Page 42 of Cruel Ice

“Sebastian sliced the women with his knives over and over.” She wet her lips. “Their bodies looked like broken glass. Cracks everywhere. Some deep. Some shallow, like spiderwebs on their skin.”

Even breathing felt hard to Declan.

“I was interviewing him. His IQ was off the charts. He’s what’s called an organized killer. There were never any fits of rage with him. Everything was carefully planned out. Perfectly orchestrated. He was probably a psychopath…no regard for the feelings of others. No understanding of the emotions that others possess. Though I suspect he was very good at mimicry.” A soft exhale. “Just because you’re a psychopath, it doesn’t mean you’re a killer. Lots of people with psychopathic tendencies are incredible doctors. Their lack of empathy actually helps them.” She blinked. Then frowned at him.

Declan wondered just what his expression looked like to make her study him that way.

“What?” Marley rubbed her lips together. Exhaled. “You think it doesn’t help a surgeon to be able to hold back emotions when you are cutting into the chest of a dying man? You have a job to do. Emotions can’t impact you. All psychopaths aren’t killers. All killers aren’t psychopaths. And, in fact—” Marley broke off.

He waited.

Nothing else came. She fiddled with the white covers on the bed.

“Marley?” Declan prompted when the silence stretched.

Looking down at her fingers as they fiddled, she said, “Very successful business professionals can have psychopathic traits. When you have to make decisions about firing or hiring hundreds of employees all at once, a bit of cold-bloodedness aids you.”

He leaned toward her. A lock of hair had fallen on her cheek. He reached out and tucked that lock behind her ear. Her head tilted up, and her gaze immediately shot back to catch his. Declan’s knuckles lingered against the silk of her skin. “Are you calling me a psychopath, sweetheart?” A tender question.

She didn’t blink. “Are you a psychopath?”

Declan considered the matter. “Pretty sure my bastard of a father was. He was as ice cold as they come. Ice cold, but sadistic to his core.” Declan shook his head, but didn’t stop touching her. He couldn’t stop touching her. And why was he telling her about his father? He never told anyone about the bastard. “But even though nothing else—no one else—seemed to matter, hewasobsessed with my mother. So in love with her that he couldn’t see reason. Psychopaths can’t love, right? Isn’t that one of the rules?”I didn’t think it was real love. I always thought it was evil and controlling and I…I didn’t want to be the same way.

So he’d shut off his emotions. Refused to feel.Did I turn myself into a psychopath? Am I that far gone?

Except, he didn’t feel far gone. Not when Marley was right beside him. He felt far too much when she was near.

“Some research suggests that psychopaths can form an attachment to one other person.” Her soft voice. Not soft so much as…gentle. Caring. Why the hell did she care so much about him?

“I believe it can happen,” Marley continued in the tender voice that seemed to wrap around him. Sink into him. “Is it love the way that a so-called normal person experiences it? I don’tknow. But who is to say that everyone feels love the same way?” Her head turned. Her lips brushed over his knuckles.

Heat spiked through him, chasing out the cold that wanted to consume him. “Marley.”

“I’m sorry that your father hurt you.”

Be careful. I’m not normal, and I don’t care how normal people feel love. I care that I feel alive when you’re near me.

“I wanted to make the world a better place. I wanted to understand the monsters in order to save the future victims. Instead, I became a victim.” Her lashes fluttered. “I could tell Sebastian was fixating on me. He watched me too carefully. Refused to speak to anyone else on the research team if I wasn’t present. And then one day, Sebastian said he’d only talk if I was the one doing the interview with him. I was working under the guidance of my college mentor. Three of us would normally go in each time we interviewed Sebastian. But he wanted to change the rules.” Her breath came a little faster. “I knew something was wrong, and I said I didn’t want to do the interview.”

Then how the fuck had she wound up attacked and sporting scars?

“But Sebastian said there were more victims. If I would talk with him, one-on-one, he would tell me about them. Who they were. Where they were buried. He said he could be cuffed—and the cuffs chained to the floor. A guard could be in the room. No one else. Sebastian, me, and a guard. I had to sit across from him. Another condition. If I did, he promised that he’d give closure to other families who’d lost their daughters.”

“He fucking manipulated you.”He’s dead. Screw waiting for the needle to jab in his arm. He is dead.

“The DA asked me to conduct the interview. Promised everything would be safe. That I’d be watched at all times. But it wasn’t safe. I…” Her head turned. Her lips skimmed over his knuckles again. “Sorry,” she murmured. The faintest hint of redcame and went in her cheeks. “For some reason, you make me feel better.”

Her words sank into his heart.

Way to seal your fate, Marley.

“Sebastian got out of the cuffs. Like Houdini. Did it in a blink. And then he was on me. Had the shiv to my throat before I could even scream. Sebastian told the guard that if he didn’t get out of the room, he’d slice my throat open right then and there. So the guard backed out.”

“He shouldneverhave left.” He’d be finding out the name of the guard. Anyone who’d ever hurt her, Declan would find out about them. And they would pay. Simple fact of life. No one in this world could hurt Marley and walk away.

“His breath came so hard. I could hear Sebastian panting behind me because he was so excited. He spun me around and I stared into his eyes, and I’d never seen evil until that moment. I’m talking abouttrueevil. It was real. Dark. Consuming. He wanted to hurt me, and he was going to enjoy it. I’d wanted to know how he picked his victims, and in that moment, I did. He picked the ones that called to him. The ones he wanted to break. That’s what he told me. He took the ones who seemed strong so he could show them the meaning of weakness.”

She pulled back. Her hand went to her collarbone. “This was the first drive of the shiv. Then he went to my right shoulder. My stomach.” Her hand dropped protectively to her stomach.

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