Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jude leads me through the darkness until we run into another set of doors, lit up by a single Exit sign. He pushes through the doors, and there’s a dive bar. A regular ole dive bar, minus the fact that it’s full of incredibly intimidating men and women—though not the kind we passed earlier.
“Shit,” Jude mutters, grabbing my attention. “I knew he’d do it.”
“Do what?” I demand, my voice increasing.
“Shh,” Jude snaps. “This place is made of fucking nightmares. People come from all over the world to… die.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“We’ll just have to wait for him to come out.” Jude leads me toward a back table. “It could be hours, though.”
“Will you please explain what’s happening?” I stop him with a jerk of my arm. “I want to know what he’s doing.”
“Jeez,” Jude grunts. “Listen, people come here to die at the hands of others—some have requests. Luca is… He’s going on a rampage, per se.”
“He’s killing people?”
“Assisted suicide, yeah. Sometimes they put really fucking deranged people in there, the ones getting the death penalty, anyway. It’s a fucked world, and this is one of the worst.”
“Okay, great. Great.”
“If you’re looking for Luca, he just went in,” a voice says from a table away from us. “You can still probably catch him.” I peer around Jude to a man with dark eyes and a somber expression.
“Thanks,” Jude mutters, switching directions and tugging me toward another set of double doors. “Now we can leave.”
“No,” I jerk my hand away from him. “I want to talk to him.”
“No, you don’t. But see? He’s not sleeping with anyone, just murdering them.” Jude lets out a dry laugh. “All good. Let’s leave.”
“I’m not going,” I turn toward another set of doors that say begin. It’s not that hard to put it together. I race for them and shove them open, ignoring the whispers and chuckles behind me.
A creepy man with a mask sits behind a desk, and the lights flicker as I stumble through. “You’re a sight,” he cackles. “What can I do for you?”
“Did Luca… Is Luca here?”
The freakishly slender man tilts his head at me. “Why’re you looking for him?”
“Because… I want…” My voice trails off as a lock thuds across the doors behind me—followed by the sound of Jude shouting from the other side.
“He’d probably enjoy a change in the cage. I haven’t sent anyone in.”
My heart throbs in my ears. “I don’t want to…” die.
“No? Then why are you here? We don’t allow anyone to watch. You either join, or you leave. But you’re here. And I know you’re no killer—but I bet you’re faster than the big-titted deranged blonde I was going to send in.”
My chest rips with hot jealousy, and I start to wonder if it’s what Jude said, or if it’s just some sort of sick sex game. “Fine. Put me in with him.”
He nods to the door on my left. “He’s waiting for you.”
Heart pounding and hands shaking, I approach the door, wondering what the fuck is on the other side. I press down on the handle, and push in, freezing as the darkness seems to swallow me.
I step inside and let the door click shut behind me, a blast of cold air hitting me in the face. I shiver.
“Welcome to the Suicide Chamber,” a voice announces over an intercom, sending me jumping sideways. “We decided to give you something different tonight. Enjoy your first female kill in the cage, Luca.”
Holy shit.
I spin around, and press against the door, trying to get back out. But the doors are locked. It’s too late. The guy at the front was fucking with me to get me to enter.
And now I’m up against the man that’s already almost killed me twice.
“We’re not switching patrons out,” a voice says over the intercom, as if someone is arguing with him. “We’re an equal opportunity chamber.”
I blink my eyes, trying to peer into the blackness. I hear footsteps, but I can’t see them. I shy back quietly, finding a wall. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Maybe it’s just a game. Maybe it’s just a game.
I keep repeating it in my head as music begins to play over the speakers, filling the abyss in front of me with heavy, sullen music. It’s like a sex playlist—or a killing playlist. Either would work.
“Let’s just get this over with,” a familiar voice calls out into the blackness. “Find my voice, and it’s over.” As much as I’ve grown used to Luca’s voice, it’s insidious sounding now.
I should say something, but as I open my mouth, I’m frozen again. Just like the night I found him in my kitchen. I can’t move.
“This is the most deranged one you have?” Luca calls out.
“Oh yeah, she’s real fucking delusional,” a voice cackles over the music.
He’s not even wrong at this point. I wring my hands in front of myself and wonder what will happen if I find him. Is there a time limit? Maybe if I just hide, he’ll never even know I was ever here. I can go back to his house, I can finish the dishes, and I can wait for him to come back.
“Come on,” Luca roars, startling me. “Are you seriously going to play quiet?”
“Told you,” the voice says above me.
I wrap my arms around myself. Just say something, Emma. But as I open my mouth, the music level grows louder.
And then I feel it.
