Chapter 27
Caught
Iwake up with a harsh, lung-burning gasp.
My eyes spring open, and pain immediately pulses in my temples as I jerk upright, glancing around.
I push through the haze, attempting to familiarize myself with my strange surroundings.
I blink, my palms resting on—I glance down.
A couch. I’m sitting on a red upholstered couch.
I wince, my gaze flitting to the large bay windows to my left.
Raindrops splatter against the glass. It’s miserable outside, claps of thunder sounding and bolts of lightning flashing.
Where am I? Is it night? Early morning? It’s hard to tell in the winter.
As I slowly find my mental equilibrium, the rest of the room comes into focus.
I’m in a living room. A rather lovely living room, for that matter.
Aside from the couch I am currently sitting on, there are two equally red armchairs angled to face an eighty-five inch TV hanging over a white brick fireplace. It looks…fake.
A chill runs down my spine, the electric flames inside the fireplace teasing me with their warmth.
Paintings hang on all four walls—prints of popular major cities across Europe, a few replicas of famous portraits.
My gaze flits to the built-in bookshelf on the far wall.
Classic titles fill the shelves. And then I spot a stack of books. My books.
The events of last night come crashing down on me.
I abruptly stand up, my pulse quickening. Kaleb. He did this. He brought me here. But where is here? Is this his house? No. It can’t be. Unless it’s a residence he had not yet registered. Or had no intention of registering.
Panic settles in the pit on my stomach as I snap my head down, taking in my outfit. I’m wearing a blue sundress. The garment hugs my waist, my breast then flows outward.
I… I don’t own a blue sundress. This… This isn’t mine.
I—I need to get out of here.
My instincts kick in, the survival state activated in my brain stem.
I sprint through the furnished house, hoping that I'm running in the right direction.
I pass a formal dining room, the table set with burning candles.
My feet carry me past closed bedrooms all the way to the front entrance.
A door. A beautiful, glorious door awaits me.
Mere seconds away. But as I get close, as I get a foot away from the handle, a bone shattering burst of electricity courses up my leg, to my arms and chest and brain, and I collapse on the ground, writhing in pain.
“Oh baby…” His soft, concerned voice floats into my buzzing ears. “Oh, no. I didn’t think you’d be awake yet. Here.” He hovers over me, but I can’t fully see him, the pain still gripping my limbs. “Let’s get you up.”
“No…” My words come out mumbled. “Don’t touch me.”
Kaleb clicks his tongue, kneeling down beside me. His face slowly comes into focus, and I wince as he caresses my cheek with the back of his cold hand.
“Shh… It’s okay, Safia. The pain will pass.” His jaw tenses for a moment before his gaze shifts to my ankle. “You just need to be more careful.”
That’s when I feel the weight of the ankle monitor. A red light blinks every second. I snap my head up at Kaleb, teeth clenched.
“What did you do, Kaleb?”
“It’s for your safety, Safia,” he says, tilting his head. “I would never hurt you, you know that. You’re safe now. Just don’t… Just don’t go near the doors or windows, okay? That’s all.” He gives me a warm, authentic smile. “Now, let’s get you up. You must be famished.”
“I said don’t touch me,” I grunt, forcing myself upright without his assistance.
The idea of his hands on my body makes me nauseous.
Considering the fact I’m wearing a sundress I’ve never seen before, I can only assume his hands have had plenty of time to explore my body.
I look down at the modified ankle monitor.
A shock collar, really. I’m surprised he didn’t lock it around my neck.
“You need to take this thing off me, Kaleb, and you need to let me go.”
Kaleb swallows, glancing away sheepishly. “I can’t, Safia. You’re not safe. I keep telling you that, but you don’t believe me.”
“The police are going to find us, Kaleb,” I say, tone neutral and clinical. “You will be arrested for murder. And now kidnapping. Let me go and I will ensure that instead of prison you will be placed in a mental health facility.”
Kaleb shakes his head, his fists curled into balls.
His voice rises like a deadly storm surge.
“I will not be the one going to prison, Safia. I am not the monster here.” His eyes glow with frantic frustration as he reaches out, forcefully grabbing my hand.
His tone drops several octaves. “Stop it, Safia. Just stop. Please.”
I grind my teeth, unable to tug my hand out of his. “Stop what?”
He sighs as if exacerbated by my inability to put the pieces together.
“I see the way you look at him, baby.” The tendons in his neck flex.
“That monster. That vile, sick man.” He takes a step closer to me, leaving barely any room between our bodies.
The scent of his cologne assaults my senses as he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.
“Why can’t you look at me like that, Safia?
Why can’t you want me like you want him?
” He cups my cheek, his grip a little too tight.
“We’re not so different, he and I. If you love him, Safia, then you can love me, too. ”
Irritation bursts through me, and I rip myself out of his orbit. “This has nothing to do with Theodore, Kaleb. You’re unwell. You need help.” I point down to the ankle monitor. “This… This isn’t normal.”
“You don’t seem to like normal,” Kaleb spits, stalking toward me. “I’ve seen what you like, Safia. I can’t say your taste in partners is normal…at all.”
I back away slowly, my bare feet dragging on the hardwood floor. “What are you talking about?”
He scoffs. “You don’t know? Really? You’re supposed to be an expert, Safia.
You’re supposed to sense these people a mile away.
” He continues to encroach on my space, and I have no choice but to creep backward into the dining room.
“You look at me like I’m the crazy one, like I’m some bloodthirsty killer.
I didn't mean to kill that man, Safia. That doorman. That wasn’t my plan.
