The woman didn’t move, didn’t speak, so the teenage Alek strode forward. The tiny camera bounced until he stopped. Now, Evelyn could see every detail on the woman’s face. It was gaunt, the cheeks sallow and the eyes bulging—a heavy application of makeup failed to disguise the harsh edges. The woman’s hair was thin and straight, and it looked like it had been colored recently.
The silence continued for more than a minute, and Evelyn’s heart broke for the young man behind the camera. The woman—Alek’s mother—betrayed no sign of affection. Her expression was cold, even hostile. Finally, she spoke with a voice roughened by years of smoking. “What the hell do you want me to say?”
Alek’s deep voice faltered, cracking at the edges. “I haven’t seen you in six years. You left me all alone with no one to care for me. I want you to say you’re sorry.” The camera bobbed a little. “Actually, I don’t even need an apology. I missed you, Mother I…I just want you to say that you love me. I want you to tell me I’m yours.”
The woman’s lower lip rose toward the base of her nose, which wrinkled into a sneer. “You’re no son of mine. You’re Satan’s spawn. If I had the choice, I’d go back and tear you out of my womb before you took your first breath.”
The video froze with the hateful visage in center frame. Evelyn had unconsciously covered her mouth with her hand, so she withdrew it and said, “I can’t believe she said those things. Your own mother…it’s appalling.”
Alek tucked his chin against his chest. “I was in the car when my father swerved into oncoming traffic. He was killed instantly, and I barely survived. I don’t know if he’d been drinking or if he was just distracted, but she blamed me.”
He took a deep breath. “She never visited me while I was in the hospital. The staff couldn’t get in touch with her. I didn’t see her again until the day I took this video.”
Tears of sympathy rolled down Evelyn’s cheeks. “I’m sorry you went through that. You deserve better.” Her eyes glazed as she stared back in time. “The worst day of my life happened because someone loved me too much. Yours happened because someone didn’t love you enough.”
Snapping out of her reverie, she kissed his lips and held his face in her hands. “Everyone deserves to know that they’re loved, and so do you. I love you, Alek.”
His hand’s trembled as he embraced her, and he whispered, “You have no idea how much that means to me. After all this time, I still live for those words. And I know this might sound crazy, but could you say one more thing for me?”
“Yes, anything.”
“Tell me I’m yours.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. “Aleksander Cary…you are mine. And I am yours”
23
His entire body was coursing with electricity. He had done it—he had made her utter the phrase that had become his sole purpose in life. And she meant it, too. He could tell by the gleam in her eyes. When he first saw her outside the cafe, he knew this moment would come, but he didn’t expect it to come so soon. Evelyn’s suffering had driven her into his arms.
Now, there was only one thing left to do. He reached into his pocket and took out a small box which was, ironically, the same size as the velvet cases used to carry engagement rings.
Evelyn glanced at the black box and tilted her head. “What’s that?”
“It’s a weatherproof camera. I thought I might want to capture this special moment.”
She frowned. “Special moment?”
Alek held up a hand. “Just wait, I promise it’ll be worth it.” He stood, pushed a button on the camera, and pointed it at Evelyn. Then he handed her his phone and tapped the screen to resume the video. Evelyn gave him an unsettled look, so he made a shooing motion and said, “Just watch.”
Her eyes drifted downward. Then it happened—the moment he’d been waiting for. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened into a wide “O.” It was the face he had made on that lonely road seventeen years ago, a face of utter disappointment, right before he reached out and began strangling his mother.
Evelyn dropped the phone and stood. “Is this some sort of joke? Because it’s not funny.”
Alek took a step to the right, putting himself between her and the door. “It’s no joke. She rejected me that day, and now I’m rejecting you.” He cleared his throat. “Evelyn Jameson, I don’t love you. I never have and I never will.”
She swayed, putting a hand on a bookshelf to steady herself. “I—I don’t understand.”
“That’s all right. This was meant to come as a shock. You see, despite everything my mother had done, I never expected her to react the way she did. I thought a mother’s love was unconditional, but I was wrong. She hurt me that day, in a way I could never hurt her back—not even when I choked the life from her. But then I realized I could hurt someone in her stead. Someone like you, and the girls who came before you.”
Evelyn glared at him. Her eyes trembled in her skull, and then she seemed to look straight through him. “Donny really was trying to protect me. He knew.”
“That’s right. And he paid for meddling in my affairs.”
Her face melted anew, eliciting a cry of joy from Alek.
“Two in one day, caught on film. I never intended to kill Donny, but now I’m glad I did. The look on your face is priceless, and I mean that with all sincerity.”
For a moment, Evelyn continued to sway in a stupor. Then, in an instant, she transformed. Her eyes burned with rage, and her entire body tensed. She grabbed a book and threw it at him. “Bastard!”
She threw another book, and he knocked it aside. He marched across the room, grabbed her by the hair, and pushed her onto the floor.
“Normally, I would have strangled you by now.” He inhaled the scent of the books. “But this place is so beautiful, and the rain so melodic. I think I’ll draw this out for a while.”
She crawled toward the door on all fours, but he seized her by the ankle and twisted. There were two loud pops, one in her heel and one in her knee.
The walls, insulated with thousands of books, swallowed her screams.
The rain pummeled Vanessa so hard, it felt like Mother Nature herself was trying to keep her from reaching Evelyn. She sprinted toward the looming silhouette of Kensington Manor, finally reaching the shelter of the porch. She grasped the brass doorknob and pulled, but it didn’t budge. Shaking her head, she thumbed the doorbell and took a step back. Her foot tapped against the porch, and she crossed her arms. “Oh, come on,” she muttered, reaching for the doorbell again. Her hand hesitated above the button, and she frowned. The doorbell was tilted slightly, and there was a gap between it and the wall—as if someone had pried it loose. She tapped the button and pressed her ear against the door. There was no chime inside the mansion.
“Nothing is ever easy.” She held up her cracked phone and thumbed through her call log, choosing Evelyn’s number from between the spiderwebs. The call went to voicemail. Again.
“Dammit, Evelyn, answer your phone.” Vanessa took a deep breath and tried to relax. She had already forwarded the email to Paulette. Hopefully, the Lexington Police Department would be putting Alek in handcuffs within the hour. But Donny’s last request—that she protect Evelyn—filled her with fitful urgency. She banged a fist against the door, waited ten seconds, then banged again. There was no answer.