Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
ALEX
I knew he was unstable.
I knew he was fucking insane.
Dangerous.
Out of his mind.
A lunatic.
And all of this was on me.
I should’ve done more to stop him. I should’ve taken him to the facility myself, had him committed, then visited every fucking day to make sure he was still locked up in there.
But I put my trust in others.
I was a fucking fool.
Because when it came to my brother, I couldn’t trust anyone.
He always found a way to distort things.
To manipulate people.
To twist the story to suit his own ends.
Just like he was doing now.
I could feel my finger flexing, itching to squeeze and pull the trigger. All that mattered was getting Emma out of here, making her safe. And yet, the fucked-up part of my brain couldn’t bring myself to do it. He was my brother. My brother, who’d been dealt a shit hand in life. Even though I wanted this to end, and even though I would kill him if it meant protecting her, I still stood there, waiting, hoping for the tide to turn.
Anything was possible where Arran was concerned.
But he was so unhinged right now, staring down the barrel of my gun like he didn’t have a care in the world. Part of me thought pulling the trigger might’ve been a relief for him. But for me, it’d mean a lifetime of regret. Regret I already lived with and battled every single day.
“What fucking performance?” I snapped, “Fucking answer me.” I needed to hear what fucked-up shit would come out of his brain. I had to know what I was dealing with.
My brother was a beast.
He was a killer.
But I knew how to handle him...
Most of the time.
He had urges that he struggled to control. To help, I’d used my connections with the police to find out about men who’d evaded justice. Men that deserved to die for crimes that they’d managed to wriggle out of on a technicality or some other bullshit. It had worked so well, too. Channelling his hunger that way. Until it didn’t.
Since Emma had come into my life, my brother’s predilection for violence and torture had spiralled out of control. I knew he was going to kill that girl he was on a date with the night I tracked him down. I also knew he’d killed other innocent people, just to sate his cravings.
But it wouldn’t happen to Emma.
I’d die to protect her.
“You know, you really need to look closer at your staff,” Arran said, stalling for time. “It was way too easy to get into your house today. And the rose you gave her, that she left in her room? Nice touch. I kind of felt bad about destroying that.”
I couldn’t help it; anger surged through me, and I had to act.
I flew across the clearing and smacked him in the face with my gun. His head whipped to the side, and blood trickled from his nose as he laughed and wiped it away with the back of his hand. He was still holding his gun, but he didn’t even point it at me or try to hit me back.
“Nice hit,” he joked, before spitting out blood onto the floor. “I guess I deserved that.”
Then he stood up and pointed towards a tree behind him.
“Just so you know, I have a video set up, recording everything that’s gonna happen here tonight. It’s currently live streaming on the dark web.” The smile he gave me then, thinking he had the upper hand made me rear back and punch him a second time.
He laughed, then shook his head and grunted as more blood flew from his mouth and poured down his face.
“The first one was understandable,” he managed to splutter, “But the second was a fucking liberty.” He straightened up to face me, grinning with his blood-stained teeth, making him look like a lunatic, as he sneered, “You won’t get to do that a third time.”
“You’re jealous,” I seethed. “Jealous that I’m building a life, creating a future for myself.”
He stepped towards me and his fake smile disappeared instantly.
“A future that doesn’t include me.” He took a few deep breaths, staring right into my eyes before adding, “She doesn’t get to have the happy ending. I do.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I leered at him, conscious of the fact that Emma was still tied up, scared out of her mind on the forest floor. Whatever he wanted her to see, wasn’t going to happen.
“I want to perform my final piece... tonight... with you.” He nodded to where Emma sat, her eyes filled with tears, her breaths laboured from trying to free herself as she watched us. “She doesn’t even factor as a footnote in our story. That’s why I wanted her gone. But if she has to stay and watch, then so be it. She can be our eyewitness for how truly tragic and beautiful the performance is.”
“You’re fucking insane,” I jeered.
“And why is that?” he tilted his head, that demonic grin back on his bloody face.
I don’t know how it happened.
Maybe I got distracted by Emma, writhing on the floor, trying to loosen her ankle ties as she grunted from the effort.
Or perhaps it was the red light from the video blinking at me from over his shoulder that caught my attention for a split second, reminding me that countless perverts were watching us right now.
Whatever it was, it gave him a golden opportunity to kick out and knock the pistol right out of my hand.
I lunged forward, making a grab for it from the floor, but he kicked it into the undergrowth and then turned his gun on me.