Page 6 of They Call Him Reaper

“I’m not into women.”

He slaps me, and my dress rips on my way to the floor. “Did I ask you whatyou’reinto, bitch?”

Michat is not a small man; he’s about two hundred and fifty pounds and well over six feet. I scream when he presses all his body weight onto me and grabs my neck. Flinching, I preparemyself for the sting of his meaty hand when it flies in the air, but it never comes.

His grunt has me opening my eyes, seeing his ugly face contorted in pain. The sound of bone cracking echoes in the room as Michat screams. The guys push the girls out of their laps and yell for security, but no one comes. Michat lies on the floor, clutching his disfigured wrist as he cries from the agony. I tear my eyes away from how his hand dangles to see who hurt him. The bartender, now dressed in all black, points his gun at the other two men as he stands over Michat.

“Leave him alone, you monster,” Sapphire yells, but he doesn’t bother to look in her direction.

Instead, he bends and holds a cloth over Michat’s nose and mouth until he passes out.

“No witnesses,” he whispers before he shoots to kill the other two men.

Reaching down, he pulls me until I’m standing. Then he grabs Michat by his collar to drag him out. Sapphire throws her shoe at his back, then she and the other girl attack him by jumping on him and punching him. I inch toward the door on trembling legs, my pulse pounding in my ears. This is the best time to escape. I hear one of them scream, then a thud and groan from the other. He has them on the floor, but they get up to try again.

“I don’t fight women,” he announces, then shoots both in the head.

When I gasp, he turns his dark eyes to me. I’m happy and sad that today isn’t the first time someone has been shot in my presence. It’s the reason I ran. My dad murdered some guy in cold blood, not knowing I was there. While I’m still not numb, I know how to separate for now and fall apart later.

“Listen, I don’t care what you do to these freaks. Kill them all if you want. I just want to get out of here. Michat had me kidnapped this morning.”

He nods and motions for me to follow him as he drags Michat around several corpses. A quick survey of the mansion tells me he’s been busy. Every man with a bracelet is dead by different means. I sidestep the puddle of blood from one with a slit throat but turn to go the other way.

“I should free the girls!” I offer in explanation.

“Done,” he grits out and keeps moving to the door.

Rerouting, I jog to keep up, uncaring about the carnage as long as I can escape. He is shoving Michat in his trunk when I make it outside.

“Thank you for getting me out.” I turn to look at all the cars that no longer have an owner, then locate the valet key box. “I’m happy to be done with this.”

My forward movement is halted when his arm wraps around me. I shriek in surprise, but there’s something familiar about his hold.

“I thought you were letting me go,” I whisper in fear, stomach sinking to my feet. “I thought we were done.”

He clicks his tongue and one of my worst fears is confirmed. I know what I’m facing before he speaks.

“Nonsense,Gatita.We’re just getting started. You were such good bait.” He rubs my head when I begin to cry. He’d masked his accent at the party. “Shh. None of that,cálmese.”

The Reaper is a ghost, and from the looks of it I’m the only person alive who has seen his face. Another prick sends me back into the darkness.

What did I do to deserve this?

FOUR

Dante

One woman.One man. One new location. We won’t be here for long; this is just a stop before our final destination—the cabin of one of the slain men from Michat’s party. The woman lies in the bed, sleeping from the dose I gave her, while I’m perched on the foot of the bed, watching the news. I look over at her prone form still in her skintight ripped dress and shake my head. Just when I stopped thinking she was stupid, she followed a known killer to his car. Again, she had no choice but to come with me, but I’d figured there’d be some resistance. Nope. She chatted while I stuffed a man into the trunk.Idiota.

I should kill her, just to show her how easy it can be. No. Maim her. That way, she learns. I see her face flash on the news, so I turn up the television and rewind the broadcast.

“Breaking news. There has been a massacre at tech billionaire Michat Kaminski’s home. Twenty-two men - whose identities haven’t been released yet - were found slain, along with two women. Authorities say some of the men range from politicians, athletes, and other celebrities, who are all allegedly involved in a prostitution ring. Sixty women who’d gone missing throughout the country were recovered fromhis basement after an anonymous tip alerted the authorities.Michat Kaminski still remains at large. He was last seen with this unidentified woman on his arm.”They flash the picture I took of him groping the dummy.“She also appears to be one of the abducted victims. Footage of her kidnapping was recovered...”

The screen switches to the video I provided of her abduction. My smile is internal because I know Father is somewhere losing his shit, trying to find out where his baby was taken.

“How did they get that?” she asks as she wipes her eyes.

I catch a whiff of citrus from her shampoo, and I don’t like her nearness. I scowl at her profile. Her eyebrows are knitted as she watches the television, and her hairstyle is mainly intact, with her tendrils brushing her shoulders.

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