Page 9 of Until Death Parts Us

“Where’s…Robert?” Anna asks, a weird look on her face.

Before I can open my mouth to say anything, Kaspian lunges forward, swiping the box cutter from the table and quickly revealing the blade. In mere seconds, he’s positioned next to Anna and pressing the sharp edge right against her neck.

CHAPTER FOUR

KASPIAN

“What the fuckare you doing here?” I seethe.

She backs away, shoving her body in the corner of the couch. Her frightened eyes are on Quin as she seeks help.

“Kas, what’s going on?” he asks.

“Robert let it slip,” I say, staring at Anna. “They’re here together. She was texting him. I found the messages and read a little more. They planned on stealing from us. Apparently, that’s what they do.”

Quin’s head does a slow swivel toward Anna. She’s watching me with fear dripping from her eyes. “H-how did you read his texts?”

I let my lips unfurl into a cold, cruel grin but don’t say anything.

“Quin, honestly. I wasn’t going to do anything. We…yeah, okay. We’re here together, but I was planning on telling him we shouldn’t go through with it.”

“Lies,” I spit, handing the box cutter to Quin. “Cut them from her throat, baby.”

“No!” Her eyes are wide. “What? No!”

Quin stands up, the wheels in his head spinning.

“I noticed some papers in her RV. Different names than Anna and Robert. They either aren’t who they said they are, or they stole that RV, too.”

I sit up on the couch, my body closing her into the corner. “Unfortunately for you, doll, we’re not who you thought either.” I tap my hand on her knee twice. “Come on, Quin. Let’s get this over with.”

“Not here,” he says, eyes finding me.

With a subtle jerk of his head, he tells me what I need to know, and I quickly reach over and wrap her in my arms, making sure to hinder her movements. Quin has already pocketed the knife and is now grabbing her legs.

She puts up a fight as we carry her out of our RV and into her own, her body wriggling and writhing. She begs, pleads, and screams, but nobody else will hear her. I make a mental note to cover any blood drips when we’re done.

Once inside, Quin says, “You got her?”

“Yeah, I got her.”

He lets go of her legs and she immediately tries to run, but I yank her down on the couch, pinning her body to mine. Quin grabs trash bags and lines the largest part of the floor with them. As much as I love the guy, his methodical way of thinking really takes the fun out of a spontaneity kill, but I guess I got that out of the way withRobert, so I’ll let him do this his way.

When he’s finished setting up, he comes over and helps me lay her on top of the plastic, quickly straddling her waist while I move to hold her hands over her head.

Anna’s chest heaves with panicked breaths. Tears stream down her cheeks, falling to the black plastic beneath her.

“Please, please don’t do this. We weren’t going to hurt anyone. We’re just?—”

“Thieves?” I say.

“It doesn’t matter, Anna,” Quin says, his eyes focused on her neck. “You weren’t supposed to be a part of this, but Robert was always going to go.” His finger traces the vein on the side of her throat. “We’re not good people. We don’t care what you do; it’s just bad luck that you ended up out here with us. And really bad luck that you’re involved with Robert.”

“You guys are fucking sick!” she says before bursting into tears.

I smile at Quin. “Oh, we know.”

He brings the box cutter blade to her skin, pressing gently at first. The skin splits and blood slowly begins to spill out. Quin inhales deeply, eyes laser-focused on the task at hand. He presses harder, deeper, using every centimeter of that tiny blade to cut into her flesh.

---