A woman lives alone in a haunted house with a tragic past—but it’s the man who watches her from outside every night that terrifies and thrills her most. As lightning flashes and shadows deepen, fear and forbidden desire blur. Is he just a stalker… or something far more dangerous? Something tells her the worst is yet to come.
“Oh, no,” Addie whispers. “Sibby, you can’t say stuff like that. It’s known that you associate your victims with smell.” Sibby quietens, which allows us to hear the man’s response clearly. “What an odd thing to say.” “I am an oddball,” Sibby says in a strained laugh. He must help her up based on the…
“Come on, baby, that’s not what you were calling me when you were screa-“ “Shut up, or I’ll start screaming other men’s names and I promise I don’t need your dick anywhere near me to do it.” Challenge sparks in his eyes, signaling that this conversation is quickly taking a nosedive. “You really want to…
She looks like a fucking Cheetos puff, but in bright neon pink. She’s wrapped in several layers of clothing, with a massive puffer jacket three sizes too big, ending at her ankles and barely concealing the yellow polka-dot rain boots. To top it off, she’s been doing her makeup again, however, she has shied away…
“- Not crazy,” she cuts in, narrowing her eyes. Zade shoots her a look, one that says, yeah, okay, and I’m Jackie Chan. “Regardless, she can fight. She could help you with training.” My heart softens, hearing what he’s not saying. You can’t stand my touch, so here’s someone who can give you what I…
Except he was never caught for those murders. “Ladies, this is Sibby,” Zade introduces tiredly, waving a hand at her before coming over to my side. I tense as he nears, splitting my attention between watching the space between Zade and me close while keeping an eye on the crazy girl. The four men she…
When he took me to the sanctuary a few days ago, it changed something in me. Seeing all those survivors getting better, working on healing, and seeing them shrouded in all kinds of happy vapors, it shifted something in my chest. It made me realize that’s what I really need. A goal-something to work toward…
I swallow, the truth tasting like dirt on my tongue. “You will never hear me call myself a good man. Or kind. Or even honorable. There is very little left of that in me, and the truth is that it was never really there to begin with. I was born with a blackened soul and…
I’m the criminal?” I question. She sighs. “Adeline, if he has coerced you to do something…” I roll my eyes. “He hasn’t made me do anything, Mother, chill. And I’m fine. Really. I went through something traumatic-obviously-and sleeping doesn’t always come easy to me.” She shifts on the leather couch, gearing up to say something…
Daya blinks at me, thrown off from my declaration, and slides the glass over to me. “I love you, but you wouldn’t even last a day.” “Rude,” I mutter, taking a sip of the wine. I cringe, the bitter taste invading my taste buds. I like my wine sweet, but it’s what Daya had in…
“Really? How many are here?” “One hundred and thirty-two survivors,” he answers, and the fact that he knows the exact number does weird shit to my heart. Shit I didn’t consent to. “How many people do you have room for?” He shrugs casually, parking outside the largest of the buildings. “However many I need it…