Page 118 of When He Plays

Though she knew he would have needed to get the camera in that bedroom turned off so his actions wouldn’t be shown to the killer.

“Will you start offering me secrets when I cut off your pretty fingers?” Carmichael questioned her, all breezy, like he was asking her about the weather and not talking about slicing off her digits.

Harper sobbed.

Charlotte just stared him down.

Carmichael smirked at her. “Or will you confess all when I put a knife to your face and tell you that I can make you so hideous that no one will ever want to look at you again?”

“Let us go! Please!” Harper begged. “Please, please…just let us go!”

His head turned toward Harper. “You’re not comparable to the others. I feel like I could snap my fingers.” He did. “And you’d break. Not at all like your brother, are you?”

“You stay away from my brother!”

“Not going to do that. Your brother is the one I intend to destroy next. I’m sure he’ll be gutted when he finds pieces of you.”

“No!” A hard yell from Charlotte. She wanted his attention back on her. All of his focus. Because she thought…

Had she just seen a faint flash of light behind him, in the deep darkness? One brief moment?

A light in the dark.

A sign…

A signal?

Logan, are you here? If he was there and looking for his moment to attack, then she had to keep Carmichael distracted. Raising her voice—the better to muffle any sounds that an approaching Logan might make—she shouted, “You said that you’d let Harper go! That I could trade myself for her. I kept my part of the deal. I’m here. Now it’s your turn.”

His head angled back to her. A wide smile curved Carmichael’s lips. “I lied. I do that.” He inched a little closer to the cage. “I lie and I kill. It’s who I am. Sue me.”

“You’ve abducted and murdered multiple women⁠—”

“Nine women. Four men.” A pause. “Did you know about the men? Probably not. See, I did that in another life, back when I was just an enforcer. But I learned that my skills could serve me so well. I learned that I could use them to get incredible intel that I could then use to sell to the highest bidder.”

Charlotte sucked in a shuddering breath. Wait, hold on. It made sense. Sick sense. “That’s why you targeted⁠—”

“A US marshal? A CIA operative? A Fed?” A bored roll of one shoulder. “I went after targets who had the connections I needed. People who could tell me deep, dark secrets. When I put my blade in them, they talked plenty. Though I have to confess, I really enjoyed the challenge with those women. The old mob and gang idiots I handled back in the beginning? They wouldn’t put up a fight. But you ladies…” A bob of his head. “Talk about the thrill of the hunt.”

This wasn’t just about him being a serial killer. No, it was about him selling secrets. Classified secrets. Torturing those secrets out of his well-connected victims.

She and Jezebel had feared this…

One of the many reasons they’d needed to track him. To stop him.

Logan would arrive soon. If he wasn’t already inside. And with that faint light that she thought that she’d seen, hope had flooded through her. Logan would come with backup. Jezebel. Other operatives. Maybe even Detective Meredith Reece.

“If you think help is coming, give up that dream,” Carmichael ordered. “I drove my knife into Jamar before I called you in that hotel room. Over and over. Figured, why bother getting intel from him? I knew you’d spill your guts to me.” A snort. “Literally.”

Her shoulders stiffened. “Let Harper go. You have me.”

“I’m keeping you both. No, my bad. Correction, I’m killing you both.”

“Like you killed Evelyn?” She wanted to hear his confession.

“She’s dead?” A high-pitched cry from Harper.

“That was unfortunate.” Carmichael almost seemed regretful. “Evelyn was a truly great fuck, and she gave me incredible intel about Ares. About Pierre, too. And even Sebastian. She was able to sneak close and find out all sorts of useful tidbits about the players in our game.” He gazed at her with a faint amusement on his face. “Did you know Sebastian was working undercover? Kinda like you, right?”