So now I sit here in a hotel room, staring out the window, looking down on a city full of people, but I’ve never felt so isolated.
Where’s Declan? Why hasn’t he come for me?
I’ve been doing nothing but crying. People assume I’m mourning the loss of Bennett, but I’m not. The sick part of me is content with his death. My tears are for my baby and Declan. Never have I been so close to my fairytale ending, and now I hang by a thread while I wait for any type of contact from Declan. I’ve been looking for signs, signs that Carnegie told me were everywhere, but I can’t see beyond the pain of what I have lost so far and the birth of hatred for my brother. The one who promised me that he would always protect me and would fight forever to give me happiness. And then the moment I come within reach of that, he rips it away. I don’t know if I could ever forgive him for what he did, because now, all I can do is wish for his death. At the same time, a part of me needs him. To know I still have someone here on this Earth.
What if I lost it all? What if nobody comes for me?
The misery that thought produces overpowers all the aches my body feels from Pike’s beating. I couldn’t believe what he did to me when I finally saw my reflection in the mirror. My first instinct was to cover my face, but then I realized I have no one to hide from. It’s only me.
A pounding on the door startles me, and when I rush over to look through the peephole, my stomach sinks and coils in fear but also relief.
“Pike,” I breathe when I open the door and wrap my arms around him, crying hard for all the fucked up emotions I feel for him. Love and hate, it’s a bitter mixture.
He kicks the door closed and holds me close before pulling back. His face is white in horror, hands shaking as he runs them through his hair.
“What’s going on? How did you find me?”
“I went to see you at the hospital, but you weren’t there, and when you weren’t at home, I started calling everywhere looking for Nina Vanderwal.” His voice is panicked as he speaks. “We have a huge problem.”
“What do you mean?”
Pike paces back and forth like a maniac, telling me, “Declan knows.”
“Knows what?”
He turns to face me, on the verge of completely losing it, when he says, “About you. He knows your name. He’s knows you’re Elizabeth.”
“What?! How?” I go stiff, and my first thought is that I’ve already lost him. Pike doesn’t give me much time to think though as he continues.
“I don’t know, but when I was driving home earlier this morning, that fucker was waiting for me at the trailer.”
“Shit! What did he say?”
“Nothing. I saw him, knew exactly who it was, and drove off, never stopping. I went straight to Matt’s place and he said that some guy with an accent had called him the day before asking questions about you and me.”
“Oh my God,” I say, unable to catch my breath. “How does he know?”
“Don’t know, but you’ve gotta get rid of him. He knows too much. He could already be on his way to the police.”
“No,” I blurt out, trying to scramble my thoughts together. “He wouldn’t do that, would he? I mean, he’s the one who killed Bennett.”
“Are you willing to put your trust in a man you’ve only known for a few months, a man you conned, a man you drove to murder someone? This is no joke. You could go to prison if this got uncovered.”
The rampant fear running through me causes me to go lightheaded and I have to sit down. I can’t even think straight as I stare at the floor, trying to think of all the ways he could’ve found out. But the dagger here is how I deceived him and what he must be thinking, coming to the realization that he probably just killed a man for nothing but a lie—because that’s exactly what he just did.
“Elizabeth, you can’t sit here and wait. You have to go find him.”
“And do what?” I question as I look up at him.
He stands next to the couch where I sit, and with determination in his eyes, he says, “You have to kill him.”
“No.” I snap, jumping off the couch, and the pain from my ribs twinges and causes me to stumble. Pike just stands there, unmoving as he watches me. And with my hand clenched around my side, I argue, “No. I’m not doing that.”
“You don’t have a choice! Are you not hearing me? He knows about us.”
“I can’t kill him, Pike. I won’t do it.”
“Cut the shit and wake up! You’re not understanding what this could do to you,” he shouts.
“I love him.”
“You don’t. And in the end, you’re gonna see that you just got caught up in this fantasy. A fantasy that you and I both created for you. But it’s not your life.”
“It was my life! And then you came in and took it all away!” I yell, losing my cool and letting my emotions take over. “I do love him, and he loves me. I was finally going to have everything I’ve ever wanted. We were making plans for us, for our baby, and you destroyed it all! I hate you! I fucking hate you, Pike!”
He doesn’t flinch at my words as he stands here. “We had a plan and that plan affected both of us. Bennett needed to die—for you! If I didn’t do what I did, to push Declan over the edge, Bennett would still be alive and you’d never be able to forgive yourself for letting him go without any consequences for what he did to you.” He takes a step towards me, and his condescending tone on his next words do nothing but fuel my hate, not only for him, but for everything my life is. “Do I need to remind you about how Carl would rape you, piss on that mattress, and force you to lay in it while he pounded his filthy dick inside of you?”
“Fuck you!” I shriek as I start throwing fists into him, frantically beating him in the swarm of pure, seething fire.
He quickly grabs my wrists, forcing me down to the couch, and with his face in mine, hisses, “Either you kill him or I will.”
“Pike, no! Maybe he won’t do anything at all. Maybe he’s scared and will keep his mouth shut,” my words tumbling out, giving him weak reason after weak reason, but I’m desperate.
“A scared man wouldn’t have shown up to my place alone,” he says before letting go of me and walking to the door.
I lurch off the couch and throw my body against him, trying to knock him down, but in a flash, he turns and strikes his fist against my already battered face. The force of his punch sends me stumbling back and falling down. By the time I can get up on my feet, he’s gone.
“Shit!”
Adrenaline pumps its fury into my system, numbing all of my body’s pains as I run to the bedroom and grab my keys. Running out of the room, I waste no time with the elevator as I make a mad dash down the stairs, flight after flight after flight, until I finally make it to the lobby. My throat burns with each breath as I run to my car. Pike is nowhere in sight, and when I pull out of the garage, I have two choices: Lotus or River North. I make the quick decision to try Declan’s loft first, praying to anyone who will listen to me that he’s there and Pike isn’t. I fly through the busy streets, running stop signs and ignoring the red lights I hit.
“Fuck!” I bite out when I drive by Pike’s car parked a block down from Declan’s building.
Slamming on my brakes when I reach the front of the building, pain pierces my battered body as I run like hell, fumbling with the keycard Declan gave me, and when the elevator opens, I pound the button for his floor over and over as my body quakes in dread and anxiety.
“Come on, come on, come on. COME THE FUCK ON!” I scream with each floor we pass, and as soon as I hit the top floor, two rapid gunshots fire, echoing as the doors slide open.
Speaking isn’t even a possibility as I run out and into Declan’s living room where I see Pike charging through the loft and then look down at a massive puddle of blood pooling underneath the lifeless body of my prince.
A disgustingly vulgar shriek rips straight from the core of my heart as I run to Declan, falling to my knees in his blood. Touching his face, I try to take in the beauty of this perfectly sculpted man as I wail painfully over him.