Page 82 of Dark, Forbidden, & Taboo

But that’s what gave us the idea we have now after a walk through the basement to look for anything that might work well with our little scheme.

I pick up the heavy chains and wait patiently for Eastin to bring him toward me and then we get to work.

I wrap one set of chains around his father’s wrists while he wraps them around his ankles.

Eastin then picks up the heavy bar and slips it through the loops we’ve made, giving it a tug to make sure that it’s secure before he cracks his neck.

“Get up on the table, Greer. This is where it gets tricky.”

I nod and do as I’m told, taking a moment to steady myself as a wave of exhaustion crashes over me, followed by a smaller one of nausea.

“You okay?” he asks, glancing up at me as he reaches down for his father.

“I’m fine. Let’s get this over with,” I tell him as I drop to my knees and hold out my hands.

“Up you go, bastard,” Eastin says as he wraps his arms around his father’s chest and sits him up. “Give me a little space up there,” he says to me as he grunts and begins to pull Holden up.

I move slightly to the side and reach for his shirt, grab onto his arm and give him a tug. It takes us a few tries, but once we’ve got Holden up on the table, Eastin lets out his breath and grins at me.

“This should be fun,” he promises me with a wink. I nod and help him lift his father’s body just enough so that he’s able to slip the heavy bar through the hanging hooks from the basement ceiling, then sit down and wait patiently until he has him secured.

“Okay! Last part,” he says with a laugh as he hops off the table, then helps me down.

Eastin retrieves the old grill from where it’s sat under the stairs, unused and forgotten—just like us.

He brings it over and tells me to move the table out of the way as he retrieves a bag of coals and empties half of it into the grill, securing the lid over it.

I walk over to him and take the box of wooden matches from his hand, strike one against the side, then hand it back to him, waiting as he does the same.

“Mom died from the smoke inhalation. She didn’t die from the burns. The car didn’t really catch fire until after they got her out,” he says quietly as he takes my hand in his. “She died slowly. Like you almost did—like the rest of them actually did.”

“Like he will,” I assure him as I toss the match into the hole of the lid. Eastin takes a step forward and mimics my movements. Once the smoke starts to slowly billow out of the hole, I give his hand a tug and lead him toward the stairs.

Epilogue

It took some time for Holden to die, but when he did, Eastin took him out into the garage and placed him in his car. He closed the garage door and called the police shortly thereafter, who deemed his death a suicide.

I was finally freed from the shackles of my marriage by putting a monster in his own pain and bestowing the same slowdeath he seemed to be fond of dishing out squarely where it belonged.

I’ve been feeling much better these days. Eastin immediately took me to a doctor who diagnosed me with chronic kidney disease brought on by high doses of salt—like we had suspected.

But things are getting better.

The pains have gone away, and the random spurts of sweating have started to go away as well. Eastin is good to me and treats me as if I were the equivalent of precious gold.

The love I once felt with his father is alive in the house again and sharing the same secret keeps our bond strong.

I doubt he’ll ever give me a reason to want to leave and we’ve been doing well.

He monitors my health, doesn’t leave the house without me, and makes sure that I’m content.

Three months, twenty-three days, sixteen hours, one minute, and an acceleration of seconds has passed since Eastin came into my life.

And the clock that I thought had long since stopped ticking since Holden Baylor died has suddenly restarted.

I’ll do my best to get it stop because I’m actually enjoying my life with him, but some things can’t be helped.

Some demons only lie dormant for so long before they want to be freed again. One taste of death was all it took for me to want more, and now the man that means so much to me is in my sights, unaware of the danger that lurks right in front of him.

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