He was hoping for a miracle.
“I know everything I need to know about her Constantine background,” I told him. “I know everything I need to know about you.”
I pressed my foot to his throat. His hands gripped my ankle as he squirmed, but I wouldn’t budge, just kept my weight at a beautiful enough pressure to make him choke and turn red. Wriggling piece of shit.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” I said, and lowered the blade.
I stripped that man with my knife before I hurt him. I kicked him in the face as he tried to scream, busting his jaw so bad he was a mess, and then I took it slowly. Each slice of my blade was a thrill to me, only this time it wasn’t about my addiction to inflicting pain. This time it was all about the woman I was avenging.
It was about her beautiful eyes and how they must have cried when this man touched her. It was about him punishing her over so much time that she believed she deserved it.
It was about the way he’d touched her, the way he’d whispered filth into her ear when she was too broken to understand what he was doing to her.
It was about the way he’d been in this place, letting other men in for their sick thrills at her expense—my beautiful girl with a heart of gold.
I did things to the sick fuck that made even my stomach turn. He was a gurgling wreck as I finally took the ultimate payback.
I leaned in close, whispering right into his wheezing face.
“This is for Elaine,” I said. “Say hello to the Lord and Savior when you get there. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see you, you disgusting piece of shit.” I pushed the blade straight through his windpipe and twisted it.
I had a smile on my face as he gurgled his final breath. I was covered in blood as I left his body on the floor and smoothed my bloodstained jacket down over my chest.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Elaine
Lucian’s car pulled up as dawn was just beginning to creep in. The low rumble of the engine woke me from my daze on the sofa, the headlights bright enough in the dark to shine through the window. He was home. My boyfriend was home.
That word felt strange. It didn’t describe the wild, twisted, mad way that I loved Lucian, but I also cherished it. Such a simple, carefree declaration: my boyfriend.
Just thinking it made my heart leap.
I was already on my feet and at the front door when he stepped up to the porch. I was all set to dash out and grab him, but I stopped as he came into view under the porch light.
My boyfriend was covered in blood, and it most certainly wasn’t his own. His shirt was splattered, red on white. His jacket was damp and his face was smeared with red to match. His gloved fingers were bloodied around his keys, and his eyes were shining dark.
Evil. But it wasn’t evil directed at me…
I didn’t even know what questions to ask. They were empty sounds in my mouth. I stepped back to let him through, and he walked in with purpose and strength, as powerful as I’d ever seen him. Then he smiled. Lucian Morelli, covered in blood, smiled at me.
“Morning, sweetheart.”
He headed straight to the kitchen, flicking on the coffee machine before ditching his gloves in the sink. He got out two mugs and went to work, mute, without offering a single word.
It was me who finally found my voice and asked the most obvious question.
“What happened?”
His eyes were twinkling when they met mine. “I had some business.”
“Business?”
He laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, business. Business for you.”
I looked him up and down, still trying to soak in what the hell was happening. “For me? How the hell could this be for me?”
He leaned against the counter casually, like this wasn’t some kind of alternate dimension of craziness at dawn. “Well, that depends on who the blood belonged to, doesn’t it?”
I got a shiver all the way through me, because it couldn’t be…it couldn’t be from someone who hurt me. But it was. Of course it was. My stomach did the weirdest lurch. My heart was racing at the thought—both excited and scared at once.
“Who was it?” I asked, then took a breath. “Was it Uncle Lionel?”
Even the thought was terrifying—because if it was Uncle Lionel and people knew—if people knew, they would put the pieces together and those pieces would spell MORELLI in huge capital letters, and MORELLI would spell out LUCIAN Morelli the very moment it was said out loud.
Only it wasn’t Uncle Lionel.
“It was Reverend fucking Lynch,” he told me. “I tore the piece of shit apart.”
I stared in shock. Lucian had killed the man who’d prepared me for punishment and made me take it at the hands of other men. My mortal enemy of just a few days ago had ripped apart the man who’d been my true enemy since I was a little girl.
“You killed Reverend Lynch?” I asked him.
He gave me a smirk. “I most certainly killed him, Elaine. I’m sure he was damn well pleased when I did. He was hardly enjoying his last few moments alive, I can promise you that.”
The thought of Reverend Lynch suffering was strangely nice. Even buried after all these years, it was nice to think of him hurting, just like all the times he’d enjoyed my pain. Only he was dead. Lucian had killed him. Reverend Lynch was actually dead.
It shouldn’t have surprised me, because this was Lucian Morelli standing before me, and Lucian Morelli was undoubtedly the most vicious man alive. He hurt people for fun and fascination. He arranged deaths for his own ends, whenever it suited him. What surprised me was that his own hands were dirty, and it was because of me. He’d killed someone for me. Again. He’d killed someone because they’d hurt me.
I’m not sure it was everyone’s traditional idea of boyfriend material but in a fucked-up little part of my soul it sure felt like it to me.
My next words were a whisper as I tried to digest it. “Reverend Lynch is dead.”
Lucian poured my coffee. “I also made sure the girls’ doors were open before I left the place, even though they were sleeping soundly.”
“Wow.” He’d killed them and freed the girls. I smiled at him. Those girls would have been going through so much, just like I was. The monster had freed the victims.
“Thanks,” I said, and it was the most pathetic word in the world.
“You’re very welcome, Elaine.” His eyes were fire on mine. “He will be the first of many.”
“Many?”
His grin made me light up inside. “Many. Believe me, baby, I have a whole list of the next candidates. I’ll be savoring every single one of them.”
My brain was spinning just thinking about it. I was still trying to comprehend whether I was reading this right, because if I was… “You mean people alongside Reverend Lynch?”
“I mean every man who has ever laid his sick twisted hands on your sweet little body. Payback will be divine,” he said.
Yeah, he was certainly boyfriend material. I didn’t know what to do so I did nothing, still trying to get a grip on my thoughts. I took my mug from him with shaking fingers, still blown away by just how casual the monster was in the aftermath of butchering someone up close.
I stared at him, loving him. The full weight of what he’d done for me slammed me like a train when I finally came to my senses enough to process it. Reverend Lynch was dead, and the girls around him were free. I’m not sure who was more surprised when I launched myself at Lucian’s body and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was still wet with blood, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was being up close to the man I loved.