Page 138 of Insidious Heart

And just as my vision starts to blur, as the edges get fuzzy, I look down at my little dove, fighting harder than before to get free, tears rolling down her pretty face and I smile. I drop to my knees in front of her, barely feeling the pain while knowing it’s there, and it’s that instant, that split second in time where I wish I’d been able to tell her how much I love her—howinlove with her I am.

My love truly is a disease and it’s rendered me helpless both times I dared to give it freely. My insidious heart infected them, and my diseased love ended up taking the two most important people in my life from me.

It did—Idid—what I was scared would happen all along.

I lost Toby, and now I’m losing Stevie.

Death came for them like a venom injected directly into their veins; the venom, the poison of being loved by me.

I’m sorry, baby dove.I search her face and pray it’s the last thing I see, even if I don’t deserve it because I truly am The Harvester of Bones.

The vigilante ghost.

The bringer of death.

A fucked up man ruined before he had the chance to be anything different, but not so screwed up that I don’t regret what I’ve done.

Twice the love; twice the death.

Twice the regret.

And whether I make it out of this alive or not, those will be my only regrets in this life, and they will be the only things that haunt this ghost during whatever comes next.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

STEVIE

No!I try to scream as Victor crashes to his knees, my ghost smiling that gorgeous smile at me for a few beats while the color drains from his face.No! No, please!

I wiggle and fight against the restraints even harder, attempting to scoot myself toward him as he drops back on his ass before looking down at his side.

“I’m… sorry, baby… dove.” Victor’s eyes lift to mine, the indigo gone, the lavender and grey so pale his irises almost look white. He coughs out a mouthful of blood, the dark red liquid sputtering from his perfect lips as my ghost slumps back against the dresser with a thud.

No! God, please, no. Don’t take Victor away from me.

“So, thisis Leon?”

My eyes dart to the doorway as fear races up my spine. The same fear I felt within minutes of arriving.

“Must have been one hell of a study date.” Linnie frowns as she walks into the room, stopping next to Victor before crouching on her haunches to look at him. She tilts her head as she twirls the knife in her hand, turning to me as her frown deepens. “You could do so much better, girlie.”

I twist and scoot, trying to scream through my gag as Linnie holds the knife to Victor’s throat, the tip millimeters from his windpipe.

“You know he’s a serial killer, right?” She nicks his jaw as she gets to her feet, chuckling and shaking her head. “Then again, that’s always been your thing, hasn’t it? Nothing but true crime and murderers to keep you company?” Linnie walks over to me, her hazel eyes a little wild but focused. She crouches again before getting to her knees in front of me, resting the bloody knife on her thigh with a huff. “Even though I was here the whole time.”

With a sob, I shake my head and try to back away as Linnie reaches out toward my face and when I squeeze my eyes shut, she screams, “I was right fucking here, Stevie, but you never saw me!” The gag is torn from my mouth and I feel her fingers on my lips. “I was right here, right in front of you all along. Look at me!”

I force my eyes open, my tears falling freely as soon as my gaze connects with hers. “W-why are y-you—”

“You don’t fucking get it, do you? I did this.” She motions around the room, pointing to Victor first then the dead body of Chris, the RN from work, a few feet away from me then opens her arms wide. “I didallof this for you, Stevie. How else was I supposed to get your attention after years of trying?”

Oh my god.“You mean, you mean… you…”

Linnie nods. “All those girls, all the helpless victims ofThe Ripper.That was cute, by the way. It meant a lot that you gave me my very own nickname.”

Jesus.

Oh my god.

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