vibrant creature out of this world.
Every angle left me feeling colder inside, the quiet rage freezing any semblance of sympathy I might have had for him.
But this one, seeing it unfold from Brigit's perspective, hearing the fear in her voice, seeing it in how the camera shakes from her trembling, I can almost hear something in the back of my mind screaming for vengeance, looking for someone,anyoneto destroy to calm the being inside my head that longs only for fucking blood.
The world around me sharpens, and I become hyperaware of the person suddenly standing 15 feet behind me.
