Page 47 of Heart of a Killer

She nods, still sniffling. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll do whatever you say. Just don’t hurt Wessie.”

My insides churn at the nickname, making me sick. I stand up to my full height. The way this woman played into the doctor’s hand, fucking with my friends ... she is going to pay for her sins today. Lifting my foot high.This is for Brie.I stomp down hard on her back and hear a crispcrunchfollowed by a scream. Angela is slumped over on her face, and I get down to her eye level. Her makeup is smeared from her tears, and snot trails down over her upper lip.Disgusting.

“You look good like this, Angela. Now you can pray for help to come.”

She screams, but her face is stuck to the concrete floor.

I pull off a high-heeled shoe and stand on her foot, waiting for her to move, flinch, anything, but she does nothing. Taking off my sweaty sock, I shove it in her mouth.

“Now, I have some business to attend to before I have a visit with yourWessie,” I mock. “I didn’t say I would kill him, but I hope someone else makes the right decision.”

After dealing with Angela, I stalk down the halls toward Skylar’s room with a sense of determination. The angel will be out of commission for a while since I paralyzed her and stuffed one of my socks in her mouth. When the orderlies find her, she will let the world know not to fuck with me or my friends ever again.

The escape through the basement sounds perfect right now, but first, Skylar needs to pay, and I won’t forget about telling Brie everything I’ve learned.

I found out the doctor’s plans, his past fuck-ups, and his beginnings, which align entirely with the book I found in the library on the history of this place. Angela was a wealth of information—especially after I put the fear of God in her. She even confessed about what he is doing to Brie, which was a bad fucking idea.

When Skylar's door is finally before me, I open it slowly so as not to wake her. I want to see the surprise in her eyes when I’m over her once again. Alex has put up with her shit for too long, and I’m about to take care of this problem for him.

She is lying in her bed, peacefully sleeping, her brown hair disheveled and fanned out around her head. Her eyes are rimmed red, as if she has been crying. I wonder when she cut her hair, because now, she resembles the young girl from the webcam.

Alex tries to come forward, but I push him back down in my mind. This is no time to get sympathetic over this bitch. She’s caused us too much pain.

Climbing onto her bed, I straddle her body.

Her eyes spring open.

“Alex—” escapes her lips right before I wrap my hand around her throat.

I grind my teeth together, fighting Alex in my head and squeezing her neck tighter. Searing pain alights through my forearm and the back of my hand as she digs her nails in my flesh. I must not be holding her tight enough because the name “Alex” comes out of her lips again.

“Alex has left the building. Josh is the only one available,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m going to take care of our little problem once and for all.”

“Please, I don’t understand,” she whispers, barely audible.

Her eyes water and the white of her sclera slowly turns red with busted blood vessels. It turns my gut with excitement. Our freedom awaits on the other side of her dead body. Her desperation increases as she claws her nails into every part of me that she can get ahold of.

Suddenly, her nails grab onto the scar on my back, and unexpected electricity shoots through my body.

“Give me Alex back,” she cries, pushing me back into the darkest part of Alex’s mind.

A young Skylarwith short brown hair sits in front of the computer screen. Her eyes are rimmed red as if she has been crying, and every few seconds, in between typing, she furiously wipes at her face. My chest tightens at the sight of her. I want to help her, but I’m not good for her. I want her as more than a sister, and I’d only cause her pain in the end. The words she types on the screen mirror mine:One day, I’ll spread my wings, and this life will be behind me. The moment I’m away from here, I’ll never look back, and I won’t take this abuse from him ever again.Copper fills my mouth as I bite down on the inside of my cheek. The strong urge to save her from our dad is all-consuming.

My mind flickers like a movie as I try to pull myself away from Alex’s memories.

My arm cinches tighter around her waist, and I pull her closer to my body. Warmth fills my chest as I inhale her warm vanilla scent. I finally have my little butterfly in my arms, and she wants me too. My eyes sting as tears roll down my cheeks. I’ve never been happier to have her in my life. My thumb traces the angry redAon her belly, and her muscles flinch at the light touch. I have to do something special for her. I’ll go make her something fun for us to try later. Springing out of bed, I run downstairs to the basement and work on the present I’ve been waiting to show her.

I gasp and clutch my head as the flashes of my affection for her keep bombarding my mind.

Her flushed body beneath me shivers as my tongue runs along the scar tissue on her belly. There’s a new scar overlapping theA, and it’s smoother than the rest. She tried to kill herself with this scar. I want to kiss it and let her know how special she is. She is meant for something in this world, and she can’t leave me just yet.

A small voicewhispers in my mind that she tried to kill herself because of us. My chest tightens at the thought, and tears prick my eyes.She wanted to kill herself because of me.

Bright light flashes like a spark in the darkness. Images flicker between Alex, Leland, and me. The sharp knife pierces my brain, and the pain is excruciating. All the memories combine into a white-hot light until Alex, Leland, and I become one person entirely.

18

Skylar

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