Page 64 of Killing Emma

“Where is he?”

“There’s more places to look,” Jude says. “Just don’t let go of my hand.” Something about his words send a jolt of fear through my body. “He won’t be here.”

My hand sweats in Jude’s as he leads me to a back exit—that leads to more shocking shit. Desperado by Rihanna slams into my ears and I fight the urge to cover them from the sheer volume…

Women, men, shadows of figures grind against each other, the smell of sex, smoke, and booze filling the air. I swallow the lump in my throat as Jude keeps my body tight to his. It’s so dark except for the neon lights flickering, giving flashes of sex every time it flickers.

The Den is a fucking sex club.

“Keep your head down,” Jude shouts over the moaning and music. Hands brush my ass and I stumble into Jude. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, but I’m too caught up in the frustration.

“I can’t see anyone’s faces,” I shout to Jude, my voice cracking. “How am I supposed to find him?”

Jude shakes his head, and I don’t know what that means as we slide through the crowd of bodies. He doesn’t seem interested in looking for Luca at the moment, and I wonder if it’s because he’s trying to shield me from what I might see. But I still try to find his face.

But I don’t see him. And I wonder if it’s only going to get worse.

Jude drags me to the next set of doors and pushes them open. We stumble into darkness. I catch my breath as the silence settles around us, the music dissipating as the doors latch.

I grasp Jude’s hand so hard my hand cramps. It’s pitch black. “Where are we?” I whisper into the blackness as Jude stands stark still.

“Where we might find Luca.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Luca

“Ah, good to see you, Luca,” Chester greets me with a wicked grin as I step through the double doors, ready to let loose. “It’s been a while. Any preferences?”

“No, no different than my norm,” I tell him. “Give me your worst. I’ll make them wish they never signed up for this. I need to get over someone.”

He nods. “As always. You have several requests waiting for you. You’d be surprised how many people want you to assist their demise.”

I nod. “Perfect. Give me the most deranged psychopath you’ve got.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Emma

Jude leads me through the darkness until we run into another set of doors, lit up by a single Exit sign. He pushes through the doors, and there’s a dive bar. A regular ole dive bar, minus the fact that it’s full of incredibly intimidating men and women—though not the kind we passed earlier.

“Shit,” Jude mutters, grabbing my attention. “I knew he’d do it.”

“Do what?” I demand, my voice increasing.

“Shh,” Jude snaps. “This place is made of fucking nightmares. People come from all over the world to… die.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“We’ll just have to wait for him to come out.” Jude leads me toward a back table. “It could be hours, though.”

“Will you please explain what’s happening?” I stop him with a jerk of my arm. “I want to know what he’s doing.”

“Jeez,” Jude grunts. “Listen, people come here to die at the hands of others—some have requests. Luca is… He’s going on a rampage, per se.”

“He’s killing people?”

“Assisted suicide, yeah. Sometimes they put really fucking deranged people in there, the ones getting the death penalty, anyway. It’s a fucked world, and this is one of the worst.”

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