Page 34 of Little Horrors & Deceptions

“You're a cop…,” he breathed, voice barely above a whisper. My finger hovered next to the trigger.

Liam's wide, glassy eyes bored into mine. Shock, betrayal, and something else I couldn’t quite name swirled in their depths.The hurt etched across his face was like a knife to my chest, sharper than I had anticipated. I’d known this moment would come—knew it had to—but seeing the raw pain in his expression hit harder than I'd prepared for.

I’d fallen for him. I’d let myself get pulled into the gravity of Liam's world. And now? Now he knew the truth about me, or at least this one, and it made fear prickle at the back of my mind, not just because I was a fed, but because of what he might do to me. What he might become. There was a darkness in Liam that I had only glimpsed, and now that I was possibly the enemy in his eyes, how far would he go?

His eyes, once filled with warmth, now burned with icy disbelief. Seeing him like this, seeing what I’d done to him, hurt more than I thought it would. Maybe I was afraid of how much I still wanted him, even now. Afraid of how this would change us—if we even still existed after all of this.

“Go ahead… Do it.” His voice trembled, cracking through the silence. He wasn’t pleading or angry. It was resignation, maybe even relief. My heart pounded in my ears, louder than his voice, than the thoughts racing through my head. Could I shoot him? The answer that haunted me most was that no matter how much I should, no matter what he might do to me… I couldn’t pull the trigger. I’d never be able to do that to him.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry. My eyes lined with tears. “No. You're a murderer, not a monster… I guess we both have some secrets.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. My hands trembled slightly, but I kept the gun trained on him.

“I had my reasons.” His voice was low, tinged with a rawness I hadn't heard before. He took a step closer, and I instinctively tightened my grip.

“Don't,” I warned. My vision blurred as tears welled up. “I… I know.” The words came out like a choked sob.

Liam's brow furrowed, confusion and concern etched across his face as he looked at me. Even when I had a gun pulled on him he cared—he still fucking cared.He took another cautious step forward. “You know? You know what?”

I nodded, blinking rapidly. A tear escaped, trailing down my cheek. “I know you had your reasons.”

His jaw clenched. “Then you understand,” he said softly.

I did. God help me, I did.

Liam's eyes searched mine. “What are you going to do, Jade?”

I took a shaky breath, steeling myself. “I want the truth.” Liam's eyes flickered toward the gun then back to me with a mix of emotions. He spread his hands palms up, in a gesture of surrender.

“You already have the truth,” he said. “You saw the contracts, the bookings, the money, my journal. It seems to me you know everything.”

I could feel my pulse throbbing in my temples. “Not everything. I need to hear it from you.”

Liam's gaze never left mine. The weight of his stare was almost palpable. “What more do you want me to say, Jade? That I've been planning this for years? That I've manipulated and lied to get close to the people who destroyed my family—my life?”

His words hit me like a physical blow. I'd known, but hearing him say it… made it real in a way the evidence hadn't. “What was your endgame?” Liam's bitter smile twisted with pain. His eyes, usually so warm when they looked at me, now held a cold, calculating edge, even as tears lined them.

“I'm not sure that matters now,” he said, his voice eerily calm. “Considering there's a cop in my haunted house that knows all my secrets.”

The glock in my hand felt heavier with each passing second. I could feel sweat beading on my forehead, my palms growingclammy. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. I wasn't supposed to care about him. This was supposed to be easy.

“Just… enlighten me.” The words came out as a whisper, tears spilling down my cheeks. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision.

Liam's jaw clenched, his eyes flickering with a mix of emotions—pain, anger, and something that looked dangerously close to regret. He took a deep breath, his shoulders sagging slightly.

“I was going to take everyone on the list in my journal into one of the rooms after the wedding ceremony for drinks,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “Then I was going to drug them and kill them.”

“And then what?”

Liam's eyes met mine, a haunted look passing over his face. He ran a hand through his tousled hair, a gesture I'd seen a hundred times before.

“I was going to burn Dead Man’s down and disappear,” he said. “Make it all look like some freak accident.”

“You'd destroy everything,” I murmured, glancing around at the mirrors surrounding us. Our reflections stared back, a twisted kaleidoscope of betrayal and secrets. “Your whole life here…”

Liam's jaw ticked. “This place stopped being my life a long time ago, Jade. I’ve only ever had one goal in mind… That is, until you.” The bitterness in his voice stung, but I couldn't blame him. We'd both been living lies. My mind spun, putting everything together like a fucked-up jigsaw puzzle. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but a small smile crept onto my lips. The pieces were falling into place—Liam's past, the Croix family, Dead Man’s Mansion. It was all so twisted, yet somehow made perfect sense.

I locked eyes with Liam, needing to ask the question that could change the outcome of everything. “Are you going to kill me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

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