Thinning my lips, I nod.
“I’m sorry, Addie. It’s my fault she ever ended up there.”
Frowning, I say, “Sibby, it wasn’t your fault.”
“It was,” she insists. “She had nowhere to go because I killed Daddy. All of them were left alone. She would’ve never-“
I grab her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Sibby, you couldn’t have known any of that would happen. You did everyone a favor by killing that man. He was a demon, remember?”
Her lip trembles, but she nods. “Sydney was, too, and she probably smelled like a rotten egg. I’m glad you killed her.”
I peck her cheek, hoping to rid her of any lingering guilt. “Go on upstairs. You did great, and we got everything we needed. I just have one more question to ask.”
She smiles and skips up the stairs, sadness forgotten.
I train my gaze on Francesca. “What happened to Molly?”
Her brows pinch with confusion, so I clarify, “She was a captive back in 2008. She wrote in the journal, and I found it inside the floorboards in my room. I started writing in it, too. It’s actually why Sydney was going to kill me. I was planning to escape, and she found out by reading that journal.”
Her expression sours, and I can almost see the memories flicking across her gaze.
“She escaped. The first and last girl to get away… until you,” she says, muttering the last part with indigence.
A smile curls my lips, and pride fills my veins.
For Molly and for myself.
“Thank you.” Clapping my hands, causing the three of them to startle, I offer them a huge smile. “It’s time.”
Francesca’s golden-brown eyes round with confusion and fear. Not so long ago, we stood in opposite shoes. Drowning in helplessness and sorrow, wondering how this could be happening to me. There she stood, staring down at me with the same expression that I now wear.
She showed me no mercy. And I will return that favor tenfold.
Maybe she did care, but not enough to save me from herself.
“Time?” she echoes, her voice breaking.
My grin widens further, not bothering to hide just how vindictive I feel.
“For the Culling,” I supply, my voice dipped in honey and sugar. “And you, my dear, are the prey.”
Imposters syndrome-something many authors deal with from time to time. When we accomplish something we never thought possible, things we only ever dreamed of, those are oftentimes the most difficult moments to grapple with.
Do I deserve this?
It’s similar to what Francesca, Xavier, and Rocco look like now-staring at the tree line before Parsons Manor, feeling like an imposter in their own life.
Instead of the inability to accept their accomplishments, they’re unable to accept their fate.
Am I really so vile-so evil-that I deserve to be hunted like a fucking animal?
I could answer that, but I’d rather show them.
Zade and Sibby stand on either side of me, a crossbow hanging loosely in their hands, the cold, gleaming metal identical to mine. The heavy weight feels familiar. I’ve been practicing for this very moment.
My heartbeat pulsates in my ears, drowning out Francesca’s incessant sniveling. We’re standing behind them, the brisk air saturated with anticipation.
“You know,” I say loudly, causing her to flinch. “You would’ve beat the shit out of me if I had cried.”
She shakes her head, refusing to answer. Her head is tipped down, a mop of stringy hair falling over her shoulders and revealing how badly she’s deteriorating. Her spine is protruding from her skin, poking through the threadbare t-shirt she wears.
Xavier and Rocco stand beside her with stone in their shoulders, holding tightly on to the fa?ade that they’re strong and brave.
Such manly men, they are.
I’d like to see if that ideology holds firm when they’re running for their lives or if they’ll die in a puddle of piss and regret.
“You three are luckier than I was. There’s no maze or traps in here for you. Just the sharp tip of our arrows.”
“And if you can’t find us? Then we get away, and you’re fucked,” Xavier retorts pompously. He must feel so smart right now.
I smile. “You won’t get away.”
He tips up his chin, eager to prove me wrong.
“You placed several rules on me, but I’m only giving you one. You can’t escape out of the driveway. There are several armed guards stationed all the way down. If you want out, you go all the way through and find the road.”
He stiffens, and my smile grows. Xavier thought he could cut left, run twenty feet, come out to my driveway, and escape that way. If they were going to make it hard on me, the least I can do is return the favor.
“Which one do you think is tastiest?” Sibby asks, bouncing on her toes with excitement and restlessness.
I curl my lip in disgust, wrinkling my nose. “Don’t be gross. We’re not cannibals.”
Sibby scoffs. “I would never taint my body with demon meat.
We won’t be eating them, but the vultures will.”
“She’s got a way with words,” Zade says dryly, a tinge of amusement in his tone.
That she does.
“Remember, Sibby, don’t shoot to kill. Find and bring her to one of us when she’s down,” I remind.
She grumbles in response but doesn’t argue. I want to experience all of their deaths, so just like the Culling, we’ll kill them together.
“Ready?” I call out. Francesca’s shoulders shake with sobs, but I pay her no mind.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.