Page 48 of Hidden Echoes

I stared at him, unimpressed. A flicker of amusement crossed my face as I took a slow sip of tequila. “I don’t understand why you’re so intent on claiming someone who clearly doesn’t want you. Doesn’t that seem a little pathetic?” I let the words hang in the air, deliberately sharp. “But what do I know about life, right?”

Zane frowned at my comment, clearly confused by my tone. “Carter just—”

But Carter cut him off, his words a blur of venom. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, your fucking whore,” he spat, his eyes blazing with rage.

The darkness in my gaze sharpened. I liked when they got angry.

It was like a game, one I knew how to play well.

The more they heated up, the more fun I had twisting that fury into something else, something more interesting.

I enjoyed the chaos—the blood, the tension, the push and pull. Carter? He was no different. I could work with that.

“Shut up, Carter,” Zane growled, his voice surprisingly firm, as if defending me. It was cute in a way, how quickly he’d moved to protect me.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Yeah, yeah, shut up, Carter," I echoed, all playful teasing. "Come on, if you’re trying to piss me off, you gotta do better than that. I literally grew up in a whorehouse. And for the record, we prefer ‘adult entertainment professional’ over ‘whore.’ Keep up.”

Carter’s eyes widened, the disgust clear on his face. “That girl is crazy.”

Zane whipped around to face him, his jaw clenched, eyes burning with frustration. “If you don’t shut your mouth, I swear to God, I’ll knock your teeth out.”

Carter’s anger flared, and his voice was thick with accusation. “You’re defending her instead of your partner?” he spat, his face flushed with rage.

Zane’s patience was clearly wearing thin. “I guess I am. I’m not gonna stand here and let you talk about her like that. Not on my watch.”

Carter didn’t answer. He just snorted, shook his head, and walked away, leaving the tension hanging in the air like smoke.

Zane turned to me, a sheepish look crossing his face. “Sorry about Carter. He’s been... having a hard time since rehab.”

I nodded, the heaviness of the atmosphere pressing down on me. Zane, noticing my discomfort, softened his expression.

“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked, his voice low, almost gentle.

“Yes,” I replied, feeling the weight of the bar’s suffocating air lift slightly.

He smiled, the warmth of it genuine, and for the first time that night, I felt a wave of comfort wash over me. “Take me to the ocean you talked about so much,” I begged, feeling the need to escape—to be somewhere, anywhere, where the tension couldn’t follow.

Where the bloodlust didn’t consume me entirely, where the sharp, gnawing desire to chase after Carter and slowly dismantle him piece by piece—until every drop of satisfaction had been wrung from his pain—didn't overtake me. I should blame it on my mind, on the things that twisted within me, but the truth is simpler. It’s because of how I was raised. I wasn’t born—made. I was a weapon. A tool. A thing to be honed, sharpened, pushed to the brink of human decay, until even the deepest darkness could feel like an afterthought. And I was good at it. Maybe too good.

But in the end, One was my father’s weakness. Without him, he couldn’t finish his plans. Couldn’t complete the final picture. So he turned to my younger sister.

The last piece.

I’ve never actually spoken to Laura— I only know her name, and that’s it. Don’t even know what she looks like.

But part of me hopes—no, I pray—that he failed.

That the twisted thing he created with her wasn't as malleable, wasn’t as easy to mold.

That she wasn’t broken in the same way I was. But something inside me knows better. Part of me knows that, just like with me, he tried to forge her into something unrecognizable.

The sound of waves gently crashing against the sand was the first thing I noticed when we reached the beach. It was night, and the moon shone down on the water, creating silvery reflections that danced across the ocean's surface. Zane stopped beside me, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

"Did you like it?" he asked, his voice calm but full of curiosity.

I nodded. "Yes, the view is beautiful."

Zane smiled, taking my hand. "Then come. Let's go to the water."

---