Page 211 of Mayhem and Minnie

As if my hatred for that dead man wasn’t potent enough, I find that with each passing second, it festers into something more. Something ugly. Something destructive.

I take a deep breath.

Her lip twitches and she holds on tighter to the detached head as if to guard it from me.

A blow reverberates against my ribs, and I wince at the physical pain.

“I said I loved him and he died. You didn’t have to…desecrate his body. How did you even find him?” She takes a deep breath. “How could you even think to do this?”

“Because he’s dead!” I grind out. “He’s dead and I cannot kill him again. This is the only way.”

“The only way to what?” She narrows her eyes at me.

“The only way to make sure there’s nothing holding you back.”

She gives a dry laugh.

“Nothing holding me back?” She raises a brow. “Are you sure it’s not the other way around? Nothing holding you back?”

“He’s already dead. Of course there’s nothing holding me back,” I reply, frowning.

“Really? Because you had to dig up a dead man and disturb his resting place. And for what? For some deranged show of force? To stroke your fragile ego?”

“My what?” My eyes flash at her.

“You heard what I said. You have a fragile ego,” she repeats. “But that’s not all, is it? You also don’t trust me enough since you had to do this to convince yourself I’ve moved on when I’ve repeatedly told you I have.”

“Minnie—”

“Don’t interrupt me, Marlowe!” she snaps. “You went too far this time.” She shakes her head. “When I first told you about Lucien, I was upset about your reaction, but I thought it was normal. You were jealous that I had another fiancé. Fair enough. But I told you he died. He is gone.”

“He’s still here,” I mutter under my breath.

She scoffs at my words.

“See what I mean? You don’t trust me, do you? If you did, you wouldn’t have done this. You would have listened to my words and trusted that he is my past and you’re my present. But no, you had to go and ruin everything.” She swallows hard as she chokes on the last words. “But to desecrate an innocent man’s body for your messed up purposes? That’s low. Even for you.”

“You don’t understand, Minnie. I did this for us,” I try to explain. But she doesn’t let me.

“Us? You did it for you. You did it to satisfy some weird hang-up you have about my past when I’ve told you repeatedly exactly what it was.”

“But that’s exactly it! He’s still here, in your memories. He’s still present.”

“He will always be in my memories.”

My features harden.

“And since I cannot erase those memories, the least I can do is erase him from this world. He might be dead, Minnie, but he’s not dead enough for me,” I growl.

“Dead enough? Do you hear yourself, Marlowe?”

“I thought you’d understand.” I sigh.

“Understand what? That you don’t trust me? Oh, don’t worry, I fully understand that.”

“It’s not about trust!” I exclaim.

“It’s all about trust,” she counters.

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