Bile rises in my throat. I’m trapped in a sick parallel universe where there’s not one devil, but two. A nightmare of insanity. Not only a battle between two evils but an epic war. Two twisted murdering men. Two men who have used my body for their benefit, manipulated me, murdered one of the men I loved in this world, and nearly destroying the other. And as collateral damage, they had a hand in killing my mother too.
Anger surges through me, chasing away the betrayal and grief threatening to swallow me whole. These two men think they have a right to me and my body. But only one person truly owns me, and it’s my heart he owns. That man is honest and pure and wholesome. Deserving. He’s an angel—the father of my child who has earned his peace. Peace I vow to give him.
It’s time to end this war, for my War.
My mind stops considering ways to escape but instead how to outsmart them both.
I need a plan to get rid of them. And quick.
Time to show them I’m not a pawn. I’m the motherfucking queen.
This is war, baby. And I will win.
With a deep breath, I inhale the strength of what needs to be done. Yesterday I was worried that murdering Gabe would somehow taint me as a mother. That it would make me unfit. But now, as I feel the hate and jealousy throbbing between these two men, I know it’s the only way. They’ll never stop.
Prison doesn’t stop people like Gabe or Brandon—not when they’re this far gone.
Death is the only probable sentence.
The battle lines are drawn, my strategy in this war is in place.
“Gabe.” I let out a sob. Brandon’s brows knit together in suspicion, as if he’s already figured out my plan. Gabe is clueless though as his dark eyes dart along my body, probing and assessing, before they land on my quivering bottom lip. “He killed my daddy. He killed your best friend. What if he kills me too? He was about to rape me if you hadn’t intervened when you did. I don’t think it would have ended there either.” My words are honest and I know he senses that—I need for him to sense that for this to work. Brandon is unstable. There’s no telling what he would have done once he’d had his way. Would the guilt have consumed him? Would he have ended both our lives?
Gabe’s smug stare is wiped off his face as he snaps his angry gaze to Brandon. My heart rate speeds up as I realize this could work.
“What the fuck, Baylee?” Brandon bites out. “Like the motherfucker would even care what the hell I did with you. He was chasing your half-naked ass down the street when I showed up! The man’s a goddamned monster! I’m the fucking hero here, babe!”
I stare at him for what feels like eternity as I search for the boy I once knew. My heart pleads for one sliver of the kind soul who I loved. I wish his green eyes would light up with the familiar happy spark I remember. But instead, I’m met with an empty, soulless glare. With fury and hate.
That boy is gone.
He’s been long gone for a while now.
Not only did I lose both parents, but I lost him.
I lost Brandon too. Lost him to the darkness. Lost him to the evil. Lost the boy who grew up being my only real friend, my first love. His physical form may remain, but the Brandon I once knew is gone.
I inhale a deep breath and prepare myself to finish this. I’m not battling with Brandon, I’m fighting this thing he’s become. It should make what I have to do a little less painful, but it doesn’t. My heart is ripping in half with each passing second but my mind is already making its lethal move.
“But he wouldn’t ever truly hurt me. Not like you were going to do,” I argue and send Gabe a terrified look. One that says Brandon is scarier than he is. “Gabe loves me. He always brings me pleasure after the pain. You will only bring me pain!”
Gabe growls and his chest heaves. He’s always been jealous of Brandon. Now, it works to my advantage.
“I did everything for you!” Brandon roars. His face reddening. His forehead creasing. His neck bursting with thick pulsing veins. “I gave up my life, school, baseball, my fucking parents for you!” He launches at me, his giant frame tackling me to the mattress.
I attempt to shove him away but he’s too strong. “I didn’t ask you to and I certainly didn’t ask for you to kill my dad!”
Brandon’s hand wraps around my throat and he squeezes. “This is how I killed him,” he spits out, his hand crushing my windpipe. “Just like this.” His gorgeous features have contorted into something vengeful and wrong. He doesn’t want us to be together. He wants me as his prize. His possession. His reward for having given up so much for me. I’m nothing more than a trophy to add to his shelf back home. And now he wants me dead.
“Take your goddamned hands off her,” Gabe hisses from behind him, “or I’ll paint the headboard with your blood.”
Tears stream down my face and I reach for Gabe, as if he is my savior. The devil has been my savior on more than one occasion. And I’m counting on him now.
“Baylee,” Brandon says, his voice a desperate plea, ignoring Gabe’s threat. He smashes his lips to mine, causing me to cry out when his teeth split open my bottom lip. His grip is gone and he cradles my throat reverently. “Jesus, I’m so sorry. I love you.”
And in that moment, I believe him. His bright green eyes shimmer with emotion revealing the tenderhearted boy I once knew. I hate that it all came to this. Absolutely hate it.