Page 118 of The Midnight Club
At home, as Seth followed her in and shut the door behind them, it sounded to Ori like a prison cell.Why?Why was she feeling like this?
She turned to Seth. “Seth, I’m going to take a nap, okay?”
“Sure.” It was the expression in his eyes, amused, malicious. She’d never seen him like this before.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you later.”
It happened so quickly, but when it did, Ori felt like she’d been hit with a sledgehammer. She had turned her head just as Seth had leaned in to kiss her cheek. Instead, his lips brushed hers, and she gasped, a torrent of memories crashing back. Seth’s head snapped back and their eyes locked. At that moment, he realized she knew.
This is how I show my love …
Ori couldn’t breathe.Seth.Friendly, steady, trustworthy Seth had been the one who had stabbed her, who had killed Viola and Netta and framed Alex.
And she was trapped here, alone, with the killer.
Maceo was beside himself. Seth. The police had jumped into action, working with their New York counterparts, and soon Maceo was in a police helicopter being flown back to Seth’s house. He tried again and again to call Ori’s cellphone, but there was no answer.
Please, please don’t let me be too late …
Ori, please … fight. Fight.
Ori darted for the door, panicked, but he was too quick, too strong for her. “Hush,” he said now, locking his arms around her. “Hush. This needn’t be scary, Ori, honestly, just resign yourself to it.”
Ori looked up at him, fear mixed with anger. “Youstabbed me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Seth smiled and kissed her; she spat in his face. He merely laughed, easily holding her with one massive arm while he tugged the tie from his neck and started to bind her hands behind her. “Because I wanted to, Orianthi. Look at you.” He tugged her in front of the mirror and stood behind her. “Look how beautiful you are.” He ripped her dress open and ran his hand over her belly, the livid scars from his knife still bright pink and healing. “Eleven. I liked the symmetry of that.” He put his mouth to her ear. “And soon, my darling, Ori, soon, number twelve, thirteen, fourteen …”
He was going to kill her. Ori almost laughed.Of course he’s going to kill you, you damn fool. Fight … you don’t get to win this one, Seth Cantor. Blindside him.
She turned in his arms and went into survival mode. She smiled up at him. “You don’t know me well enough yet, Seth. Why didn’t you tell me you wanted me?”
Seth wasn’t so easily fooled. “Ori, I know you love Maceo; why else do you think I tried to kill you? I knew you’d never want me.”
She lowered her head but looked up through her eyelashes at him. “Like I said,” she said in a soft whisper, “you don’t know me as well as you should.”
She stood on her toes and nuzzled his nose briefly before brushing her lips against his. “If you’re going to kill me anyway, you’re right. This doesn’t have to be scary. It could be pleasurable …”
Please, please fall for it, please …Ori knew she would do anything to stay alive, even if it meant having sex with this monster; she’d done it before and survived, after all.
Seth, his expression blank, stared down at her, then cupped her breasts in his hands. “If you’re lying to me, Orianthi, I will gut you like a pig.”
“Try me,” she whispered. Seth gave a growl and tumbled her to the floor, tugging at her underwear. Ori slammed hard against the marble but felt the tie binding her hands give. Her still-healing abdominal muscles screamed with pain, but she played her part well, moaning sensually, kissing Seth. It wasn’t until she felt his cock nudge at her sex that she wanted to cry, but she shoved the pain away as he entered her and began to fuck her. Ori screamed her encouragement at him, and Seth seemed to respond, grinning nastily.
“I’m still going to kill you, pretty girl,” he grunted. Ori had no fear left, even at his words, his threats. She felt her hands free themselves as Seth came and she winced at the feeling of his semen shooting into her.
God, I’m sorry, Maceo, I’m so sorry …
At the moment of Seth’s orgasm, when he was at his most vulnerable, when his eyes were closed, Ori made her move. She whipped his tie around his throat and, kicking him out of her, she braced herself against his chest as she throttled him, using her body weight to tighten the cord. Seth struggled, roaring, and Ori didn’t know if she could hang on but her anger, her fear, her love for Maceo and the desire to live for him, made her strong. She pulled and pulled, using everything inside her until she felt him weaken. She didn’t let up, knowing he could be faking it, until his entire body went slack. She kept pulling even when he collapsed on top of her, his eyes bulging, his tongue protruding from his mouth.
Then, finally satisfied he was dead, Ori kicked him off of her and scrambled to pull her underwear on. Running through the house, she began to sob, not for herself but for everyone who had died because of that monster.Poor Alex … Viola … Netta …
“Ori!’
Maceo’s voice echoed through the empty house, and Ori stumbled towards the sound of his voice. “Maceo…”
