Die For Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer (For Me 1)

“We’re alike!” she told him, desperate for him to see. There wasn’t anything damaged about her. She was stronger, better, just like him. They were a match. “We survived. We grew stronger.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Yes.

“I can be better for you than Kat.” Her words came so quickly. “I can be just what you need. I can be everything—”

“Kat was abused when she was a kid. Hurt, again and again. She didn’t…” His eyes were on the knife. “She didn’t turn out like us.”

“Kat’s weak. She jumps at her own shadow. She—”

His head snapped up. Rage was boiling in his eyes. Scaring her. “She’s stronger than you are. Stronger than all the others. Unbroken. Pure. She wasn’t like the other women.”

The women he’d killed in Boston? Or had there been even more?

Jealousy twisted her gut.

“The others didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything. Kat did. Kat cared. She…loved me.”

“No!” The denial burst from her. “She loved who she thought you were! I love you!” All of him.

“Kat’s good,” he whispered. “She didn’t do drugs, didn’t whore herself out like the others who had our piss-fucking-poor start in life. She was better.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “She made me want to be better.”

“You are better—”

“And you tried to kill her.” His eyes blazed.

Her breath caught in her throat.

“You think I didn’t know it was you? You with your drugs. Such a f**king sloppy way to kill. First Savannah, then Amy. Then you went after my Kat.”

Rage splintered her. “Katherine is not better than me!” Kat was as damaged as they came. Evelyn knew she should have killed that scrawny bitch months ago. The first time Trent had looked at her.

Trent.

“You killed Trent,” Evelyn said. At first, she truly had been devastated by Trent’s death. She’d never planned for him to die, but when she realized what his death truly meant—

Valentine was there.

Her pain had faded then, and she’d taken the necessary steps to eliminate Kat. Only Kat hadn’t died.

“I’ve killed a lot of different people.” Deliberately vague. He used the knife to cut open her shirt.

She wasn’t afraid. “Trent Lancaster. I thought maybe Kat had done it…but it was you.”

“He shouldn’t have hurt her.”

He’d killed Trent for Kat? Her own rage blossomed. “She wasn’t worth his life.”

The blade of the knife pressed against her bra strap. “You hate my Kat, don’t you?”

She held her tongue. Yes. As long as she’s around, you’ll be tied to her. “You don’t need her any longer.” Why couldn’t he understand? “You have me. I won’t ever judge you. I can help you. Protect you.” That was why she’d become a psychiatrist. To protect herself. To learn to see the weakness in others. “Just get these ropes off me. I can offer you so much. I can—”

He drove the knife into her chest. She cried out, choking as the pain flooded her. Valentine bent and put his lips near her ear. “I know you planned to go after Kat next. I know about your stepmother, I know about the college boy, I know about the old bastard you drowned in the pool.” His lips brushed against the shell of her ear. “I know everything about you, Dr. Knight. And you are not what I need.” He twisted the blade.

“I…love…” Her fingers wouldn’t move. The ropes didn’t hurt any longer.

Her body felt cold. Already. She was chilled and she wanted some cover to warm her.

She’d loved him. Believed that she’d found someone who would understand…

“You thought you’d hurt Kat.” The rage was roughening his voice once more. “No one hurts her.”

Fixated. He was too locked on Kat.

Just as I was too locked on Valentine.

He wasn’t perfect. Wasn’t the man she needed. Wasn’t the perfect man who could understand her secrets.

He was darkness. He was death.

Her lashes fell closed.

The knife twisted again, but this time, Evelyn didn’t feel the pain. She was far past feeling anything at all.

Dane kicked open the door of the psychiatry office. Mac was on his heels as he raced inside.

And Dane could smell blood.

He heard a faint gurgle, a groan of sound…

He ran forward, gun drawn, rushing toward the closed door to Evelyn’s office.

Another kick, and the door was open.

The scent of blood was so much stronger.

“Fuck,” Mac muttered.

“Put your hands up!” Dane yelled as he took in the scene before him.

Evelyn, tied down on her own desk. Blood all around her. And a man leaned over her. The man’s back was to Dane, but he seemed damn familiar.

His hands began to rise. There was no weapon in his hands because his knife was embedded in Evelyn’s chest.

“Step away from her,” Dane ordered.

The man backed up.

Dane hurried forward. Felt for a pulse on Evelyn’s neck.

“You arrived too late,” the man said. “That’s what Kat did too, years ago. Always too late…”

He finally turned to face Dane.

And Dane knew that face.

The brown eyes. The broken nose. This guy had claimed to be Katherine’s friend. This guy was dating the captain’s f**king daughter.

He was staring at Ben Miller.

Sirens yelled in the distance.

“You look surprised,” Ben murmured, smiling. “Kat looked that way when she found me with Stephanie. Surprised, shocked…” He took a step forward.

“Take one more step, and I’ll put a bullet in your heart,” Dane told him.

Valentine raised his brows. “Would you shoot an unarmed man?”

“If that unarmed bastard was you, hell yes, I would.”

And he would. It was all part of the darkness that rested inside him.

Valentine smiled. “I knew you were like that. You’re not the hero. Kat is so wrong about you.”

Mac grabbed the guy’s arms and began to handcuff him while Dane kept the bastard locked in his sights.

“Don’t f**king talk about her,” Dane snarled.

“Why? Afraid she’ll realize you’re as twisted as me? As screwed as—”

Dane lunged toward him. “I know you want me to pull the trigger.”

“What you want.” Valentine flinched when Mac tightened the cuffs. “You both want me dead. But the badges that you wear won’t let you just shoot me and walk away.”