Page 195 of I Will Mend You

It’s going to take more than a knife to get past Delta, and I think I know where to find it. Earlier, Dolly must have beensearching for a gun in the top drawer. Slipping on a robe, I step out of the bathroom in search of a weapon, only for my feet to stumble to a stop.

Locke stands at the foot of the bed, staring at Dolly’s corpse. He turns his head, his brow rising with recognition.

Oh, shit.

NINETY

AMETHYST

Panic floods my veins. I freeze in the doorway, staring at Locke. Any minute now, he’ll raise the alarm, telling Delta I’m an impostor and his precious wife is dead.

The golden-haired pretty boy glances from me to my deceased twin sister and smirks. “What did you do?”

Swallowing hard, I steady my breathing, trying to channel Dolly’s insanity.

Huffing, I say, “After everything she took from me, I had to work off a little steam.”

He steps closer, his brows pulling together. “Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?”

“Despite everything, she was still my twin.”

He shakes his head. “That was reckless, baby. We agreed you’d play along until the time was right for Delta to die.”

My mind races, and the room tilts on its axis. Dolly mentioned wanting him dead, but I didn’t realize she had a plan.

“Dolly?” Locke moves from the side of the bed, closing the distance between us, and places a hand on the arm that holds the knife at my side.

My skin crawls at his touch, and I fight the urge to recoil. Raising my other hand to the back of my neck in a gesture of awkwardness, I grimace. “I lost it.”

“Have you changed your mind?”

“No,” I say.

“It’s normal to trauma bond with an abuser. Delta’s only giving you freedom because you’re helping him capture Xero. Don’t be fooled by this truce. It’s only because you’re giving him what he wants. Once Xero is under his control, he’ll truss you up like Grunt again and pimp you out to anyone he wants to impress.”

I bow my head, trying to force back crashing waves of sympathy and guilt. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that they would have treated Dolly worse than Grunt. It looks like my going viral on social media triggered a series of events that elevated her into a position of power.

“Talk to me,” Locke says.

“You’re right,” I reply, my fingers tightening around the knife.

“Good girl.” Locke pulls me into a hug that makes me want to heave. “Once he’s dead, we’ll take control of Xero and the assets he stole from Delta. Then we’ll discard him and live the rest of our lives together in luxury.”

This star-crossed love story might be believable if Locke didn’t participate in snuff. If he gave a shit about Dolly, he would have helped her escape. Instead, he sold her a dream. Bringing up the knife, I plunge it into his gut, making him stumble backward with a shocked cry.

“Dolly?” he whispers, his eyes widening.

“Guess again.”

I slash at his chest, sending out a spray of blood. It splatters across my face, giving me a thrill of satisfaction.

Recognition flickers across his features. “Amy.”

“What was the plan?” I ask through clenched teeth. “Manipulate Dolly into signing over Delta’s assets, sell her to the highest bidder, and run off alone into the sunset?”

“She was a broken whore.”

My lip curls, and I raise the knife again. “What does that make you?”

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