Page 71 of Unhinged

“Go back into the auction house and find Thiago and Damien; tell them I’ve got Ileana, and this will be over soon.” I narrow my eyes. “All the men look up to you. Get them to stop fighting.”

Jorge nods. “You’ve got it.” He disappears the way Alice came, leaving the two of us with Ileana.

“Come now, Taren, surely we can talk?—”

I fire my gun and hit the rock, too, showering her in more debris. “There’s nothing to talk about. You’re going to die today, Ileana. And it’s about time.”

The panic finally hits and she spins around, running in the opposite direction. I smirk, as the chase is part of the fun when it comes to hunting.

I chase after Ileana, Alice following close behind me. Ileana’s desperation increases with each step, her breath ragged and echoing of the tunnel’s walls. “You can’t run forever. I’ll catch you.”

I savor the moment, letting adrenaline fuel me. This moment I’ve longed for since that day twenty-two years ago. I crouch down to pick up a rock and throw it, hitting Ileana’s ankle and causing her to stumble and fall.

I approach and loom over her. “How shall I torture you first?” I ask, pulling my knife from my pocket again. “I want to hear you scream for a long time,” I announce.

Alice stands a few feet away, and I glance at her. “You may not want to be here to see this, little bird.”

She moves closer, shaking her head. “I don’t only want to be here for this. I want to help. After hearing what she did to you. I want to burn her alive and record her screams and then listen to them on repeat.”

Darkness. It lives in Alice like it lives in me. I believed she was pure light, but she’s been touched by grief and trauma like me, and it’s changed her. It may be why I’ve been drawn to her since we met.

“Okay, let’s have some fun,” I say, grinning as I grab Ileana and hoist her to her feet. “I know the perfect place.”

“Taren, please—” I knock her over the head, making sure she’s unconscious, and lift her over my shoulder.

“I’m not listening to her pleas any longer.”

Alice nods. “Good, because if you hadn’t knocked her out, I would have.”

I laugh at her feistiness. It’s a quality I admire.

My brow furrows. “You said your parents died when you were eight.”

She nods in reply, her eyes full of sadness. “What’s your point?”

“You said your dad taught you to shoot?”

“Yeah, my adoptive dad,” she replies.

“Of course. Are you on good terms with your adoptive parents?”

I nod. “For the most part. They don’t like that I chose to take creative writing at Brown, though.”

I think on that as we start walking, every step echoing with the power of the moment. It’s almost over.

“Where are you going to take her?” Alice asks.

I smirk. “Back to her house. It’s only right this ends where it all started, right?”

She arches a brow. “If that were the case, you should take her to Mexico City.”

It would be poetic to take her to the ruins in the city where she destroyed my life and turned my world upside down. But it’s too risky. Mexico City wouldn’t welcome Ileana with open arms, and having the officials take her from me would rob me of my retribution.

“True, but it’s not that simple. The house will have to do.”

Alice nods in response, stepping beside me as we exit the tunnels. A heavy silence falls between us as we make the short trek back to the house, the only sound of an owl hooting in the distance and the far-off rumble of cars on the road.

We head toward the end of an era. The Red Queen dies tonight, putting a stop to the vicious cycle of blood and fire she’s showered me with since the day I met her.

---