Page 79 of Beyond Hate

And I… I didn’t really have time to think about it. My fingers dove into my pocket and I brought the knife Otto had tried to teach me to use up as I moved. Renn didn’t have time to turn his gun back to me before I flicked the switch and stared in horroras his eyes went wide and a line of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth.

Somewhere that bled a lot, he’d told me. A blade to the side of the neck did that, didn’t it?

And when I twisted it to make sure, and Officer Renn shuddered beside me before dropping his gun, I realized that I’d picked right.

His fingers were desperate when they scrambled at me, and I jerked the knife out to a wash of blood as he stumbled back. It made me take three quick steps toward Otto, and his arm wrapped around my waist to steady me before I completely fell. I was covered in blood.

I was covered in blood and I was staring with wide eyes as Renn fell to the ground and tried to hold on to the wound I’d left in his neck.

It didn’t seem to help. Blood was pouring from between his fingers, and I could do nothing but stare in horror as it spread around Renn in a red halo, and then he stopped moving.

“London, are you okay?” Otto’s voice sounded like it was under water. It came in a garbled mess, but I turned toward the sound and clung to him.

“No… no, I didn’t want to… I didn’t mean to… I—”

My fingers were shaking, and my heart was racing so violently I was seeing spots. When I turned to look at the ground again, Renn was staring up at me with the same blank blue eyes as the pictures scattered around him.

The same blank eyes as his brother, who he’d been trying to avenge.

Hewasinnocent, and I’d killed him.

But when I glanced from his dead body to Otto’s shocked expression, I realized I would do it again. In every life, in every timeline… I’d stain my hands to keep him safe.

Chapter 30

Otto

Idon’tknowwhyIhadn’t made the connection before. I’d been so convinced the person after us was someone from the facility, but Nathaniel West had obviously been running experiments behind my back.

Seeing how I would react to the woman who’d tortured me for years being alive and breathing again was one thing…

Not telling me about her was another.

And I realized too late that when I’d stepped forward to catch London from falling, I’d taken my eyes off her for a few seconds… and I’d learned in my past life that if I gave Elizabeth Blythe a chance to hurt me, she’d always take it.

She had a gun in her hand, a small thing that probably had enough firing power to kill either of us. Her eyes were trained on London, on his bloody hands and the pained expression on his face.

“It’s nice to see you so shocked, Nicholas. You didn’t look half as devastated when you killed me.”

Killed me.

My brows came together. Why would he have killed her? Apparently she noticed my confusion, because her mouth turned up in a pretty smile. “Oh, there’s so much you don’t know, Otto. All the answers you could ever ask for are right here.” She waved the little book she held in front of her like it was some kind of shield.

“Do you even care that you just got an innocent man killed?” London’s voice was full of pain, guilt, something too sweet for what was happening in this room. Elizabeth actually laughed.

“Why would I? I killed an innocent man to make him believe you were the one killing to begin with.”

“You killed the man who attacked me at the club?” London’s hands on me spasmed, and I didn’t know how to tell him he needed to stepawayfrom me so I could handle the woman standing in front of us without him getting hurt.

“When I was brought back, Dr. West was more than kind enough to tell me all about the activities Otto’s body participated in before he inhabited it. I was going to feed the information to that poor officer so he could hunt Otto down, but when I realized he was with you… that he wasprotecting you.” She smirked. “Well, I just couldn’t resist a little fun.”

“Why?” I interrupted her little monologue with a flare of irritation in my voice. She’d been like this before too. She liked to listen to herself talk. She thought she was more important than she was.

I could probably use it to my advantage, but I couldn’t doanythingwhile London was still plastered to my front like he was trying to be a bulletproof vest for me.

“She said I killed her.” London’s voice was soft, almost emotionless.

That brought me up short. “Why would you do that?”

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