Page 13 of That Time I Accidentally Became A Serial Killer

Sebastian’s voice filters through the speakers like a glitter-scented breeze. “Still nothing from Mari?”

“Not a peep,” I murmur, drumming the wheel. “It’s been four days. She was scared. Now—just silent.”

“She could be resting. Regrouping with reality TV and waterproof eye masks,” he offers.

“Or she could be dead in a ditch, and I missed the signs,” I snap. Then sigh. “Sorry. Keep telling me about your date.”

“Uh-uh, Miss Ma’am,” he says. “Terrified clients outrank me guzzling two fabulous dicks last night. I’m here to listen and look fabulous.”

My car idles beside a man walking his dog, a fogged-up bodega, teens laughing on a stoop. Everything looks normal.

And yet it all feels off.

Like I’m watching a slow-motion car crash, just waiting for the sound.

“I just... the system failed her,” I whisper. “Just like it failed my mom.”

And me.

I don’t think about it often—what I am.

The product of an assault.

My sperm donor was charged, saw court and then walked free.

She was fifteen. He was twenty-one.

The DA said it was a misunderstanding.

Said she probablylikedthe attention an older man was giving her.

She was blamed. Accused, right alongside the man who violated her, beat her and then walked out free.

She smiled through it anyway. Built a life and raised me with more love than I deserved.

To be her sunshine on her rainy days.

But the cracks are still there. Quiet, deep and waiting.

Just like Mari’s.

“Oh, sweetheart...” Sebastian murmurs.

My grip tightens. “Things that should never happen keep happening. Different year. Different face. Same darn outcome.”

“You’re going to change that,” Sebastian says. “You already are.”

I don’t answer. I just pull up in front of Mom’s house in Queens and cut the engine.

The windows fog from the warmth inside. I sit, watching her curtains flutter. Feeling the helplessness settle like a second skin.

“I’m here,” I tell him.

“Go eat something carby and hug the woman who made you fierce,” he says. “If you need me later, I’ll be here. Practicing my deep-throating and looking legally devastating.”

I smile. For real this time. “Thanks, Bastian.”

“Anytime, Counselor. Now go be adored.”

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