I didn’t go there to kill him. I just wanted to see you, Safia.
I wanted to give you flowers. I wanted to smell you.
You smell so good, I've told you that before, right? Like roses and hope and a future.”
My back collides with a wall, and my gaze flicks to the left, scanning the dining room table. There are forks and spoons and knives placed on either side of the plates. And there are lit candles. Those are my options. Those are the only weapons I can see.
“I am not a killer, Safia,” he continues.
“But if that’s what you want, if that’s what I need to become to win your love…
” He shrugs. “Then so be it. I’ll do it, Safia.
I’ll become a monster for you. Is that what you want?
Do you want me to kill people? Do you want me to torture them?
Drug them? Brand them with arrows and lashes?
Is that what you want?! Will that make you love me? !”
My heart rattles against my ribs, my knees weak as I struggle to stay upright. I shake my head, unwilling to extract the truth from Kaleb’s nonsensical ramblings.
No. He needs to shut up. He needs to be quiet.
“Does it turn you on, Safia?” he continues, tone bitter and tough. He can’t pick a mood. He can’t stick to one emotion. “When you fuck him, Safia, do you think of the bodies he’s mutilated? Does that make you wet? Does your pussy clench at the idea of all the blood he’s spilled?”
I cover my ears, anguish coiling around my throat. My breaths come in ragged, desperate pants.
“Stop it,” I cry. “Stop talking.”
“You know who he is, don’t you, Safia?” Kaleb presses on, his words like daggers across my skin.
“You know, and you still…” He takes five purposeful steps toward me and wraps his hand around the base of my throat.
“Is this what you want, Safia? I’ve seen it.
I’ve watched him do this to you before. Lots of times before. ”
His grip is too tight, and I scratch at his hand, attempting to loosen his hold.
“I can’t breathe…”
Kaleb lets go, his gaze burrowing into mine. “I thought you liked being choked, baby. I thought I was giving you what you want.”
A tear rolls down my cheek as I place my hands on my neck, catching my breath.
“Let me go,” I whimper. “Please.”
“Let you go?” Kaleb scoffs. “So you can, what? Run off into his arms?” Kaleb snakes his hands around my shoulders and violently shakes me. “He’s a fucking serial killer, Safia!”
And there it is.
Kaleb’s words ring in my ears, sharp and relentless, sending tremors of dread through my entire body.
My mind reels, fighting against the notion.
But this harrowing suspicion has lingered in the depth of my psyche for weeks now.
I’ve never given it a voice, never given it more than a fleeting millisecond of validation.
My hands tremble, but I keep my gaze locked on Kaleb, trying to calm my racing heart. I can’t let him see the fear that’s beginning to render me immobile.
“Kaleb, stop this. You don’t know what you’re saying,” I whisper, my voice shaky. “You need to stop.”
His eyes narrow, and for a moment, a flicker of uncertainty crosses his face. But then his grip on my shoulders tightens again, his face inches from mine, his breath warm and sickeningly sweet.
“I know exactly what I’m saying,” he snaps, shaking me again. “You’re blind, Safia. Blind to what he really is. He’s using you, manipulating you—and eventually, you’ll be another body six feet underground.”
Then, in the silence, I hear it—the front door bursting open with a crash.
Theo.
Kaleb’s grip falters for just a second, and I seize the moment to pull back, my heart leaping with hope.
I glance toward the hallway just as Theo appears, his gun drawn, his face steely with determination.
Relief floods through me like a wave, and I can barely breathe when I see him, the man I’ve come to trust.
The man I—
Kaleb jerks me toward him, his arms looping around my waist like a viper. His breath comes faster, his eyes wide and frantic. He pulls out a knife, the blade gleaming under the dining room lights. He presses it to my throat, the cold steel biting into my skin.
“She’s mine,” Kaleb snarls, voice shaking, his desperation palpable. “Leave us alone. I know what you are! I know what you did! Leave us alone, or…or I’ll keep her safe one way or another.”
Theo’s eyes harden, the barrel of his gun unwavering. He remains silent, his gaze shifting between me and Kaleb, and I can see the resolve in his expression.
My lungs barely work, the blade too close, Kaleb’s erratic grip too tight. My pulse hammers in my ears as I meet Theo’s eyes, pleading with him, hoping he’ll understand.
“Just let me go, Kaleb,” I whisper, struggling to get the words out. “Please. Let me go. I… I don’t want to die, Kaleb. Please…you’re hurting me. You said you’d never hurt me.”
Kaleb's fingers twitch, and for a moment, his grip loosens.
But it’s too late.
A deafening gunshot echoes through the room, the sound ricocheting off the walls. The force jolts Kaleb’s body, his head snapping back as the bullet tears through his skull.
For a split second, time freezes. Kaleb collapses, his body crumpling to the floor, the knife falling from his limp hand.
I stand there, frozen. My breath comes in shallow gasps as I look down at Kaleb’s lifeless body, blood pooling around his head. My legs buckle, and I collapse next to him, trembling.
I feel Theo’s arms around me, his voice distant as he tries to pull me away. But my gaze remains fixed on Kaleb, on his dead eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. He was going to surrender. He was going to let me go.
I finally look up at Theo, the cold, hard truth settling over me like a suffocating anvil.
“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the killer.”
Theo holds me tenderly in his arms, his soft gaze flitting around my fatigued features. He lets out a heavy sigh and presses his soft, warm lips on my forehead.
“Yes, little lamb. But I think you already knew that.” He pauses and my heart clenches. “Didn’t you?”
The truth swallows me whole.
I’m in love with a serial killer.