Chapter 47

Fuck.

She took off like I was a wild animal about to attack. How the fuck could I have been so careless? Why is everything unraveling now, just when we were getting back on track?

I grab a towel and roughly dry myself off, just enough so that I can dress without my clothes sticking to me. Dry enough, I race into the bedroom, noting that Cora changed the sheets after the masked man’s visit. My visit.

I pull on some sweats and a T-shirt, shoving my feet into my sneakers and grabbing a hoodie as I race for the front door.

She can’t have gotten that far. The question is, which way would she have run? Campus, the bar, a friend’s house, or home? I know I’ll find her, but I’d like to do so in the shortest amount of time possible.

My heart is pounding with a mixture of fear and panic, despite my confidence that I can track Cora down.

As I reach for the handle, my phone rings. It’s on the sideboard where I left it when I came in, and I can see my father’s name on the screen, calling me from his home office line, not his mobile.

It’s a call I don’t want to take, but I know I must.

“Father,” I spit, answering the call and bringing it up to my ear as I look around for my keys. “Now isn’t a good time.”

“Slater!” Cora’s broken sob stops me in my tracks. “He’s g-got me.”

My heart drops to my stomach as I hear Cora’s trembling voice on the other end of the line.

“I need you, Slater. Please come and save me,” she whimpers, and my gut twists with guilt and fear.

I pace around the apartment, my eyes immediately drawn to the mask of the masked man, tossed carelessly on the table by Cora as she fled. The realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I’m the reason she’s in this position in the first place. I caused all of this.

“I’m on my way, Cora. I’ll find you. Just hold on,” I say, my voice rough with emotion.

I grab my jacket, slam the door shut behind me, and race to the car. If she’s calling from my father’s office, she’s at the house. She’d never go there willingly, which means that after she left me, he caught her.

I hit the gas, the tires screeching as I peel out of the driveway.

As I speed along the winding roads, my mind is a whirlwind of confusion and anger. How could I have been so blind? How could I have let this happen to her? I knew my father was obsessed with Cora and it was only a matter of time before he got impatient and struck.

Pulling up outside the house of horrors I was raised in, I hop out of the car and dash inside, my heart pounding double time as unwelcome memories assault me.

My heart skips a beat as I hear Cora’s cries echoing through the house.

“Cora!” I shout, my voice echoing through the empty rooms.

I find her in the basement, naked, bound and gagged, her eyes wide with terror as she sees me. My father stands over her, a cruel smile on his face.

“Slater, you’re too late,” he says, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “I’m just about to claim her for myself. Of course, it’s a shame that she’s spoiled, but it just means that I can break her harder.”

I stare at my father with a mixture of rage and despair. I should have done more to protect Cora. I should have known he’d get her eventually.

I take a step toward her, and my father raises the gun I never even saw to her temple. Cora pales, sweat and tears falling and intermingling as she silently pleads with me to save her.

“Ah-ah-ah, I wouldn’t take another step if I were you. It’s so easy to pull a trigger, isn’t it, son? I wonder how many bullets are in this one? Think she’ll survive Russian Roulette twice?”

His falsely teasing tone, the smugness in his expression… I loathe this man. He’s always known where Cora was, has always known what I was doing with her, both as Slater, her stepbrother, and the masked man who encouraged her to embrace her darkness. He’s been watching us the entire time.

“What else did you do with this gun? Oh yes, I remember now…”

My father drags the barrel of the gun down Cora’s body, moving south to?—

I feel sick. I can’t watch. I have to stop him, but I can’t risk endangering Cora’s life. As the gun reaches her mound, I realize I’m out of time.

With a roar, I lunge at my father, fury coursing through my veins. I tackle him, the gun flying from his grasp as we clash violently. Cora screams around her gag and thrashes, trying to break free from her bonds as she watches the scene unfold.

My father and I struggle, our fists connecting with each other’s faces as we battle for control. Our rage and hatred for each other matches the depth of my love for Cora. And his obsession with her. It all comes to a head in this one, violent moment.

Suddenly, my father manages to break free of our tussle and lunges for the gun. I try to stop him, grabbing at his shirt and yanking him back, but I fail. He whips around, the gun aimed at me. For a second, I can see the fear in his eyes, the fear of losing control. But then, he laughs coldly, relishing in our pain.

“It’s too late. Playing god has finally caught up with the both of us. How is my sister by the way? You never did learn to stop loving the person you hate, did you?”