Page 51 of F*ck Steal Kill

“Yeah, okay. I promise to look closer.”

“Alright, Bella is filling her yogurt cup with more things than I believe the scale will be able to weigh, so I better save the poor attendant whose eyes are about to bug out of her head. Call us back soon. We miss hearing from you.”

“I will. Love you, Dora.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

The phone disconnected, and my shoulders dropped, my heart aching at the things my sister had said. The hard part was knowing she was right, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face it. I needed to make things right with the guys first and foremost.

My phone beeped, and I nearly jumped, forgetting it was in my hand.

Max: Something’s up with the trap. The broker isn’t responding, and the time’s been moved.

Max: I didn’t request it. I don’t know who did. It’s either our killer or the broker’s double-crossing us.

Max: He just sent a room number. This feels off.

Grady: I can head there now.

Max: I’ll drop a pin of the location.

Grady: I’ll let you know if I need backup.

Max: Be vigilant. Our guy might be there.

Grady: Got it.

Walking around the Inn, I hurried to the car and plugged the phone into the AUX cord to bring up the pin Max had sent me. The hotel was on the outskirts and would take me thirty minutes to get there.

Sighing, I pulled out of the parking lot as my mind bounced from Holland to the case. Clearly, I needed to confront my issues with her, so I didn’t blow up the case.

I wasn’t convinced I would join their little group, though, no matter what my sister said. Holland was attractive and had a fire in her that I craved. She made me feel alive, giving me something else to focus on. But that didn’t mean I needed to let her into my heart. What was left of it.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I felt more settled and ready to focus on the job. Tonight could be the first break we had at apprehending this guy and finding out how he accomplished his kills without getting caught. If he weren’t too far gone in the psychopathic realm, then we’d recruit him, hoping he’d be the tipping point with the Savages. If not, he could take a bullet to the head or rot in prison. I didn’t care.

We just had to find him before the Savages did, or Viper would become even more dangerous than he already was.

Double-checking the room number, I parked a little way down so I wouldn’t give away my arrival. An older car sat nearby, and I didn’t know if it was the broker’s or our killer’s. But something told me it wasn’t the XOXO killer. He was too smart to leave any trace of himself out in the open.

Creeping around the back, I checked the windows for any escape routes, finding them shut tight with no way to open them. I couldn’t hear anything from the bathroom, so I snuck around to the side, but there was still no sound.

Surveying the parking lot, I didn’t spot anyone, a feeling of unease crawling up my back. Pulling out my gun, I held it low and out of sight as I knocked on the door. It creaked open, not having been latched all the way. The dark room came into focus as the light from outside shined in.

At first, I couldn’t make out what I was seeing. Two figures fought, both clad in black, as they tossed one another around the room. The shine of the silver blade in the light pushed me into action. But as my eyes bounced between the two, I didn’t know who I was meant to save. Should I let them fight it out and then deal with whoever survived?

Neither paid attention to me, either too focused on one another or considered me a non-factor. A second later, the bigger of the two ripped the mask off the smaller one, and white-blonde hair toppled out as they fell to the ground. I blinked, sure I’d hallucinated her after thinking about her all day. But when she didn’t disappear, her grunts echoing in my ear, I knew she was real.

My heart dropped to my stomach as I watched the bigger figure stab Holland in the thigh a second before she twisted her legs around his waist and flipped him as she rolled. Her hand gripped his forearm, smacking it against the ground to get him to drop the knife. His shirt lifted, allowing me to see the tattoo wrapped around his wrist, a large S at the tongue’s end.

Suddenly, I wasn’t standing in this crappy hotel room; I was back in the house I’d bought with Camila. I’d come home early, a bouquet of her favorite flowers in my hand as I walked in with a bounce in my step. We were officially sixty days from our wedding date, and I wanted to celebrate. But instead of my beautiful fiancé greeting me, I saw that same tattoo as he bent over Camila, stabbing her repeatedly as he whispered something in her ear. I froze, her eyes landing on me and the desperation I saw there as she pleaded with me to make it stop.

I couldn’t back then, too frozen in shock to do anything other than rush to her, sliding in the pools of blood as I neared, the flowers dropping to the ground. I clutched her dead body to me as I called 911 while the man escaped out the back as he laughed.

That laugh had haunted me ever since.

Snapping back into reality, I knew I couldn’t let the Savages take someone else from me—whatever she ended up being—especially not on this day, the anniversary of Camila’s death.

Raising my gun, I shot off two rounds into the back of the man’s head; his body went slack as he fell on top of Holland. The smell of irises wafted through the room, a warm presence enveloping me for a second before it evaporated, taking away some of the darkness and guilt I’d been carrying around for five years.

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