Page 82 of The Devils' Darling

“Son, we can’t cover the entirety of the grounds. The drones are up in the air and the dog handlers are patrolling. It’s the best we can do.”

I bet Paxton will aim for the woods. It’s what I would do. There are trails wide enough to drive a car a fair way through, and, if he can get to the outer perimeter, it’s his best chance of getting off the property with her.

We need to stop him before that can happen.

We keep going, passing frightened and confused students who are all being ushered to the meeting point. An alarm is blaring, and I wish someone would turn it off already—it’s not as though we need it to know that everything has gone to shit.

I almost sag in relief when I spot Kirill and Tino in the ruins of the kitchen. Tino is glugging down water from a plastic bottle. He’s covered in dust, and he winces when he moves toward me. Still, they’re both here. Both alive.

“Where are they?” I demand. “Where are Paxton and Mackenzie?”

My father is distracted by the chaos going on around us. It’s hard to ignore all the cries for help, but I have to if we’re going to find her.

“I think we need to go after them alone,” Tino says, keeping his voice low. He coughs and sips more water. “The security approaching with guns blazing could get her killed.”

“Agreed,” I say.

Kirill nods, and we hold one another’s gaze for a long beat. We don’t need to speak. We want the same thing—for Mackenzie to make it out of this alive.

Chapter 35

Mackenzie

The sharp point in my side reminds me not to fight. Not yet. I must choose my moment, but only when I have a chance of winning.

The moment the shock of the blast wore off, I was yanked to my feet and a deadly sharp blade was pressed against my waist. He still has the gun, but he’s tucked it away. I can only assume he’s decided a knife is a quieter way to kill me. If he fires a shot, he’ll alert everyone to his location. Using the gun will be a last resort.

“Remember, if I push this in, I’ll lacerate your liver, and you’ll die in slow agony,” Paxton hisses. “I don’t want that. I want you with me. All you need to do, Mackenzie, for once in your fucking entitled life, is cooperate.”

He thinks my life is entitled. I want to laugh at him, but I hold my thoughts inside. He’s a madman. A verifiable maniac. He’s just blown up a college, for fuck’s sake. Not any college—a mafia college.

“You must know that if the guards get you, you’re a dead man, right?” I slur my words slightly, my brain still struggling to catch up with everything. I’m punch drunk and a little dizzy from the blast.

He laughs. “I almost died recently. You might have heard about it. Some crazy cunt stabbed me.”

I flinch at the hatred he puts into the words, but my gaze locks on the round scar on the side of his throat. It’s still red and angry. He’ll have that scar for life—a reminder of me every time he looks in the mirror.

No wonder he hates me.

“They say revenge is a dish best served cold, and mine, Mackenzie, my darling, is going to be like ice.”

He’s dragging me through the corridors, away from the half-destroyed kitchen. We reach the end, and he pushes through the side doors into a small courtyard that leads to the old stables.

I try to pull back, but he digs the knife in enough that I cry out with the pain. Wetness oozes against my t-shirt. Oh, God, I’m bleeding.

I put my hand down and bring it up shakily. My fingers are tipped with red.

“It’s nothing,” he scoffs. “A mere scratch. When I’m done with you, you’ll be bleeding like that from every orifice, and then I’ll leave you for dead.”

I can’t believe I ever thought of this man as handsome. I’d been obsessed with him once, studying every detail of his face, mesmerized by the unusual color of his gray-blue eyes. I’d dreamed of lacing my fingers through his thick auburn hair and had even ‘borrowed’ a t-shirt of his so I could sleep with his scent wrapped around me when we weren’t together.

But he’d poisoned all of that, and now all I see is the evilness his beauty had disguised. A mask has been torn away. He doesn’t care who he hurts, as long as he gets what he wants. All those poor people who’d been caught in the explosion were completely innocent in all of this.

“Paxton, please, stop this. I’m not worth losing it all over. You can go back home and resume your life. No one will know you’re the one responsible for the bombing.” I can’t stop the bitter words that fall from my mouth next. “I’m sure you’ll easily find some other young girl to hoodwink and make believe your lies.”

His grip on my arm tightens, his fingers digging hard into my flesh. The blade makes itself known in my side again as he pushes that deadly tip just a tiny bit deeper.

“Shut your fucking smart mouth, bitch. I can’t go back to my life because the shit storm you’ve caused meant people started talking, and you know what the internet is like these days. Some bitches from years back have crawled out of the woodwork, all accusing me of grooming them.” He gives a bitter laugh. “They were adults, same as you. Can’t groom adults—they were just weak.”

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