More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Our baby will share Rosie’s nursery, and I’ll care for both of them and love them equally. I already love Rosie, and I’m just waiting for permission to love her out loud and with all my heart, like a mother, not the nanny. I don’t want to be just the nanny.
“I have given you so much money. I have asked you nicely. Now I am begging you. Tell me who she is.”
I stare in horror at the scissors that are grasped in my bloodied fist. What have I done?
Two murders. Or one murder, and one accidental death. And not a scratch on my Elena.
“I’ve ruined everything. I’ve ruined everything. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’re my beautiful, kind, loving Elena.”
“Oh, Cullan. You’re going to hate me when you find out what I did. I’m going to jail. I’m never going to see you or Rosie again.”
“Elena, did you put laxatives in my ex’s smoothie? Did you throw a brick through Leon’s car window?”
“And our baby, too. You’re pregnant, aren’t you? I found the pregnancy test.”
“Darlin’, those are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. We’re going to be a family, the four of us. We’re going to be so happy together.”
“I’ll get rid of the bodies for you. No one will ever know.”
I pull something over my face and look at Elena through the eye holes. I know she’s seen the Red Mask Killer in the news.
“If I run, you’ll chase me.”
“Yes, I will. But I don’t want to. My heart will wither as I chase you, along with my dearest hope.”
“That the woman I love can look upon my true face and love me back.”
“That’s an interesting question. I’m not some kind of vigilante, if that’s what you’re hoping. I’m not motivated by a sense of justice, but I picked people who I’ve long thought are worthless and don’t deserve to be here. But I’m no better than they are after what I’ve done. I’ll tell you a secret, Elena.”
“I haven’t felt one touch of guilt. No remorse lives in my heart. Only pleasure. My only regret is that I didn’t start killing sooner, but I guess I needed a good reason to start.”
“What reason was that?” My eyes caress he...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“You kissed me, darlin’. Right after I killed those men in Fenton. I decided then and there that I needed you forever, and I decided I needed me, too. The real me. You gave me hope that you could love the man I really am.”
“If that’s what you want. Your aunts. Did they deserve to die?”
“We’re the same, you and me. We’re meant to be.”
don’t care if the room is red and dripping or the bodies of her dead aunts are lying nearby. I love Elena so much.
“Yours is the only heart that matters to me,”
“Yours, Rosie’s, and our baby’s. I will do anything to keep you. I have done so many insane things already to kee...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Your contraceptives are vitamin patches. I’ve been trying to get you pregnant this whole time.”
“Do you think I could sleep at night knowing your beautiful body was full of hormones that blocked your fertility? I had to make you mine, and this was the fastest way I could think of. Besides, I want a family with you, and I hate waiting for what I want.”
“I ruined your life. I ripped it apart and put it back together again just how I wanted it, and I took great pleasure in doing it. I destroyed your apartment. Shut down the diner. Broke up you and Leon by sending you all those texts. Moved you in with me.”
“I’d do it all again. No hesitation.”
“As the euphoria washed over me, I imagined sinking my cock into you so deep. Pushing my hand against your belly and feeling you from the outside.”
“I’ve been watching you. I’ve been tracking you. There are cameras all over my house. Not just in the nursery.”
“Do you forgive me for my terrible crimes?”
“Do you forgive a starving man, Elena? That’s what I am. Starving for you.”
I shouldn’t love a killer as much as I love Cullan. His dark, possessive words shouldn’t make my soul catch fire. At long last, I don’t care what it means that he’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and that his true face is the deadliest, most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too, my beautiful girl,”
“If they weren’t already dead, I’d kill them. They gave you false hope all this time? Those monstrous bitches.”
“Damn. I wasn’t expecting the murders I committed tonight to be critiqued by a professional.”
“That’s the plan, my partner in crime. Help me with these cases.”
“But you’re pregnant with my baby, so I need you to rest. Promise me you’ll try?”
“Words can’t explain how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me.” From tying my shoelace in Archer’s Diner the first day I met him, to saving my life in Fenton, to helping me cover up my aunts’ murders.
“Elena, my heart is full of nothing but love for you. Let’s get you to bed.”
I wake sometime later to the sound of Rosie’s happy chattering and Cullan’s deep, amused voice answering her. The sound of their voices soothes me.
“She is your own, darlin’. You and me, we’re a family now.”
“In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I’d be helping the love of my life cover up a double murder while she knew all about my crimes. What a match we make.”
“This is where Tyrant and Vivienne Mercer live, and they’re expecting you and Rosie. I would not leave you two behind unless it was absolutely necessary, and I would not hand the two of you into Tyrant’s care if I didn’t know you were one hundred percent safe. He will protect you like you’re his own. This property is as secure as my home. I designed the security myself.”
hope you and Vivienne will be friends. You may tell her and Mercer as much or as little about what has happened between us as you choose. The murders. The baby. Me. You. They are on our side.”
He drives up a long driveway toward a beautiful gothic house surrounded by high hedges. The front door opens, and a beautiful young woman appears. Her hair is in a half ponytail secured by a black bow, and she wears a pretty lace blouse and knee-length skirt. This must be Vivienne.
“I’ll miss you too, darlin’. It makes my heart happy to know you and Rosie and our baby are safe.”
Your heart is the most important thing in the world to me, and I will not needlessly risk breaking it. I think I will have to kill at least one person. The rest…” He strokes his fingers through my hair. “I’ll decide when I find them.”
“Bullets and blades couldn’t keep me away from you.”
