Page 83 of Hide Me Darling

I can immediately see we’re no longer at the carnival. Trees surround us, the canopy blocking out the moonlight. It's not hard to see he brought me to the forest, but I can’t figure out why. I try to move, but I can feel something binding my hands together behind my back where I’m propped against one of the trees.

I'm not sure what he has planned, but I get this feeling that something has changed. Abel always stands tall when he’s near me, but this masked man is slouched over. Abel always controls me with my neck, his hand around my throat like a collar while unable to put space between us. This man tied me to a tree and is keeping his distance.

"Why are you doing this?" I finally growl. The mask on his face tilts to the side, assessing me. Using my bound hands against the tree behind me, I manage to get to my feet. I will not cower on the ground for anyone.

"You have been asking too many questions. Annoying little questions that draw too much attention," he says. But even with the voice disguiser, I can tell something is off. How does someone change so quickly? Even the shadow of his build looks different.

"And you think killing me won't raise bigger questions?" I ask, scowling at him.

He steps closer, his gloved fingers brushing down my arm over the brand there. "Oh, that will be easy. You decided that the island wasn’t for you after all. Your stuff will be gone, and it will be like you just went home to the city. Besides, maybe you ran away from the island because you feared for your life. Enough people know what this brand means to assume you got scared off."

His gloved hand reaches for me, but I turn my face away from it with a growl, not wanting him to touch me. The mask is shining so brightly it's distracting, but I try to focus elsewhere, staring into the trees surrounding us. He hums as he starts to trail his finger against my skin.

"It will be a shame to kill something so beautiful," he whispers, and I narrow my eyes.

"You seem to have forgotten an important detail," I respond, and he tilts his head, waiting for me to continue. But I don't need to.

"Us," comes a voice from behind him before a fist hits the imposter on the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the forest floor.

Two more masks flare to life on the figures now standing between me and the one on the ground. The red and green neon is so very similar to the one that had just been in front of me, but now I see the slight differences, and only these ones make my heart race.

"They do say imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?" one of the figures says. The way he speaks, I instantly know it’s Cain. He turns to look at Abel. "Do you feel flattered? I certainly feel fucking flattered right now."

Abel growls, "Nah, I just feel fucking twitchy. You know, the kinda twitchy I get when someone else touches what's ours!" He kicks out at the figure on the ground, and the impact has a loud crack echoing around us as I hear the person groan.

"I didn't know," the masked figure wheezes.

Cain gives a derisive laugh. "You just said you saw the brand! You knew exactly who you were messing with."

Abel crouches down, getting closer. "You think because you’ve killed all those tourists you're untouchable now?" He reaches out and takes hold of the mask on the imposter, pulling it off his face and throwing it toward the trees. "The only reason we let it go on this long was because we needed to draw her to the island, otherwise we would have killed you ourselves."

My stomach does a flip as I see the face of the serial killer, and suddenly every little piece fits together in my mind. I shudder at the thought that I ever looked at him with anything but disgust. His mismatched eyes widen in fear as Cain also crouches down closer to him.

“We thought that with her arriving and starting to ask questions you would lie low, but you couldn’t help yourself, could you, Chester,” he says. “You had to take the one opportunity you had to kill again. You somehow knew exactly when we were taking out the other trash polluting our island.”

“But you didn’t realize you were killing a tourist that our girl had made friends with,” Abel says, standing and moving closer. When he reaches me, his fingers deftly work to untie the bindings on my wrists. "Are you okay?"

I nod, though my body is trembling from the adrenaline. But with it, comes a realization. "Yeah," I manage to say, before looking at the man on the ground.

My mother is one of the best profilers in the world, and growing up surrounded by her work has taught me a few things. I walk over to Chester, all of the pieces finally fitting into place. “That was her blood wasn’t it? On the painting at the carnival? This was about more than just your need to understand death.”

Chester looks up at me, and for the first time, I see the darkness lurking there, but there is a selfish kind of evil swirling in his gaze. "They were my greatest masterpieces," he finally whispers.

A chill runs down my spine at his words, the sheer depravity of his confession almost too much to bear. Cain leans forward, grabbing Chester by the collar and pulling him to his feet.

"You won't have the chance to create any more," Cain says, his voice cold and unyielding.

Chester looks at each of us before he turns his gaze back to Cain. "You know you won't get away with killing me." There is a hint of a challenge in his voice. I frown, but Cain simply scoffs in response, shoving Chester away and moving toward where the gleam of the blade can be seen on the ground.

"Oh, I think we will," Cain says, picking up the knife. "You're not the only one who can make a body disappear, remember?"

"Was it even worth it? Did you get what you were searching for?" I ask him, taking a step toward where he’s standing.

He shrugs, a twisted smile on his face. "Not sure. How about you let me know," he says, and before anyone can react, he charges toward me. The impact of his body is like a freight train, sending us both back to the ground, but this time he’s on top of me, his hands wrapped around my neck.

"If they are going to kill me, I will at least take the woman they love with me," he growls, his hands squeezing so hard I can't breathe. My pulse pounds inside my head, and I scratch at any part of him I can reach, but his grip is unrelenting.

Just as my vision starts to blur, I see a flash of green and I watch in slow motion as Abel’s hand takes a hold of Chester’s head and gives a sharp twist.

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