Page 48 of Own Me

But he doesn't do this either.

And so I end up following him all the way to a motel, and I ask my cab driver to park a short distance away while I wait and watch.

Is this a trap?

Greg's making it so easy for me to stalk him. The motel has open corridors that lets me see exactly which floor he gets up to, and even which room he enters.

This has to be a trap.

My cab driver looks at me like I've lost my mind when I give him a thousand dollars...but when I tell him I'll hand over another grand as long as he waits for me to come out, the older man even insists I save his number in my phone, just in case I need any kind of help.

You can do this, dude.

My hands start feeling clammy as I take the stairs all the way to the fourth floor, and my steps silently come to a stop now that I've passed five doors from the left.

If this door is locked, then...

I have no idea what I'll do next, but it's just my luck that the door knob turns rather easily in my fingers.

Maybe...this really is a trap?

There's only one way to find out, and as soon as I step inside the room—-

Oh...SHIT.

The first thing I see is Greg...standing over an old man'scorpse.

"Well, I'll be damned."

He actually soundsamused, and that's when I realize this isn't a trap at all.

"You and Marchetti seem to have an unfortunate talent for sniffing out dead bodies."

This is just a madman thinking he's so damn smart, he's like Ted Bundy reincarnate with how he's so convinced he'll be able to get away with whatever crime he cares to commit.

"Since this is your last day alive," Greg goes on conversationally, "I guess I should give you some closure. When I found out about Pilar's will, I worked fucking hard to look for your parents—-"

"And you killed them..."

Greg feigns a look of surprise. "Damn. How did you figure that out?"

A part of me just wants to throw all caution to the wind and be fucking done with it.

Kill or be killed.

But somehow...I manage to stay still. "What about my grandmother?"

"Duh."

I look at the dead body on the floor. "And...him?"

"Ah." Greg is smiling again. "Sayciaoto my own fuckingpapa."

I can't stop myself from flinching as he starts kicking his father's corpse like he's bored and just looking for something to do.

"The old man somehow figured out I'm behind Pilar's death, and he started freaking out over the phone. So I asked him to come meet me here, and when it became obvious that he would never be willing to go along with my plans..."

I guess this really is the day, God...with how everything keeps making sense.

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