James shuffles over with Stephanie cradled in his arms, his face grim as he glances at the bodies I’ve been too scared to look at. Hunter’s face shutters, and guilt threatens to drown me. This is my fault. Steph is a shell of the woman I met days ago. Her eyes remain vacant, her slow blinks and even slower breaths the only way I know she’s alive. This is the cost of loving me. It brings pain to everyone. She should have been safe.
James’s rigid shoulders curl over the frail body, as eyes I see every day in the mirror drink in the bittersweet reunion between Hunter and I. My unsteady feet stumble beneath me, and I fall to the deck, knocking the air from my lungs. Crawling on shaky limbs, I inch my way toward the woman who saved me twice, refusing to let the tears pooling in my eyes fall.
James lends me his strength as I lean against him and gently brush the hair off her face, giving her a watery smile. “Hey, Mama,” I whisper, my voice not nearly strong enough to battle the chaos surrounding us. Her eyes shift between the two of us, bright and happy despite the horrors she must have experiencedsince my escape. But her rattle-filled breaths steal my resolve, and a lone tear streaks down my face. “Please don’t leave me again.”
Her gaze focuses fully on me as she raises her hand to cup my cheek with chilled fingers. “My sweet, sweet girl. I never left you. You made me so proud, Eleanor.” Her hand drops to her side, her body no longer possessing the strength to lift it. “But I’m tired now. It’s time for me to rest.”
I squeeze my eyes closed, the tears streaming down my cheeks and splashing onto Mama’s chest, each drop containing all the grief and pain and love I’ve hidden deep within myself, convinced I’d never be able to share it with anyone.
“And you,” she murmurs, turning to James with a heavenly smile as my fingers tangle with hers. “You kept us alive for all this time, but now it’s time for you to live, my son. You are not the monster he made you.” She looks past us toward Hunter and Stephanie, her soft voice keeping me tethered to this reality. “Follow her light. You’ll be okay.”
Her head slowly tilts toward the sky as a ray of sun breaks through the dark clouds and arcs across the dark water. Her breathing stutters, and I don’t know if it’s her hands or mine shaking.
And then she’s gone.
Her chest stills, her unfocused eyes staring sightlessly at the sky with a small bloodstained smile etched on her face.
Time ceases to exist as the world stands still in honor.
My throat aches, my agony and rage tearing through me with so much power I’m convinced it tears my soul in two. Forcing my feet under me, I limp toward Jonathan, falling onto his chest and punching him over and over and over until my arms and shoulders ache.
He grins at me with bloody teeth. “She was well past her prime, anyway. Saves me the trouble of disposing of the whore myself.”
Everything goes red.
I force my hands against his throat, basking in the pain and fear flashing across his face. Something glints near us as the sun fades behind the clouds, and my lips tip up in a deadly smile. I lean across the man I swore would never touch me, my fingers fumbling against the deck as I reach for the knife Hunter dropped earlier.
I drag the blade across Jonathan’s hip, cutting him with a giant K, branding him the same way he did me all those years ago. His face pales, his broken arm twisted awkwardly at his side as he tries to push me away. He can’t. His fear has no power against my rage. For the first time in my life, I win. Jonathan cannot beat me. Not today. Not anymore. Lifting the blade overhead, I drive it deep into his shoulder, rendering him powerless against me as his scream of agony sings to the sea surrounding us. Blood seeps between my fingers as I wrench the blade free, digging the tip deep into both ankles and ensuring he’s completely immobile and totally at my mercy.
He’ll wish he wasn’t.
Lifting the blade again, I drive it through his pants, slicing the fabric and exposing his lackluster cock to the world.
“No!” he yells, panic and pain coloring his voice.
“This is for Mama,” I say, my voice devoid of all emotion as I cleanly slice through the thin skin connecting his balls to his body. I toss the pathetic lump of flesh away, soaking in his pain and fear as if I were a sponge.
“This is for James,” I say, ridding his body of the cock he claimed to be so proud of.
“And this is for me,” I shout, straddling his chest and stuffing the pathetic organ into his mouth, forcing him to choke.
“This is for every life you’ve destroyed. I hope you rot in hell.” I slice deep into each eye, my body shivering at the sound. Jonathan’s blood paints my skin as I continue to stab deep, the blade nicking bone as I drive it into his chest again and again.
“Wait!” Fox shouts, rushing towards us. “We need him. We need what he knows.”
“I’ll tell you,” James says, pushing himself to his feet and keeping vigil over the massacre before him. “I’ll tell you everything.”
My vision blurs, my breaths coming in frantic pants as the muscles in my arms finally give out. Unfamiliar arms wrap around me as James lifts me from the lump of flesh that once resembled Jonathan and cradles me close.
“There are twenty-seven women on board. All of them need medical attention.” His voice sounds far away as he strides past everyone, leaving our devil to rot.
Epilogue
Hunter
The key to happiness is finding the person who takes your demons and dances them into the light.
My apartment is quiet when I enter with Mark hot on my heels, muttering about his new charge and how she is cramping his style. I smirk. Rose is going to run rings around him, and I am here for the show.
