Page 29 of I Will Break You
Exhaling a shuddering breath, I upend the envelope, letting the fingers fall to the mattress. My heart skips a beat, my stomach twisting with revulsion. The morbid side of me muses thatwhoever detached them did a great job of keeping them preserved and clean.
“What do you want from me?” I ask my phone.
A message pops up saying:
Arrange them.
I lay them out in order, with the thumb on the left, since I already know they belong to a right hand.
The letters spell BDSM.
“Gavin…” I say to the screen. “Is he dead? Did you kill him?”
He doesn’t answer. Of course, he doesn’t. He wants me to find out for myself. Xero, or whoever’s impersonating him, won’t leave me alone until I’ve lost what’s left of my sanity.
I need to warn Myra and get the fuck away from Parisii Drive.
SEVENTEEN
Alderney State Penitentiary,
Dear Amethyst,
You asked, so here it is: the ugly truth. The first person I killed was my birth mother. She got shot while pregnant with me and died during an emergency C-section. At least, that’s the story I heard from her older sister, who took care of me until she was struck down by cancer.
After I turned seven, her condition became terminal. A man I’d never met came to the door, claiming to be my father. He said it was time for me to join his family. I refused because he was a stranger, and I wanted to stay with the woman I considered my mother.
He pulled out a syringe and injected her with a poison that stopped her heart. I had to watch her convulse until she finally ceased moving. Then he held out his hand and ordered me to come with him.
I wasn’t allowed to pack a bag, gather photos, or bring anything from our life. He ripped me from her cooling body, and all I managed to take was her locket. It’s my most treasured possession and the only thing that connects me to my previous life.
How about you? I already know about your first kill. Instead, tell me your most painful memory.
Now that I have answered your question, I want another clip with less teasing.
Xero
P.S. I’m delighted you enjoyed the show and look forward to the day I coat your face in my cum.
EIGHTEEN
AMETHYST
Even at the height of my peril, I know it’s bad manners for a house guest to leave behind their severed fingers. I place them back into the envelope, slide it into the overnight bag, and straighten up the sheets.
It’s seven in the morning, and the hallway echoes with distant snores. I tiptoe down the stairs, not wanting to wake anyone with the sounds of my panic, and step out through the front door.
The morning sun trickles down on the trees lining Parisii Drive, casting dappled light on my car. A quick glance at the back seat confirms that it’s empty, and I stride toward the driver’s side door.
Maybe I should have called the police, but I’m afraid of repercussions. Xero has already murdered one person with a distant connection to me, perhaps even two. I still don’t know what happened to Gavin, and I’m too afraid to investigate.
I scoot inside and glance through the rearview mirror to recheck for random corpses. Finding it empty, I start the engine, call Myra, and drive.
She answers in two rings. “Hey.”
“Xero’s ghost killed Kayla.” When she doesn’t reply, I check the handset to see if the call is still connected. “Are you there?”
She clears her throat. “What makes you think Xero has become a ghost?”