Page 9 of I Will Break You

“Too late,” Myra says as she’s halfway out of the door. “I already texted him to come tonight at eight.”

Shit.

I’m about to protest when my second phone rings. It’s the one I use exclusively for text messages and conversations with Xero. Leaving Myra to let herself out, I jog upstairs to where I left it on my bedside. Only one person has that number, and he’s dead.

My heart pounds as I approach the nightstand, where it has stopped ringing and instead buzzes with a message. Xero must have sent it from his cell before the execution, where there wasn’tany reception. Now that he’s dead, the prison must have moved his personal effects to an area with coverage.

I unlock the phone, my fingers trembling. My breath hitches at his last words.

It is devastating to discover that our entire relationship was a sham, all for the sake of writing a bestselling book.

“What?” I whisper.

The next message pops up.

And the woman at the mailing address you gave me wasn’t even you.

My jaw drops. Did he get a last-minute pardon? I shake off that thought. Xero was caught red-handed—quite literally. Police had burst into the house while he was tearing out his stepmother’s heart. If he had escaped prison, Myra would have said something. It would be all over the news.

The next message says:

After the execution, I went there to find her wearing my mother’s locket.

A photo pops up of his tattooed hand, holding a silver necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. Xero sent it to me, but I never received it. We thought it had gotten lost in the mail. What’s it doing with Kayla?

I message back:

Are you alive?

He replies with:

How is that even possible when you ripped out my heart?

I reply:

How are you doing this?

Seconds later, he writes:

Electromagnetic radiation.

“Helpful,” I mutter.

Do you want to know what else I found?

Ignoring his question, I switch to the browser app and look up Xero’s execution online. According to every major media outlet, Xero was pronounced dead at 6:05 PM. A few articles mention leaked footage of Xero frying on the electric chair.

Another message takes up the top of the screen.

You said my last gift got lost in the mail. I found it on her nightstand. Did I ever tell you what we do to thieves in prison?

Moments later, there’s a picture of a woman with one side of her hair bleached blonde. She’s bent over a desk within a room decorated with Xero memorabilia, her brown eyes streaming with tears, and her thin lips wrapped around a big black sex toy. Its entire length, save for the base and suction cup, looks like it’s lodged down her throat.

FIVE

Alderney State Penitentiary,

Dear Amethyst,