28

Wednesday

February 14

My ears are ringing. Riley’s words are alien. He doesn’t speak like that. Hell, he doesn’t even think like that.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

Riley smiles sweetly, and I get a glimpse of my brother again.

How ill is he? What’s wrong with my brother?

He folds his arms. “Why are you still standing there? We need to get you back to the house so you can pack. I already have my things together. I’m ready.”

What?

He’s planning to kill Chace, and he expects me to go along with it, simply going home to pack and leaving him to his business? His murder business?

Somehow, I need to find a way to talk to this terrifying version of my brother. If I can do that, maybe I can talk him down. Maybe I can get him into police custody, where he won’t harm anyone else—or himself.

“Riley, you’re my brother, and I love you, but what you’re doing, what you’ve done, is wrong. It’s time to do the right thing. I’ll stand by you, and I’ll fight to get you the best help out there, but I won’t protect you for what you’ve done, and I won’t let you hurt anyone else.”

“Family. First,” he growls. “A person’s heart belongs to their family, not their friends. When did you forget that? They had your heart, so I took theirs from them.”

He bends over and lifts the lid on a wooden box on the table.

I crumble. Gagging, I almost sink to the ground. “No! No, Riley!”

Four hearts.

Sonny, Nora, Isaac, Charlotte.

The cop had his when they found his body, and Jake’s was fed to pigs.

The hearts are dark, almost black, and squashed together. Who’s is who’s? Does Riley even know? Does he even care?

My stomach lurches.

“Oh God, you kept them.” Pressing my palm to my mouth, I avert my tear-filled eyes and try to focus as my mind short-circuits. The smell is so rotten and vile that I retch. “How could you do that? You cut their hearts out and kept them.” The words don’t make sense even as I speak them out loud.

Why has he kept them? Are they trophies? How sick is he to put their hearts in a box?

“Calm down, Lylah. They are organs. They can’t hurt you.” He lets go of the lid and it slams shut.

I’m not worried about them hurting me! I’m worried about you hurting me—hurting Chace! I want to scream.

“I know this is a bit of shock, and I’m sorry that it’s information overload. I had to tell you everything so you understand how much I love you, so we can move forward. You understand that, right? We’ve always understood each other, haven’t we?” He looks deep into my eyes, and I don’t recognize the person staring at me.

Rearing back, I almost choke. He killed my friends and cut out their hearts because he thinks I love my friends more than him.

Clenching my hands behind my back, I take a deep breath and know what I have to do. I reply in a whisper, “Yes, I understand. I do know you better than anyone, so I know you didn’t mean this.”

His eyes tighten. I’ve said the wrong thing. I keep talking. “You put me first so many times—you always put me first—of course you did all this for me. You are my brother. You always take care of me.”

He scoffs, and his posture hardens. “When you used to cry so much you could barely breathe, who was there for you? When you couldn’t leave the house, who stayed in with you? When you cried yourself to sleep, who sat in your room with you? It was me, Lylah. All of it was me. Remember that.”

How long has Riley been sick? We lost our parents, and then I moved away. I was so messed up after their deaths, and Riley spent the whole time trying to make things better for me that I don’t think ever grieved. Maybe when I moved away, he finally realized how much he’d lost.

Has he been slowly unraveling since the day I left? I was so consumed with keeping myself in a good place, I didn’t notice his struggles. He knew if I was having a hard day just from looking at me, and I had no idea how low he sunk.

How could I not have known?

“Riley, I’m so sorry I didn’t see what’s been going on. I should have. This is my fault too, and I’ll help you put it right.”

I’m partly responsible for the monster he has become, and that guilt practically swallows me whole.

“You couldn’t see it. Your friends brainwashed you into thinking you’re better off here. They don’t know you, and they don’t know what you’ve been through. I do.”

“I think we should call Detective Lina now,” I say softly.

“That’s not part of the plan, Lylah!” he snaps.

