Chapter 67
Evie
The Boss Fight
My phone rang from the beach chair I’d been yanked out of a moment ago. Both Elliott’s gaze and mine shot to it. Elliott walked over, picked it up, and smirked.
“Psycho Killer is calling. Interesting. I thought I was right here.” Without a second glance my way, he softball pitched it into the pool. It made a plopping sound as it hit the water, sinking like the rock in my stomach.
Taking a steady breath, I lifted my hands from where I lay on the concrete. “Elliott—”
“You can just call me Dad, Evie. Gives this little reunion a personal touch. Lita would have liked that.”
I sneered. My mother hadn’t wanted me to know my father. In fact, she’d told me many times that it was better to not know him. He may be my biological father, but he’d never be my dad. But he was the one with the gun.
“Okay... Dad.” I nodded. The word was foreign and felt gross in my mouth. “Should we talk?”
“What’s there to talk about? You killed all my friends. Why shouldn’t I just kill you now?”
“You spent twenty-one years in hiding. Don’t you want to know your daughter, Dad?” I spat the last word.
He laughed. “Oh, you don’t believe me.” He nodded. “I see it on your face. Sorry to tell you, but that slut begged me to get her pregnant. She wanted the most beautiful child to have ever existed and didn’t think her boyfriend was up to the task.”
The bravery left my body as a flash of a memory hit me.
“You’re the most beautiful girl to have ever existed, Evelyn Reyes. I made sure of that.”
She’d said those words to me time and time again throughout my childhood. Back then, I thought it was just her boosting my confidence, making me feel loved, but now...
Had she been saying those words to brag?
“There are cameras everywhere,” I warned. “If you kill me, people will know.”
“You think a recording has ever stopped a damn thing in my life?” He scoffed and lifted his jacket, pulling out the gun he’d flashed earlier in the evening. He cocked it and pointed it at me. “I prefer an audience.”
Every muscle in my body was stiff and screaming. If I moved, there was a good chance he’d shoot. But I had to get out of here somehow.
“Aren’t you afraid Sebastian will be back soon? Killing me will be pointless if he kills you too.”
“I think we both know that none of this matters anymore. Come sit, Evie. Darling daughter of mine. Let’s catch up before I do this.
I’d like to have something to reflect on later.
” Using the gun, he pointed to a table, and slowly, keeping my hands up, I went over and sat.
He joined me, setting the gun on the table, making sure to point it in my direction.
“Now, tell me about yourself. What is your favorite color? Favorite film? What do you like to eat? I hear you’re a YouTube star. How well does that pay?” He leaned in, putting his chin in his hands and smiling at me.
I studied him, searching harder for a version of myself in his face.
Elliott Bradley was a strikingly handsome Hispanic man.
He’d been on the cover of dozens of magazines as the world’s sexiest celebrity.
It was understandable why, if my mother had chosen who would father her child, it had been him.
It also helped hide the paternity. If I’d had a father with, say—green eyes, blond hair, or dark skin, my appearance may have reflected that.
But with both my parents having brown eyes, black hair, and light-brown skin, he was able to hide in plain sight.
He stared at me, his dark eyes shining. This was just a game to him. I didn’t care to play, but if I wanted to stay living a little longer, so be it.
“Red. The Exorcist, 1973. Cereal—specifically corn flakes from Dollar General. My job has a lot of passive income, so it pays enough for me to live comfortably. What about yourself?”
“Maroon. The Fly, 1958. Red wine and a good steak. My job has made me wealthier than any man should ever be.”
His dark eyes reflected... excitement. He loved this back-and-forth. He was a cat, playing with the mouse before he ate it. The snake, encircling its owner, measuring it and getting ready to swallow.
“Why did you say yes to my mother? To...fathering me?” The very concept turned my stomach. Elliott was a bad man, and my mother should never have been subjugated to him.
Elliott grinned. “Ego. Lita knew how to play to a man’s need to be wanted.
She used it often, and I was just one of her many pawns.
She was on a mission, and I can clearly say it was successful.
” He waved to me. “She’s the only one, you know, to have carried my seed.
To my knowledge, you are my only child.”
Lucky me.
“Why are you killing us now?” he asked, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “I find it fascinating after all this time.”
“I was just a kid when you murdered her. I needed time to grow up and find out who you were.”
