“In her place,” I say simply. “Exactly where she belongs.”
“You sick fuck!” Blane shouts at me, his resolve finally breaking, his hands forming fists at his sides as he lunges forward, probably ready to snap my neck.
“Not a step,” I say, gripping Marissa’s next between my sweaty fingers. She’s going limper and limper in my arms, and I’m well aware she’s going to lose consciousness if I don’t loosen my grip.
“Aiden,” Blane says, trying to calm me down. “You can still make it out. You can still get out of here and walk away. Nothing that bad has happened yet.”
I let out a shrill laugh and my brother just stares and stares at me.
“You’re a good person,” he says softly. “You’re just … confused. And we can get you help, and everything will turn out alright. We’ll help you, brother.”
I want to make him see he can’t. I want him to realize I’m broken beyond repair, damaged from birth. He can’t fix me, as badly as he wants to.
So I squeeze just a little tighter.
And Marissa loses her supply of air, her body finally becoming putty in my hands. So I drop her to the floor, and her small body clatters down like it’s nothing.
Blane screams, cursing out loudly, immediately rushing towards her.
I take my chance, taking the stairs two at a time, rushing to see Emme, take her with me. I’m desperate now, and I know I’m not thinking clearly, but one thought is obvious in my mind - I need to get away.
But I’m not leaving without her.
I rush into the bedroom, looking at the cage still covered with the tablecloth. Realizing I only have seconds, if that, I rip the fabric off of the cage.
It’s empty.
The cage is fucking empty.
I let out a frustrated scream, turning around and looking straight at Emme.
She looks wild, feral.
She’s still naked, her beautiful body reflecting in the moonlight coming in through the window. Fuck, she’s beautiful …
She also has a jagged piece of glass in her hand, and I realize it’s the same one I used to carve my arm with when I wanted to make her feel bad for me.
“Emme,” I say with a crazed smile. “You got out.”
I almost feel proud of her.
“Shut up,” she snarls quietly, and I look at her with surprise, but immediately, my lips curl upward into a smile. My little doll has some fight left in her, after all.
“Oh, baby, what are you going to do?” I ask her mockingly. “You aren’t going to hurt me …”
She lashes out in that moment, the glass making contact with my skin and slicing it. I look at my doll with complete shock for a moment, but then I start to laugh.
I laugh until tears are streaming down my face, and she just stares at me, horrified.
“Emme,” I say. “Good to see you’re still fighting.”
I walk over to her, easily wrestling the glass out of her hand and into mine. I take her in my arms where she belongs, and she barely puts up a fight when I touch the glass to her creamy skin.
“You’re going to get punished now,” I say softly. “Because you were bad, and you know it, right?”
She whimpers softly and I bury the glass in her.
Luckily, I’m pretty good at carving, too.
She starts screaming her head off and I can hear Blane’s steps on the stairwell, so I do a shit job, rushing it. Then he appears in the doorway, and I push my stepsister away from me and straight into her arms.
“Emme!” he screams her name, holding her close.
I rush to the window and clutch the window sill, throwing a look over my shoulder at the couple I want so badly to destroy.
“I left you a little message,” I say with a smirk as they both look at me, horrified.
Then I jump out of the window as they both start to scream.
Epilogue
6 months later
My plan wasn’t perfect.
Actually, it was so bad it failed almost immediately, and I will never forgive myself for that.
As I sit on a beach, a cocktail in my hand, my feet buried in the sand, I contemplate what I’ve done and where I am now. I think of my brother and my stepsister, living in fear of me coming for them, and it makes me fucking happy to know they’re anxious.
I got away.
But the escape wasn’t perfect.
Because I suspected my plan might fail, I had money set up in several accounts no one knew belonged to me. But that night when I jumped out of the window, I landed badly and broke my leg.
I limped away from the scene of the crime, and I found refuge in a dirty alley - my old friend. But then something happened I wasn’t expecting would …
Marissa came for me.
The stupid, naive bitch forgave me, she was so desperate for me. She didn’t care what happened with my brother and Emme. She just wanted me.
We enlisted Daddy Dearest to help us get out of the country. There was a price on my name, and I was a wanted man, but he made sure we got away safely. He’s an even stupider fuck than his daughter, and he ate up the shit I fed him about Emme and Blane, none the wiser about the truth.
We’ve been in this resort for half a year now, and I’m getting used to the leisurely life on the beach. Marissa is an annoyance I can deal with, and at least she’s a good place to put my dick for the night.
But I haven’t forgotten my little play thing, my sweet Emme.
Every hour of every day, I remember the message I cut in her skin for both her and my brother to look at until I come for them again.
I’m not done.
Try as she might, my words will stain her skin forever, a mark that makes her mine no matter what she says. That makes me smile.
I take a sip of my cocktail, tuning out Marissa’s endless chatter at my side, and my eyes fall on a girl playing volleyball on the beach.