The whizz of something flying just past my face startles me, burying in the wall on the other side of my face. Shaking, I reach my hand up, feeling the handle of a blade.
“Fair game,” Luca’s voice calls out, taunting. “I see your shadow. You’re no match for me, so I’ll let you at least try to go down with a fight.”
I pluck the knife from the wall.
“Look at you,” he chuckles. “Maybe you are deranged.”
“Maybe,” I whisper, running my fingers over the blade itself. It’s about the size of my hand, and I have no fucking intention of trying to hurt Luca.
But I don’t want to die, either.
“I almost heard that,” Luca laughs, the same tone as when he chased me through the woods. A shiver of fear rolls through my body. This isn’t the Luca that sleeps beside me. And I just now realize it.
I push off the wall, my legs nearly giving out as I make way toward the sound of Luca’s voice. I need to say something. I need to speak. But I can’t get a single word out as I finally see the shadow of a man. He’s terrifying.
But he’s still the man who spared me.
“Ah, here you come,” he growls. “I’ll make this fast. I want a real challenge tonight, not a little, breakable twig.”
Breakable twig.
That’s how I appear in the dark, and I’m suddenly pissed. I open my mouth to cut back at him, but I never get the chance, a hand clamping over it. And I smell him and a lot of booze.
I whimper.
He stills against me, his body pressed to mine. But it’s different this time. He’s not aroused by me.
Why isn’t he moving?
“Fuck,” he mumbles. “My head is so fucked right now. Why’re you toying with me, Chester?” I wince at the roar of his voice. “You know why I’m here.”
“Exactly the reason to make you work through it.”
I furrow my brow, and fight to tip my head back to look at him, but his hand holds me like a vice. He bends my head to the side, and I know what’s coming.
He’s going to snap my fucking neck.
And before I realize what I’ve done, the blade is buried in his thigh.
He bursts into pained laughter as I bite down on his fingers, ripping the blade out, and dropping to the floor, slinking out of his grip. “You’re smooth, albeit a little predictable.”
I spin around from the floor, gasping for air as the gravity of what just happened hits me. I stabbed him. He almost snapped my neck.
And he’s completely unaware I’m Emma.
Heavy hands grip my ankles and drag me toward him. I slide across the floor, knowing my demise is coming, I panic as his knees come down hard on either side of me. I know those big hands are coming for my throat, and with every ounce I can muster, I reach up and grab the front of his shirt, using all my strength to bring my lips to his.
I never make it.
He slams me back down on the floor and I see stars. “I don’t think so.” His voice is more sinister than before. “You won’t fucking touch me. You’re here to die, not fuck.”
Luca lifts my head from the concrete and then slams it back down. I suddenly find my voice, and I scream. But the music is so loud. My head hurts so bad.
“Everyone just wants to fucking torture me. Chester, you, Emma. She doesn’t fucking want me.” His voice slurs—or maybe it’s my consciousness failing.
“No,” my voice comes out so fucking small. I’m not even sure I even actually say the words.
His hands wrap around my throat. I reach for his hands, weakly tugging on them. He leans over me, his weight bearing down on my chest. I let go of his fingers and go for his face. He winces when my fingers brush his jaw.
“You’re not her,” he rasps as he smacks my hand away. “You’re not her.”
“Please don’t,” I choke out, the scene in the shower playing out all over again. “Please.”
“It’s in my head. It’s just in my head.” His grip tightens, but I feel his hands trembling.
“It’s not,” I gasp for air, finding my full voice finally. “Luca, please stop.”
He goes completely frozen—though his grip loosens entirely. “Who put you up to this? Ivan?”
“No, it’s me,” I start to panic again as his grip tightens, my head throbbing to the point of blacking out again. “It’s me. I-I-I tracked you here. I—Jude brought me.”
“What?!” His voice shakes the walls. “Turn on the fucking lights.”
I tremble violently beneath him. He shifts his weight off me, his hands raking over my arms.
“No lights. Only one comes out alive,” Chester bursts into laughter over the speakers. “I’ll only let you break one rule, Luca.”
He lifts me up to a sitting position, and the change of position nearly sends me passing out. I reach for him, desperate for the strange sense of safety he gives me. He doesn’t push me away this time, though he does stiffen. My lips collide with his neck, desperate to show him who I am as I taste him.
“Fuck,” his hands run over my figure, but I’m still not sure if he knows it’s me. He tilts my head back, and his mouth collides with mine.
“Why are you here? Why are you here?” His voice strains with anger as he breaks the kiss, cupping my face with his hands. “I would’ve fucking killed you, Em—” He stops in the middle of saying my name, and the doors burst open, flooding the room with light.