“Yes, but the plan was messy. You’d think with so much time, the deaths would have been cleaner, and yet, you allowed everyone to find the bodies. Why?”
“Because I don’t want to hide. I wanted you to know I was coming for you,” I answered truthfully.
“Interesting. There’s no self-preservation in you.”
“There really isn’t.” The words only felt somewhat true. I’d said them in various ways a million times in the last few months, and every time, they’d been correct. But this time, Sebastian rang in a tiny recess of my mind.
I gulped as nerves began to slowly take over.
How long would he be gone? Would Sebastian be too late?
The idea of him returning home to find me dead on his lawn was enough for me to lunge forward and grab the gun off the table.
I shoved the chair back, and it clamored to the concrete.
I pointed it at him, and he raised his hands slowly and stood, keeping eye contact with me.
As he slowly rose, a smile followed, making me uneasy.
We circled each other, walking around the perimeter of the pool.
I forced him backward, hoping he’d stumble.
He stopped and chuckled. “You really think I’d put a loaded gun on the table for you to grab? That gun is filled with rubber bullets. But this one isn’t.” He reached around and pulled another gun from the back of his pants. “You shoot me, and I’ll shoot you.”
I stared at my father. “Who did it? Who was the one to put the knife in her middle and then hang her up to be found like that?” Tears slid down my cheeks as the memory of that morning flashed through my mind. The gun in my hand shook as rage took over.
Elliott took in my question, then laughed.
“Who do you think? The one who gave her that Simon Says job, or the one who helped set up the meeting? Or what about the lawyer who created her contract, or was it the ex-boyfriend?” Elliott laughed.
“Or maybe it was the one she fucked purely to get his perfect genes.”
“Who was it?” I shouted.
He rolled his eyes. “It was the one with the most to lose. Me.”
I pulled the trigger. The kickback made me stumble into the grass—and then a second bang rang out.
All the air left my body as pain burst from my left shoulder.
I collapsed, forcing my head up to keep my eyes on Elliott.
He’d lied. There was a bright-red hole in his abdomen.
He’d banked on me being too scared to shoot.
Joke was on him. I wasn’t truly scared of anything.
Except Sebastian finding me dead.
The thought rang out in my mind, and I knew then that I had to fight back. Truly fight back. I couldn’t let Sebastian find me like that.
Elliott stared at the wound on his belly in shock.
I looked at the one on my left shoulder, then scanned him from top to bottom.
Struggling to breathe, I forced myself to my feet.
Slapping my hand over the bullet wound, I stalked over to him.
He was fighting to stay upright, one hand on his belly and the other waving wildly to maintain balance.
Elliott’s eyes lit up as he tried to reach for me, but instead of saving him, I reached forward and pushed on his chest, and he fell into the red pool.
My ears still rang from the gunshots, but his scream pierced through as he splashed and fought to stay afloat.
I collapsed and watched him flounder. He looked like he was drowning in a sea of his own blood.
The pain in my shoulder was blinding, and I knew I didn’t have much time before I fell unconscious.
If I could just watch him die first, I could follow in peace.
No! my mind screamed.
I straightened myself and looked back at Elliott.
He’d fallen into the deep end, but he’d found his footing and was trying to swim.
I was too tired to survive a physical brawl.
I needed to end this now. Getting back on my feet, I walked slowly to the opposite side of the pool. Elliott was moving slowly, but...
There was a small metal box I’d seen Sebastian use often. He was always afraid Cujo and Precious would get out when he wasn’t around and jump into the water. I opened the box and scanned the buttons, grateful that they’d been labeled clearly.
CLOSE POOL.
I pressed it, and the machine whirred to life. Turning, I watched the black cover slide out and slowly make its way across the water. It was so close to the surface, there was no room for air.
Elliott heard the noise and spun around in the water.
It took him a moment to see what was happening, but he wasn’t fast enough.
He was pulled under as the cover overtook him.
He pounded on the tarp, but it was useless.
The cover finished its journey to the other side of the pool and locked into place.
I watched as my biological father, one of the most famous men in the world, pushed against the seal for a moment, and then stopped.
Something in my soul knew when he was gone. I stared at the spot I’d last seen movement, and then my legs gave out, and I crashed to the ground. My eyes closed as I heard barking and then Sebastian’s voice.
Good, I thought as the darkness overtook me. I’d made it at least until he got here.
He didn’t find me dead.
Just…nearly dead.