Page 144 of All Your Hate

"Wynter—"

"No! You're going to tell me everything and don’t you dare lie to me again.”

Noah tries to take hold of my hand, but I don’t let him and he keeps his distance. “Summer was in a foster home, it was an awful place. Charlie had been visiting her a lot. She thought I wanted to adopt Summer and warned me off because she thought I was a creep.”

Good.

“I ended up getting her to tell me about how you were Summer’s only family and you were missing. I told her I could help. By the time you asked me to make the deal with you, your body in exchange for her safety, I had already adopted her.”

“She’s yours?”

Does he just go around collecting people as trophies?

“She’sours. Once we’re married you’ll have rights as well. I have enough money to make it happen today if that’s what you want. It’s how I got Summer so quickly.”

Money. That’s all it comes down to. Whether legally or illegally, all it takes to own a person is money.

The look on Noah’s face tells me he thinks he did the right thing. Ultimately he did. Summer is safe. Being here means there was never a chance of Dmitri or anyone else hurting her. Charlie’s been with her this whole time so she’s not been alone. So why does my chest hurt so much?

“Wynter, now that you know, we can make this work as a family. Charlie can stay and look after Summer like she’s been doing and we can keep killing. There are plenty more monsters out there to destroy.” He sounds so sure of his plan, so sincere about the damn thing and it's difficult not to fall right into his trap.

“No. I can’t keep doing that! If Summer ever found out what I’ve become…” I think back to every man I’ve murdered. Almost too many to keep track of now. Then I remember the first time I saw their faces on Noah’s computer. The numbers don’t add up.

“How many men did you say hurt me?”

“I don’t remember now.”

He’s making a fool of me again.

“Who have I been killing?”

His jaw goes tight.

I try to match all the faces up, but there are too many, they all meld into each other.

“Dmitri. The ones he made you dispose of, you had me killing them as well didn’t you?”

I look towards the door that Summer and Charlie are safe behind. But will they ever really be safe from Noah’s twisted schemes?

“They weren’t mine to kill,” I say.

I never wanted to be this person. All I wanted was revenge, not to be a serial killer. Noah’s stolen my soul and corrupted it. Twisted me into his little puppet.

I can’t do this. “I need time away from you. Either you leave or we do.”

His face cracks at my ultimatum. “Wynter…”

“No more. I can’t take any more hurt, Noah.”

“I’m not losing you. Please, Wynter, I only just buried my father. You’re all I have.” He drops to his knees and grabs my hips.

My throat burns from the threat of tears, but I hold them back. “I’m sorry he’s gone. I really am, but you can’t manipulate me into staying because of that.”

His eyes shine as he looks up at me. Not once have I ever seen him cry. I have to look away before I fall for his lies once more. It’s all a show. None of what he says or does is real.

“Let me go,” I whisper, my voice cracking.

Standing up he presses his forehead to mine. The close proximity that I once loved is now suffocating.

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