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She thought this was seduction. It was only gasoline on the blaze. The urge burned through me, demanding release.

I needed it again. I needed it now.

I smiled thinly. “You have no idea what I’d do to you, Madison.”

She mistook it for lust and squeezed harder. “Then show me. My place is boring. Pull over somewhere private… we can fuck right here if you want.”

Instead of heading toward her apartment, I turned the car toward the industrial district. The streets grew darker, lined with chain-link fences and pools of shadow.

“There’s somewhere I want to take you. Somewhere private.”

She giggled, still riding the flirtation. “Mysterious. I like that.”

The abandoned warehouse loomed ahead with its shattered windows and doors hanging crooked on rusted hinges. Moonlight sliced through the cracks in pale beams. She noticed it immediately as I pulled in and parked deep in the shadows.

“This place?” she asked, glancing at the building. “It’s… creepy. But kind of hot, I guess. Like one of those abandoned spots people use for… you know.” She gave me a nervous little smile, still expecting sex. “Kinky. I’m into it if you are.”

I pulled her toward me. Our mouths met in the cramped space of the front seat. She was eager and open. Her hands gripped my shirt as she kissed me back with hunger, tongue sliding against mine. For a few long moments, the kiss deepened, messy and heated, her breath quickening against my lips while her fingers tangled in my hair. I let it build, one hand sliding up her thigh, feeling her shiver.

When I broke the kiss, she was flushed. “Fuck, Richard… you make me so wet.”

I turned the key just enough to power the stereo and hit play. The opening notes of “Paint It Black” filled the car. The guitar riff cut through the night air. I stepped out first, then walked around to open her door. She climbed out, still smiling, though her eyes flicked toward the warehouse again.

“You really want to do this here?” she asked as I took her hand and led her toward the broken doorway. Her heels scraped lightly over the gravel. Inside, dust swirled in the pale beams of moonlight. The air smelled of rust, old concrete, and decay. She hesitated for the first time, her fingers tightening slightly in mine.

“This place is… kind of scary,” she admitted with a shaky laugh. She looked around at the rusted beams and shattered glass. “You brought protection, right? A condom?”

I stopped just inside the doorway and turned to face her. The music drifted faintly from the car behind us. “We’re not going to need condoms.”

She blinked, confused but still trying to play along. “Oh. Okay. Well… I’m not on birth control or anything. So that’s probably not smart.”

I stepped closer, my voice calm and even. “I’m not going to have sex with you, Madison.”

Her smile faltered. “What?”

I laughed then, low and genuine, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. “I’m going to kill you.”

For a second, she just stared at me, waiting for the punchline. Then the words sank in. Her eyes widened in raw animal terror as the truth hit her all at once.

I pulled her against me and crushed my mouth to hers. She tried to twist away, but I held her face and kissed her hard, tasting the fear on her tongue as she whimpered into my mouth. Her hands pushed at my chest. I bit her lower lip until I tasted blood. Then I stepped back. I grabbed her right arm and snapped it backward at the elbow. The bone cracked loudly in the empty warehouse. She screamed in agony as the pain hit. I took her left arm next and broke that one too. She dropped to her knees. I kicked her legs out from under her and stomped down on her right shin until it gave with a wet crunch. Then I did the same to the left. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t fight.

I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her away from the entrance. She screamed, her broken arms flailing against me. “What the fuck?! Richard, stop!”

I dragged her deeper into the warehouse, her heels scraping over filthy concrete littered with glass and debris. She thrashed wildly. “Help! Someone fucking help me!”

“No one’s coming,” I growled. The fire inside me roared now, a full year of denial, of diapers and lullabies and pretending I was not this monster. It ended tonight.

I slammed her against a rusted support beam. Then I looped the thin steel garrote around her throat and yanked it tight. Her eyes bulged, her body twisting desperately against the wire as she gagged and sputtered. I held it until her face began to purple, then loosened it just enough to let ragged, desperate breaths through. I wanted her conscious and aware.

I threw her down onto a splintered wooden pallet. She coughed violently, blood already flecking her lips. “Please… don’t… I didn’t…”

“Shut your fucking mouth.” I pulled the serrated hunting knife. Her eyes widened in terror as I straddled her, pinning her arms beneath my knees.

“No! God, no! Richard, please!”

Her plea dissolved into a blood-curdling shriek as I forced her jaw open wide.

“Smile for me, Madison.”