From the doorway, Dane chuckles. “This is fucking insane… and fun.” He leans against the frame, content to watch.
Tamsin kneels, and Dane’s grin fades. “That’s my cue. I’m out.”
“Thanks, man,” I say without looking away from her.
She slides Felix’s jeans down, one clean movement, and severs his sack. It lands beside his eyes on the plate. His last breath rattles out of him before his head drops forward.
Her gaze finds mine. I pull my mask off.
“He raped over thirty women that we know of,” I tell her. “We’re sure he killed at least a dozen. They all deserved this.”
She nods, and I can see it now, the crash after the high, the way adrenaline is bleeding out of her.
Beau steps up with the needle. “Let me do it, okay?”
She peels her gloves off with a snap, leans in, and kisses his cheek. “Thank you, Beau.”
His ears flush red as he threads the needle and begins sewing each testicle into its new place. “You know, I patched up Eiden after you stabbed him, guess it was practice.”
I huff out a dark laugh and step into her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
“You okay?”
“I’m happy it’s over,” she says softly. “And now all I want is you… and a warm bath.”
Her kiss tastes of copper and fire.
Outside, Caleb hauls the body into the van for disposal. When he comes back, his lighter flicks open and shut.
“Now,” Caleb grins, “the best part.”
The tiny flame dances in his eyes as he flicks the lighter. I pull Tamsin hard against my side, my arm locked around her waist, because I need her here, anchored to me, while we burn this chapter out of existence.
The cabin stands as a silent witness, steeped in the stink of blood and fear. Plastic sheeting flutters in the breeze, stained dark where it soaked through. Felix’s stench clings to everything. Not for long.
Caleb tosses the lighter inside.
The fire catches instantly, Dane made sure it would burn fast and brutal. Flames race up the walls, devouring the table, the chains, the plastic. The air fills with smoke, the crack of splitting wood punctuating the roar.
Tamsin doesn’t look away. Her black hair gleamsorange in the firelight, her lips parted, her breathing slow, steady and calm in the way only someone who’s finally claimed their vengeance can be. She’s watching the place where she carved her justice and letting it vanish into the blaze.
“It’s gone,” I murmur into her temple. “But you’re still mine. Always.”
Her head tilts, that corner-smirk curving just enough to make my pulse climb. “Always, my masked man.”
The roof caves in, sparks screaming into the dark sky. For a moment it’s just us, the fire, and the quiet certainty that Felix Foster’s name will never be spoken again.
Epilogue
Tamsin
The water scalds my skin, and I let it, standing still while it runs down my back as if it can strip everything from me—blood, fear, Felix’s uneven sobs—until all of it is washed away, and I finally let my brain rest in silence. I press my fingers against the tile, trembling not from weakness but from the hollow ache that follows a purpose fulfilled, that strange stillness when there’s nothing left to chase.
I did it. He’s dead. They are all dead andshe’savenged.
I tip my head into the steam, eyes closing, and I feel him. He steps into the shower without a word. No towel, no soap, just skin and heat. His hands find my hips. I breathe for the first time since the floor turned red.
“I thought killing him would change me,” I say, my voice thin in the steam. “Thought I’d come out the other side… different. Fixed.”
