Page 51 of The Villain's Captive (The Villain's Duet 1)

“This is for me,” I said, piercing her skin as I slid the needle under her skin. Her eyes met mine, and there was this moment of profound truth. Surrender. There was no doubt that she could have easily overpowered me. She could have stopped me…if she wanted to, but her addiction had robbed her of all her strength, her fight, her will to live. A part of me wondered if she always knew this would be how it all ended.

As I looked into her glazed eyes, I applied pressure to the syringe. “This…this is for Ellie.”

The world paused, and time stood still. It was as if the universe knew this moment would be a memory I’d keep returning to every day of my life.

“Elijah,” she whispered. “I’m…sorry.”

My heart clenched, the orchestra playing in the background reaching its peak. “It’s a little too late, Mom.”

She closed her eyes, and her head lolled to the side. Her chest was still moving, but soon her shallow breathing would stop…for good.

I felt nothing. No pain. No tears. Nothing. Within the span of minutes, I had gone from a twelve-year-old boy who wanted nothing more than to find his sister, to a coldhearted killer who didn’t feel the faintest amount of regret while watching my mother die.

I straightened, the strange man appearing in the doorway once again. His scrutinizing gaze dropped to my mother, his face darkened with hard lines. It seemed like he hated her almost as much as I did, and I liked it. That alone convinced me that I could trust him.

“Can I come with you?”

His expression remained unchanged, and for a second I feared he’d say no. What would I do then? Where would I go? What would happen to me?

He looked at my mother, unconscious or dead—it was all the same to me—then back at me. All it took was one nod, and my entire life changed. One simple act, and my future got altered.

The only thing I took with me that night was Ellie’s music box. The one thing that reminded me that I wasn’t crazy. That Ellie was real.

One day…I’d prove it.

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