When he finally looks at me, recognition slams into him. Terror floods his face so fast it’s almost satisfying.
“I told you,” I growl, close enough that he can smell the whiskey and violence on my breath. “I told you how this would end.”
He begs. He sobs. His body betrays him completely, fear stripping him of whatever dignity he thought he had left. Blood and spit stain his mouth as he pleads.
I don’t feel mercy.
I don’t feel anything at all.
“You chose wrong,” I tell him calmly. “You should’ve kept your hands to yourself.”
Metal catches the light.
His begging cuts off mid-sound.
I step back when it’s done, chest heaving, the alley thick with the consequences of his mistake. I clean my blade on his jacket with clinical care, slide it back into my pocket, and walk away without looking back.
The night closes over it all like it never happened.
And somewhere deep inside me, something smiles.
I head back to the car, the night closing behind me as if it’s complicit. My hands are steady now. My mind isn’t.
It drifts to her without permission, always does.
Emmy.
There’s a grim sense of completion settling in my chest, something dark and heavy and earned. One less stain breathing the same air as her. One less threat roaming free. He’ll never hurt anyone again, especially not her.
The thought should bring peace.
Instead, it brings clarity.
She doesn’t belong in my world.
My world is teeth and blood and shadows. It devours anything soft enough to care. Anything pure enough to matter. And if I let it touch her, if I lethimanywhere near her,
No.
I tighten my grip on the door handle, resolve locking into place.
I won’t pull her into the dark.
I’ll tear the dark apart first.
Before it ever reaches her.
Chapter Fifteen
Emmy
Saturday nights are supposed to feel light. Careless. Harmless. Like the choices you make won’t come back to collect their due.
I repeat that lie to myself as I stand in front of the mirror, my bedroom littered with discarded dresses. Too sweet. Too safe. Too much like the girl I’ve been trying to shed.
Then I see it.
The black dress.
