There was no sign of light in the room by design, so I had no idea what time of day or night it was. No idea if Peter would be home or if he’d be waiting for me. I thought back to the text message he’d sent me, to the picture of the blueprint. If I remembered correctly, the exit was on the far-left wall. But which way was left? Which way was I facing?
I put my hands out, feeling along the room, searching for anything to help orient me. My fingers ran across a shelf full of tools. Weapons, maybe. Then something lower—textured, cool to the touch. A freezer. I pulled my hands away in a hurry and spun around, slamming into something.
Someone.
“Going somewhere?” His breath hit my face, his hands gripping my arms, and I jerked away, colliding with the shelf of tools. I felt for one as he grabbed hold of my wrist, his fingers sticky in my blood, but he didn’t seem to notice.
I skimmed my hand across the shelf with panic, grabbing onto the first solid thing I could find—a metal tape measure—and slamming it against his jaw.
He released me. “What the fuck?”
I ran across the room, feeling desperately against the wall for a way out.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Nothing budged. It was all solid. All concrete. There was no way out. No escape.
Except there was. I needed to stay calm. I needed to keep myself together. This was what I did. In the worst circumstances, I’d always managed to pull through when it mattered most. This was no different.
Across the room, I could hear him moving around, making no effort to be quiet in his search for me.
“Where’d you go?” he shouted, pounding the shelf against the wall. Tools clattered to the ground. I kept myself against the wall, feeling for any sort of groove or loose brick. It had to be there. It had to.
The light flicked on—too bright, too sudden. I squeezed my eyes shut, wincing and ducking my head as my vision clouded with specks.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he said dryly. I rubbed my eyes, spying him walking toward me. He shoved the freezer, pinning me between it and the wall in the corner with nowhere to go.
When he reached me, looking entirely too pleased with himself, he pressed his finger into my cheek.
The pain was what I imagined an electric fence felt like, or a white-hot poker branding your skin.
I cried out, jerking my face away from him.
Unfazed, he stared at the blood, then pressed his finger to his lips, closing his eyes with pleasure. “You always did taste sweet.” When he opened his eyes, he ran his tongue over his teeth, enjoying the torment. I turned away, refusing to look at him. Was this the face his victims saw? Was this the last image in their minds before he murdered them?
“You won’t get away with this,” I told him, my face throbbing so badly I could hardly move my mouth.
“Oh, but I will.”
“You won’t find them,” I said, smiling through the pain. “You won’t ever find them. Not without me. If you kill me, our kids are gone forever. They’ll live their lives knowing you were a monster.”
He clicked his tongue. “Unlikely, but I guess it’s a risk I’ll have to take, hm?” He stepped closer, a darkness flickering in his eyes. An emptiness. I looked down. “It didn’t have to come to this, Ains. It really, really didn’t. All I wanted was to start over. To fix things. But you were too busy acting like you’re a saint. Newsflash, baby, there are no saints in this marriage. We’re both murderers.” He leaned back, smiling wickedly and grabbing my face, forcing me to look at him. I glanced down at his bandaged wrist, fighting the urge to smile as I recalled biting him. “It just turns out one of us is a little better at it than the other.”
“Well, practice makes perfect, doesn’t it?” I asked through bared teeth.
“Unfortunately for you, it does.”
It was then I saw the weapon in his opposite hand. A knife, held out to the side. He lifted it up, shaking his head. “I hate that you’ve made me do thi—”
“I’m pregnant!” I shouted, a hand over my stomach protectively.
He dropped the knife, stepping back. “Y-you’re—”
“I’m pregnant. I just found out. It’s early, but it’s true.”
He shook his head. “It’s impossible.”
“It’s not. Go buy a test. I’ll prove it.”
His face wrinkled with contemplation. “You weren’t going to tell me?”
“We aren’t exactly in a good place, Peter. I was still deciding if I wanted to keep it.”