Page 92 of Stolen Love

She pops it in my mouth and holds my head up so I can sip the water.

I make a show of swallowing the pill for her. “Done.”

“Open your mouth and say ah.” She follows it up with doing the movements.

I hide the pill under my tongue and do as she says. I learned some tricks in Sunny, though I never felt the need to avoid my meds there.

“Okay.” She sits on the edge of the mattress and folds her hands in her lap. “I’ve been watching you since our dad died. I was at the funeral. I was working up to approaching you, but then you ended up at the facility and I couldn’t follow you there. So I waited. And I watched. I watched the family you grew up in. I watched Alec in his true form. Saw the things that he did. And then you got out and you reluctantly became my friend, thanks to Ben.”

Damn, I didn’t realize. “You never cared about Ben, did you?”

“I liked Ben, but he had that big crush on you. I don’t think he ever stopped.”

“Is Ben…”

“Oh, he’s fine. His dad really did get cancer. He is really staying with him.”

“Oh, thank God.” I settle back against the pillows.

“Now where was I?” She smooths out her skirt. “Alec likes to crow about his accomplishments online. He uses an alias and confesses his crimes. That’s where he met Jackson, by the way. On this twisted website. It was easy to catch him and set up a notification. That’s child’s play for anyone who knows how.” She rolls her eyes. “The idiot was in Narnia, posting about waiting to kill you. I got to you as quickly as I could. I held your artery in my fingers to keep the blood from flowing out. But West, he made me leave when Rogue showed up.”

“You helped save me?”

She nods. “We’re sisters. I don’t know how many times I have to say that. And that’s why Alec is on my list.”

“List?”

“My kill list, of course.” She smiles. “And that is why you can’t leave. You’re the cheese to my trap. When Alec gets here I’m going to kill him. After that we can work out what happens next.”

“I’m angry at him too, Dizzy. He’s hurt me too many times for me to still have compassion left. But killing him…” The idea of letting Dizzy kill him in cold blood. I’m not sure I can handle that. Plus, what if she can’t actually do it? What if Alec comes prepared? “He deserves to rot for a very long time.”

“He deserves to die.”

“No, Dizzy. He deserves jail time. For what he’s done to me. To Rochelle Kitt. And who knows how many other people he’s hurt. He should have to suffer a very long time.”

I rub at my wrist. I can get out of the handcuffs, but can I get out of this house and far enough away that Dizzy won’t drag me back to wait for Alec? And there’s the safe upstairs. I need to know what’s in it.

She stands and starts to sway. “I don’t know. I don’t like it. I want to kill him. I want his blood dripping from my fingers. I have to slay the monsters.”

“I want his confession.” Seeing Dizzy like this, she seems so damaged and yet fragile. It breaks my heart. Things could have been so different for her. For us. “I want him to admit to what he did to Rochelle Kitt. I want him to admit to what he did to me.”

She nods. “I can get you that. But I can’t promise I won’t hurt him a little bit. Or, like… a lot.”

“Take the cuff off and we’ll do it together,” I promise.

“Okay.” She produces the key from her pocket and leans over me to unclasp the metal bracelet.

“Thank you.” I sit up and rub my wrists. “And those pills are truly to help with the poison?”

“Yes.” She rolls her eyes at me.

I take a leap of faith and swallow the one still hiding in my cheek. “I want to try that safe again too, if that would be all right. I think I remember the code. One. One. One. Three. Zero. Three.”

“That’s my birthday.” She smiles and for the first time since she brought me here, she almost seems like herself.

“Do you want to go up and try it?” I scoot to the edge of the bed.

“Yes, let’s.”

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