“I can’t let you hurt anyone else.”

Riley’s chest puffs out his chest. I purposefully didn’t mention Chace by name, but Riley knows what I mean.

He tilts his head to the side. “You think you love him.”

I know I love him.

“How I feel about Chace has nothing to do with us. Riley, a person can have different relationships. You have friends outside of our family too.”

“Yes, but they’re not more important than family.”

“Of course not, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have both. Why does it have to be all or nothing?”

We’re not going to get anywhere here. I’m not sure he’s even capable of seeing the situation from another perspective.

“I’ll come home with you, Riley, but you have to stop this now. Leave Chace alone.”

His frame looms huge in this small room. Every time I say something he doesn’t like, it feels as if he grows larger and more ominous.

“You’ll betray me. You’ll come back for him. I have to get rid of the temptation for you.”

“No, I won’t. I promise.” If it means Chace would be safe, I would stay away. “This day is already horrible, Riley. There are enough hurtful memories for us to carry for the rest of our lives. Our parents died two years ago today. Let’s not make it any worse. We can reunite our family permanently—me and you against the world.”

It’s hard to believe that two years ago we became orphans. Riley was so caring and attentive. And now this.

He drops his eyes as I mention our parents. It’s like talking about them has gotten through to him. Maybe the brother I knew is not totally lost. His eyes flash, and then he’s gone again.

“I’ll finish this, Lylah, and then we’ll go home.”

“You’re not hurting him!” I snap. “Let’s just go. I’ll leave my stuff behind and that can be that.”

His mouth splays in a wide grin. “I’ve missed my bossy baby sister. But you don’t understand. The end has already begun.”

My heart misses a beat. “What? What do you mean?”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone. “Chace is on his way.”

I step closer to him to try to grab the phone, as if by reflex. “No! Riley, no, please. Get what you need, and we’ll go. Right now.”

“No.”

“Oh my God!” My voice is so loud, I don’t recognize it. I shake my trembling hands. “You can’t do this.”

“You really do love him,” he mutters, turning up his nose. “Mom and Dad would hate who you’ve become.”

His words are excruciating. He may as well have taken a knife to my heart.

There is no reasoning with him. I have to intercept Chace. Turning, I head toward the door, but Riley grabs my wrist before I get to the hallway.

“Don’t touch me!” I spin around. “What the hell happened to you, Riley? How is this you? How have you become this?”

“Lylah!” Chace shouts my name from outside, and my heart drops.

“Riley, please don’t do this.”

The front door slams open against the wall.

Chace stands in the doorway. His wide eyes are fixed on Riley, surprise on his face. “Riley?” he says, bewildered. His eyes flick to me for answers.

“Because of you, I lost my sister. You need to pay.”

“You haven’t lost me.” I step closer to Riley, moving my body in between him and Chace. “Let Chace leave, and then we’ll go.”

“There’s no way you’re going anywhere with him,” Chace spits as he realizes what’s happening.

“Stay out of this.” Riley waves his hand, and the light from the room glints off something he’s holding.

A knife.

“Riley, no,” I say, raising my hands in surrender. “Let’s talk about this.”

“We’ll talk when we get home, Lylah. I need to deal with your boyfriend.”

Deal with him. How did my life come to this?

Chace isn’t having it. “I’d like to see you try, man. We may have been scared of you when you were jumping out at us from the shadows, but I see you now. I won’t let you hurt Lylah.”

“Don’t even say her name!” Riley shouts. “You know nothing about us, about our life or our family. What do you even know about her past? You think you know her? You don’t.” Riley’s hand tightens around the handle of the long blade, his knuckles turning white.

“That’s enough, Riley!” I desperately plead. “Just stop. We all need to calm down and sort this out.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he replies, raising the knife.

“Put that down, and listen to me,” I say firmly. “There is no going back if you do this.”

