Page 84 of Slay Me

Ernesto steps around the bright light and stops in front of it, giving me a clear view of him. His black hair is longer now, falling to his ears, and while he used to be clean-shaven, now his jaw is stubbled.

But his eyes. Those cold, dark eyes, are still exactly the same. The moment I see them, I look away, fear making me cast my gaze downward so he cannot turn me to stone. Too many times I’ve been encased, trapped. I’ll die before it happens again.

“Where am I?” I choke out through a throat constricted with fear.

“Home, Liv. Don’t you recognize it?” From his shadow, I can see that he holds up both arms. The lights overhead flood on. The spotlight in front of me shuts off. Ice-cold terror chills me, turning my blood to ice.

We’re in the middle of a room full of statues—supernaturals trapped and forced to watch the countless horrific acts Ernesto carries out for his own enjoyment. This is the room I watched him and his brother rape and slaughter two women.

It’s where I’ve seen him torture those he no longer wants to keep.

No, no, no, please no.Chest seizing, I fight the spots invading my vision as the all too familiar panic begins to set in. I draw in a half-breath, then another. “Where’s Apollo?” I demand. Fear roots the panic. “If you hurt him, I swear I’ll—”

“I’m right here.”

I turn my head, and Apollo steps into view. Arms crossed, gaze hard, there is little remaining of the man I’ve known for the past five years. “You brought me here?” I choke on the words, betrayal stinging far worse than the ropes biting into my wrists.

“I did,” he replies coolly. “You really left me no choice.”

My mind reels, all the events over the past couple of months playing out one by one. The fire. The killings. My apartment. Had the monster been just under my nose? Playing friend all along?

Ernesto laughs then reaches into his pocket and pulls out my grandmother’s penny. “You were always so attached to this useless fucking thing.” He walks toward me, and I flinch as he leans forward to set it over my head. The chain settles around my neck. “Consider it a welcome home gift.”

“Why? Why did you bring me here?” I ask Apollo as tears stream down my face. “I trusted you!”

“Trusted me?” He snorts. “You’re fucking the man who enslaved us!”

I stiffen. “You could have come to me. I could have explained—”

“There’s nothing to explain,” he replies. “You betrayed me. Though I suppose, in the end, you bought me my freedom. Maybe that counts for something.”

I choke on a sob. “You hate me so much you’d turn me over to the man who tormented me?”

“I don’t hate you, Liv,” Apollo says, stalking forward. “In fact, I would have given you the entire world if you’d only looked in my direction for longer than an hour. When Ernesto first approached me about granting me my freedom, I turned him down. Told him I wouldn’t do that to you. But when he told me that you were already sleeping with him—” Apollo trails off, his eyes wild. “I had no choice but to agree. If you weren’t willing to leave, then I knew I was on my own.”

“How long ago?” I choke out. “How long ago did he find you?”

“A few weeks before I let his man in and tested the charm that would shield the Ringmaster’s pets from being able to sense me.”

“Let them in?”

He grins. “Thomas and Jenny were test number one,” he says. “I heard all about how Thomas cried like a little cunt as his bitch was killed.” He spits the words out, vomiting them like they’re toxic.

My stomach rolls. Bile burning my throat. “They were a test?”

“I had to know if the charm would work. Couldn’t risk getting caught.”

“So you let them die!” I scream, yanking at the restraints. Power burns in my veins, but the wind does nothing but knock Apollo back a few steps.

“It’s all your fault, Liv. All you had to do was leave with me. You could have been mine, and we could have been happy.”

I close my eyes as a fist tightens around my heart. Thomas and Jenny had been some of the kindest people I’d ever met, so in love, so ready for a future, and he’d had them fucking slaughtered as a test.

“And the fire?”

Apollo smiles. “Do you even have to ask? Though watching that fucker’s face when he thought his precious circus was going to be reduced to ash was nearly as enjoyable as the basilisk venom I stole from Silva’s room when no one was watching.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls it out. “Bastard still doesn’t know it’s missing. Which is going to make it that much better when I force-feed it to your Ringmaster tonight.”

“You’re going to kill him?” I choke out, that betrayal somehow worse than any others. “You can’t. Please, Apollo. Just go. You have your freedom now. You don’t need him!”

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