Page 49 of The Way We Rot
She needed the type of death that would shock even her, that would bend and break her before her last breath withered from her lungs.
And now she was mine.
I joined the prison guard track to get to her, and it took three years to gain the power I needed to join the right prison. I had to drive past her every day to get to a prison in another town before I finally got the transfer I wanted. It was a miracle my mother never found out she was so close.
It didn’t matter; I had to be ready. For this, for Penelope. To end her.
It didn’t matter that justice had been served. Mine hadn’t.
Since Penelope Karner had murdered my brother, my life had revolved around reaching this very moment.
There she lay, locked in an empty marionette case, her legs tucked up to her belly, rope wrapped around her to keep her in there. The rope dug into the flesh of her limbs, almost too tight, purpling at the edges. Not enough.
It was cramped, way more cramped than the prison cell she’d resided in before. I laughed. She thought she was getting freedom, but it was about to get a hundred times worse. That tree hugging bitch would never see another bit of nature again.
I sighed, stepping away from her and pulling out my ringing phone.
“Hello, my darling,” my mother said, and I smiled at the name. She called her children her darlings, having never taken our father’s name herself. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the news,” I said, still staring at my prisoner. “The riot?”
“No…” Mom replied, dubious but already on the move, and I heard her shuffle about and switch on her TV, the local news coverage sounding in the background. “Oh gosh, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “But tied up. It won’t be in the news, but we’re transporting some of the prisoners across the state. I’m leaving for a bit to help out. But I’ll be back soon. I just didn’t want you to worry about me.”
The riot had been a damn boon. I’d been waiting for the right moment, ready and biding my time, knowing it would be soon. The food shortages, the angry inmates and the chaos — it was all too perfect. Fucking fated. Penelope Karner was supposed to be mine to control. And I would, I would control everything down to her very last breath.
There was nothing good about her, just cold, death-giving brutality that I needed to take from the world more than I needed to breathe. Only then would the tightness in my chest loosen.
“Okay, as long as you’re being safe,” Mom said, distracted, her focus on the TV. I hadn’t looked at much beyond the fact that it was still dragging out. It didn’t matter anymore. Neither of us were ever going back.
There was no life after this.
“I am. Love you, mom.”
“Love you too, darling.”
I hung up. I had to.
Because the little killer was waking up.
Twenty-Two
Penny
The first inkling of awareness came with how numb my ass was. The second, the fact that my shoulders were squashed tight.
I wriggled, took some breaths in, but everything was too close, constricted, the air I pushed from my lungs coming back on me. No space, no room to move.
My mind whirled to place what the hell was happening. I’d been in a car… we were escaping. Flashes of fogginess, of light flickering and dimming.
Adrian. CO Darling.
When I opened my eyes, he was looking down at me. Cold, heartless Adrian with a dark gaze and hatred emanating off him like heat waves.
Ah shit.
His brother.
