Page 4 of Dark Reasons

He has to pay for what he did. That's what matters. I have to remember why I'm here.

I want to kill him. This monster deserves to be a rotting corpse left alone on a hotel carpet. If I plug him with bullets, he can't hurt anyone else. I just have to do it. I have to.

Why am I hesitating?

"Wait." His chin wobbles. "Wait wait. I'm not the one to blame here." Disgust turns my vision red, but he plows on before I can scream. "My boss asked me to get those videos."

I lower the nose of my gun an inch. "What boss?"

Sanford pulls in a breath so big his stomach nudges my pistol. "Caruso Oakley. He runs an entire conglomerate that makes big money on selling E-girl style porn."

"You're trying to shift the blame," I growl.

"Listen! Yeah, I scouted your friend, but if he hadn't offered me fifty grand I wouldn't have shown up to that shitty comic shop."

I'm reeling with this new info. All this time, when I pictured getting revenge, it was Sanford's face I saw.There's someone else involved in Valoria's death.

The window slams open. A man, who might as well be a gargoyle with how he's perched on the ledge, his whole body and most of his face shrouded in a black hooded jacket, stares at me. "You're really fucking up my day, you know that?" he mutters. His tone is gritty from anger, like pebbles thrown around in ocean waves.

"Who are you?" I blurt. I start to train the gun on him out of impulse. It's not just the fact this man appearedin the window,he's exuding enough danger my brain is jolting into overdrive. Sanford is closer to me, but he's nowhere near as worrying as whoever this guy is.

The black-dressed man leaps at me. I stagger back, bumping the edge of the bed. That's all he needs to give me a push—I lose the rest of my balance. With a gasp I land hard on the mattress, and as I go, he squeezes his long fingers around my right wrist. The pain is sharp, brief; he yanks my gun out of my grip.

Panting heavily, I sit up on my elbows, preparing to fight for my life. Except the man isn't facing my way anymore. I get the feeling he's finished with me; one nudge and he decided I was neutralized. I'd be insulted, but I'm too stunned by what he does next.

My gun vanishes into his pocket, then he squares off with Sanford. Sanford blinks as he tries to make sense of this new turn of events. There's clarity in his yellowish eyes when he stares at the man before him. Clarity I wanted for myself.

The new guy slips something from his sleeve. I don't know what it is, not at first. Not until Sanford's throat becomes a beaded red line. Blood dribbles down; he chokes, grasping at his neck, falling to the floor.

I didn't kill him.

But he's dead anyway.

Chapter Two

Selena

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