Page 97 of Sinister Lies

“It happened here,” he started, his wet eyes tracing the room. I stepped back again when he raced behind the counter and stormed through a black curtain that led to the back of the building.

Grinding my teeth, I hesitated before I followed, keeping my gun raised and ready. I carefully slid the curtain to the side just for the gun to fall out of my other hand, my lips parted and my eyes wide in horror.

Something awful happened here.

Blood splatter coated the walls. Drawers were missing from their slots and were broken into splinters, scattered across the floor along with spilt cups of ink and tarnished pieces of expensive tattoo equipment.

In the heart of the room was a hydraulic chair. Next to it was a stool that was knocked over, all four of the metal legs bent.

“I-I talked to her,” Phantom said as he glared murderously at all the blood, his fists clenched vehemently at his sides. “She-she said she had three clients coming in for an appointment. It was them. The Bling Brothers posed as clients and then they attacked her. It-it happened here.”

“Phantom,” my voice cracked. The excruciating thought ofwhat if that was Gingerscreamed at me, making tears burn hot against my eyelids.“I’m so, so sorry.”

He turned to face me, his dark eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I need you to do me a favor. Do this one thing for me and I’llneverbother you again.”

“Wh-what is it?” I asked nervously.

“Leave, Samara.” A single, fat tear slipped out of his left eye and rolled down his gorgeous, puffy cheek. “Leave the Valley andnevercome back.”

My breath shuddered at his words.

“Everyone I love… Everyone I ever cared about in this wretched world is dead. First my parents, and now Cindy. I killed them all.”

“Phantom, I-I don’t—”

“He beat her,” he said, his wet eyes growing distant, his face twisted in pain like he was reliving his worst nightmare. “He-he hurt her… so much. Would get drunk and use my body as an ashtray after getting good and pissed off from arguing with my mother. He never hit me. He only burned me. Even now I can still feel his hands wrapped around my neck, holding me down against the floor with his knee shoved in my back. I was seven.”

I moved closer to him as he gripped his dark hair and bared his teeth, his breath growing ragged.

“He killed her. They were in the kitchen, arguing. He hit her in the face and when she went down, the back of her neck hit the edge of the countertop. I heard it the moment her neck snapped. The bastard didn’t even know she was dead. He just kept beating her. I did what I had to do. I grabbed a knife and put the fucker down.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I came face to face with him, my attempt to touch him revoked as he backed away from me and veered closer to the hydraulic chair, his breath shuddering hard.

“Now Cindy’s dead. She’s fucking dead, Samara. I was the one who told her about the Harvest. She offered to help, and I let her. I just fucking let her. I should’ve said no, Samara. I should’ve told her no.”

“What you went through was horrible,” I offered gently, not knowing what else to say or do. “And I can’t imagine what Cindy must have gone through before she died.”

“Don’t say it,” he protested, his ireful tone shaking. “Just don’t.”

“But it’s the truth, Phantom. What happened to your mother, to Cindy, none of that is your—”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Samara. There’s nothing you can say or do that’ll change my mind. Just go, okay? Just do like I asked and fuckingleave.”

“What the fuck is your deal, Phantom?” I asked, feeling so confused, hurt, and mentally flustered it was ridiculous. “You-you’re the one who held me at gunpoint and forced me to bring us here, and now you—”

“Were you not fucking listening!?” His handsome, enraged face crumpled as he raised his large hands and painfully gestured around the gruesome scene. “Thisis the life we live, Samara.Thisis what our future consists of.Thiscould’ve been any of us, even you!”

He took a single step closer to me and breathed in deeply, his throat bobbing.

“When you died the first time… When I pulled you out of that pool… That did something to me, Samara. And the second time,” he said, taking another step closer. “When I thought you were gone for good… That fuckingbrokeme in ways you’ll never understand. Fuck, I'm still struggling to understand it…”

I gasped softly at his admission, my heart sputtering as Phantom closed the distance between us and reached up to cup his large hand against my cheek, his touch lighting my skin on fire.

“I need you to leave because I can’t stand the thought of losing you again, or anyone else for that matter.” He paused, swallowing through another trembling breath. “But if you stay…Ifyou stay, then you’remine.I’ll claim and mark you in ways that will make the devil blush. I’ll protect you until my dying breath. The things I’d dotoyou andforyou, fucking terrify me, Samara. You’re my sweetest dream and worst nightmare compacted into one stubbornly beautiful vessel.”

Phantom’s hand left my cheek and caressed the back of my nape. His sinful words and that painful, yearning glint in his dark eyes had my already weak knees on the verge of buckling.

“Do it,” I murmured, the feathery words blurting out before I could properly think straight.

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