Page 45 of Heart of a Killer

The bite from his words sends me crashing to my knees, and there’s a loudcrackfrom the floorboards. I grab ahold of her hand and press it to my cheek. The chill of her skin sends a shiver through me. Sobs escape my lips.

“Stop crying like a baby. Skylar killed her and tried to kill you.” There’s a sharp pain in my scalp as he pulls my hair back. “You have to unleash your worst on her.”

“Like what?”

“You can make her hurt in the worst way possible.”

I shake my head, trying to loosen his grip. “I can’t do that.”

“Oh, you can, and you will.”

I see Skylar’s wide eyes beneath my hand covering her mouth, and everything goes black.

I hear Josh tell her, “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to tell you...”

Suddenly, I can’t breathe. Hot liquid spills down my chin, and blood drops onto Skylar’s shirt. My vision blurs before my limbs give out, and I fall onto her fluffy duvet.

* * *

My head is pounding,and my eyes barely open into slits. They are crusted over, and I wipe the sleep from them to see where I am. I’m back in the infirmary, on the cot. I was headed to the cafeteria on a mission to ask Skylar what she knew about us being here. I was determined and desperate.

The dream revealed to me everything I needed to know. Skylar killed my mother, stabbed me, and left me to bleed out before going to the hospital. It all came back to me in pieces while I slept.

Josh is rearing his ugly head, ready to seek vengeance on my behalf.

“Not yet,” I whisper to him.

As I get up from the cot, my legs wobble, trying to readjust to gravity. Once they recover, I creep toward the open doorway.

I have a pretty redhead to visit.

I hear voices as I approach the doctor’s office on my way to Skylar’s room.

“Look, I don’t know your plan, but you need to slow down,” one of the staff members says.

I edge closer to the door, so I can hear more clearly.

“These treatments you are experimenting with are going too far,” the female voice whines.

“I’ve spent my life’s work on this. You can’t tell me how to run this facility. You send the letters and do as you’re told. I didn’t lose my family or my wife for you. I did it to further my research. I’m really close to a breakthrough with one of them.”

That’s Dr. Benjamin’s voice. I know it. I recognize it.

My adrenaline is pumping from my eavesdropping. Peeking my head around the doorway a bit more, I try to make out who he is talking to, but they move out of my line of sight. I crouch back down and around the corner to the stairwell to keep listening.

“Please. Don’t say that. You love me. I know you do,” the female pleads.

I knew he was keeping secrets with that wedding band recently removed and the tan line still visible. I should have known it would be something along these lines.

Continuing to strain my ears, all I can make out from this hiding spot is the female crying. I need to go back and wait for them to leave. Before I head back to the medical bay, the woman runs out. Her blonde hair flowing behind her, and her palms rubbing her eyes.

Angela. The angel from the hospital.

Are they talking about my procedures being too extreme? Because I can take it.

Desperately needing my memories back, I was willing to die for them. But now that I have all the pieces I need and finally know why I’m here, I’m curious to discover the doctor’s secrets.

Dr. Benjamin doesn’t leave his office after Angela, so I follow her. Once she turns down the end of the hall, I come up behind her and put my hand over her mouth. She thrashes in my arms. I clamp my palm tighter around her mouth to smother her screams and drag her squirming body to a room.

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