“Do you think there is any going back after everything else he’s done?” Chace asks, and I want to throttle him. He is not helping the situation. “The cops are going to arrest him. And I’m going to take you home. Sienna is losing her mind with worry.”

Riley’s eyes darken. “How does Sienna know Lylah is here?”

Chace takes a step forward, and that’s when I hear cars outside screech to a halt. Lights flash outside. Chace told the cops. Doors open and footsteps thud toward us. We barely have time to react before the police storm the room.

Riley is the first to move. He grabs my arm with his free hand and wrenches me against his chest as he pulls me backward into the room.

My back presses against his chest. Something sharp press against my neck.

The blade.

I freeze. Riley has the knife against my neck.

My own brother has a knife to my throat.

The first face I recognize is Detective Lina’s as I frantically scan the room. She looks calm and in control. She must have trained for these situations. I wish I had some of her steadiness. My heartbeat screams in my ears.

Around her are five other officers and Detective Alexander. Three guns are pointing at my brother. I can see the small black hole where a bullet will fire from if the trigger is pulled.

My heart thumps heavily.

Detective Lina speaks. “Riley, I know you don’t want to hurt your sister, so put down the knife, and we can talk.”

“Talk,” he spits. “You don’t want to talk. Back away all of you, or I’ll shove this through her fucking neck!”

I’m shaking. I feel my body rattle in Riley’s arms. He wouldn’t actually do that, would he? People are capable of unspeakable terrors when they are cornered, but Riley has always been my protector. Could he do that to me? Would he do that to me?

“Riley…please,” I whisper.

“Shut up, Lylah. Just shut up!” His arm tightens, and metal digs into my skin to the point of pain. His breathing is heavy and ragged with rage. He acts like a wounded animal lashing out.

“Okay, okay.” Detective Lina raises her hands higher while Chace stares at me in horror. “We’ll back up a little. But I know you don’t want to do this. I know how much you love your sister. She’s all you’ve got.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t have a brother anymore. He died the second he killed Jake.

Detective Lina keeps her expression calm, like this is just another day in the office. “You don’t have to do this, Riley. You have options.”

“Like going to prison. I don’t think so.”

“Riley, think about this!” I beg. I would try to squirm away, but his grip is too tight. With the blade to my neck, there is no room to struggle.

“I’m not going to prison. I’m not going to prison. I’m not going to prison,” Riley chants. His voice is low and controlled. It doesn’t sound like him, and a shiver runs through my body.

I look at the detective who seems to be working out her next move. We all knew that the killer was a psychopath, but I think this is more than any of us anticipated.

“I’m not going to prison!” Riley bellows. Spit flies from his mouth and wets my cheek. Suddenly, his arm moves quickly and the knife leaves my neck.

I twist in his arms, hoping the distraction will be enough for me to slip away. But Riley snaps his arm forward and a blinding pain shoots through my body.

He’s plunged the knife into my stomach.

Screaming, I stumble backward, holding the hilt of the blade that is sticking out of my stomach.

What do I do?

“Lylah!” Chace jumps forward to catch me as I stagger, and Detective Lina runs toward the door at the back of the hallway. Riley is gone.

He’s stabbed me. And left me here to bleed.

I can’t even process what’s going on right now.

Everything around me moves in slow motion. Chace’s mouth is moving, but I can’t hear what he is saying. Another cop crouches beside me but I can’t focus on him either.

I’m cold. Really, really cold.

Am I dying?

My legs turn to jelly, and I slump to the floor. Chace and the cop don’t leave my side. The police officer holds the knife still, but he’s not removing it.

Chace takes my cheeks in his hands, his touch feather light. I open my mouth to tell him I love him. But I’m not sure if the words come out. All I can hear is my pulse working overtime, thrumming in my ears.

The world is getting dark, as if someone is dimming the lights. I blink hard, but it doesn’t help.

Why is everyone so far away?

I’m falling.

My eyes close, and I know this is it.

My brother has killed me.