Page 140 of Sinister Legacy
I palm her slender throat and press my forehead to hers while brushing my thumb over her sharp jawbone. Her breaths dance with mine in the small gap between us. We hover here, protected from the horrors that surround us. “I suggest we play the game.”
“Wha—?” she chokes out with a sudden jerk, her eyes widening as she inhales a sharp breath. She looks down at her abdomen, where I still hold on to the switchblade protruding from her stomach.
“I’m sorry.” I pull it out and stab her again. Her lips brush mine briefly as I jerk her forward. “It was you or him.”
Releasing her, I watch her fall helplessly in a heap on the dirty floor. Her terrified, wide eyes find me as blood pours from between her fingers on her stomach. She looks down, releasing a weak, frightened sob before collapsing.
Behind me, King circles his arm around my waist and pulls me into his warm chest. “Babe,” he breathes out, his breath tingling the side of my neck.
I let him turn me around and kiss me while the clock behind him ticks down the seconds to my own death. King will get to walk out of here a free man. He’ll get to fall in love and be happy again. Free from monsters. Free from shadows. He’ll get to live.
His sweet taste wraps around my aching heart, and I allow the pain of letting him go anchor me. I allow myself to set him free from the evil in the room. Evil that will forever taint his soul unless I release him from this prison.
In a quick move, I pull the corkscrew from my jeans and stab him in the side.
Releasing me with a pained grunt, he bends at the waist, clutching his midriff.
“It was you or me,” I tell him, my voice empty and devoid of emotion. Looking up at the clock, I sigh through my nose.Twenty-eight seconds. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you walk out of here to fall in love with someone else. Tofucksomeone else,” I emphasize. “You’re mine, King. I would rather kill you than set you free.”
His eyes slide away from the blood trickling between his fingers where he’s clutching the slippery, maroon handle. “What the hell, Keira?”
So much blood.
I look up at the clock on the wall.Ten seconds.
Shoving King to the ground, we go tumbling on the floor, knocking a metal chair out of the way that collides with the wall. Wrenching the corkscrew out, I stab him again and again while he rolls in on himself, struggling to fight me off. The camera is at my back. The killer is watching and salivating over the kill. King finally manages to shove me off, then rolls over onto his front. He’s too weak to push himself up and collapses to the gritty floor.
Climbing to my feet, I stagger back, breathing harshly. It’s over. It’s fucking over. I killed them, which means I get to live.
I played his fucking game and won.
I killed the only people I care about, proving to my own tormentor that I am a true psychopath.
Laughing loudly, I collapse against the concrete wall, barely feeling the cold, damp surface or noticing the stench of death in the air. Blood is everywhere—on my hands, my face, my hair, and my denim jacket.
It’s caked beneath my nails.
“Hey, Dad,” I shout like a crazed person. “I bet you would be fucking proud of me now!” When I look back at the clock again, a smile slowly lifts my lips.
Time is up.
“Let me out, you fucker!” I shout as the seconds tick by. “I played your stupid game.”
I don’t know how long I wait while the killer taunts me by keeping me locked away. He’s doing it on purpose, watching me pace like a caged dog with rabies.
“Let me the fuck out!” I roar, shredding my lungs in the process. My sweaty chest heaves as I stare at the door, willing it to open. Another ten minutes pass before the lock finally sounds. I snap my eyes in the direction of the door as it slides open to reveal the devil’s mask.
“You’re such a fucking coward,” I seethe when he enters, toeing the bodies on the floor with his boot. “Too afraid to show your face. It makes me wonder who the prey is? I don’t fucking hide in the grass. I’m right here. Ready to kill you with my bare fucking hands.” I toss the weapons to the ground, showing him I’m not scared. “We both know you won’t let me walk out of here. You never let me win.” Shaking my head, I laugh bitterly, but it dies just as abruptly, and I level him with a dead look. “Let’s finish this.”
Waving the meat cleaver in the air, he steps over the bodies and makes his way toward me, in no hurry to get started. Kicking the weapons behind him, out of reach for me, he tuts. “Stupid move, you silly girl. Now I’ll hack your hands to pieces when you throw them up to defend yourself.”
He comes for me then, and I duck as his meat cleaver sails through the air, smashing against the wall. I’m so fucking high on adrenaline that I’m laughing maniacally. I pop back up, rolling along the wall. We stare at each other, breathing heavily.
“I outwitted you this time,” I breathe out with a chuckle. “You see, if you play the game long enough, you soon learn how to win.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he replies, his distorted voice sending a trickle of shivers racing down my spine. “I always win.”
My eyes slide past his shoulder. “Not this time.”
