Chapter Thirty-Four

Nila

Jacob was right. The heat was on, and killing another victim should have ruined us, but William Lee was going to be our way out of here. For now, we needed to remove every trace Jacob and I were ever in my warehouse. William was back in his music blasting room, begging for his life to end. I listened to Jacob when he told me I needed to disappear—to make it look like there might have been foul play—so we cleaned out any incriminating evidence in my home, even wiped his prints from the house.

And then I let him beat me.

His fists marked my flesh and made me spit blood. He dragged me from my bedroom, down my stairs, and then into the front hall. He slammed me against walls and dragged me out the front door. Then, with gloved hands, he tossed a massive rock through a window on the bottom floor, the one my assailant would have gone through. He drove me to the warehouse and dragged me through it. Right up to the room where I killed my victims.

It made sense. My body ached, though, as we went through the warehouse. I kept lye and bleach in the kitchen area in case I needed to ruin DNA evidence as best I could. We spread it in places where there wouldn’t be an easy explanation why I was there, even if I’d been kept here. My phone was destroyed, and I was now a missing person if the cops came looking for me. I knew they would.

As Jacob and I finished with the last of the evidence, Jacob shredded patient files I’d collected over the years and placed them in a plastic bag to take with him. I headed in to face William once more. For the plan to succeed, William must die. He was the last victim I would take as Nila Winters, but for the first time there would be no cuts, no torture. No, William would die at his own hand, with a little help from Jacob.

Reaching William, I paused to look at him, an almost fond grin stretching across my face. William was the one who would give the light that was left of Alana Masters’s one last good deed. I would make sure each one of those girls he had in this shipment would be freed. None of them would be sold or traded. Killed or raped. As Alana, I faced the cruelness of having my freedom taken from me. I was raped, beaten, and marked, but like the Phoenix, I rose from the ashes with new life ahead of me. Once more I was starting over, but this time I was not alone. I was with Jacob. I would forever be with Jacob. Two Phoenixes born from a cruel, unjust world. While apart we were strong, together we were unstoppable, and the way this plan was unfolding right before my very eyes proved it.

Turning off the music, I began speaking, drawing William’s attention to myself.

“Are there any other dirty little confessions you have, William? Anything you need to get off your chest? I am a therapist, you know.” I mocked him, disgust radiating from every pore of my body.

“You’re a fucking psycho.”

“Oh, you say such sweet things. Too bad the fun must come to an end.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come now, darling. You didn’t really think you were going to walk out of here alive, did you?”

“You promised!”

“Yes, so I did. I guess I lied.”

“Bitch,” he spat.

“You see, you’ve seen my face. You know who I am. Who’s to say you wouldn’t go running to the cops and give me up? Give my love up? I can’t have that.”

“What are you going to do to me?” He glared up at me, hate evident in his eyes.

“Simple, really. You’re going to turn yourself in to the cops.”

“Why would I do something like that?”

“You’re going to die either way, William. The choice is up to you. Would you rather have the painful death you’ll receive if you refuse to do as I say? Or would you rather have an easy, painless death? Personally, I would choose the painless one if I were you.”

“You can’t tell a man to decide how he’s going to die!”

“I think I just did. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Time is running out. What’s it going to be, William?” Looking him over from head to toe, seeing what the last few days of psychological torture had done to him, I couldn’t help but continue, “Although, you are pretty insane to me already.”

“I wonder why, cunt.”

“Now, now, darling. Did your mother teach you how to treat a woman at all? Because surely, sweetheart, you know it’s not right to refer to a lady as a cunt.”

“Fuck you, Winters.”

“Not my type, dear, but thanks for the offer. Now either take mine or leave it. But I’m telling you, you’ll regret it.”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” William said as he spat at my feet. “Bitch.”

“Good boy,” I murmured, stepping away to prepare.

Unlike before—when I would torture for hours, drawing every ounce of pain from my victims, taking their guilt and madness along with their blood—I had no blade to use against him. I had no torture devices to call upon. No, instead I was left with a gun. How … common. But it would serve its purpose.

Last year, the suicide rate for middle-aged men began to skyrocket. Coupled with the guilt of having trafficked so many innocent, young girls over the years, it would easily be believable he finally had a breakdown.

The plan was we would make it look as if he had been stalking me for a while, thinking I had caught on to him. In turn, he began to go crazy, taking out my clients to get my attention until he finally snapped and took me. In the end, once I was gone, he realized I was the one person who could have helped him and now I was dead. The guilt drove him to have a complete breakdown and take his own life but not before confessing to the police what he had done.

“It’s done.”

I turned to find Jacob standing in the door. “Good.” I picked up the phone and Jacob grabbed the video recorder once more. Turning to William, I began speaking directly to him, making sure to keep eye contact with him the entire time.

“I need you to do one last thing.”

“Why would I do anything for you, you crazy bitch? You’re about to fucking kill me and you want me to do you a favor? You’re out of your mind!”

“Possibly. But still … I need you to look at Jacob and his trusty camera and admit to murdering me.”

“What?” Caught off guard, William floundered, not knowing what to say.

“I need you to admit to murdering me.”

“You’re right in front of my face.”

“I won’t be for long. Jacob here is going to kill me.”

“What the hell? Are you people insane?”

“Yes.”

“Pretty much.”

Jacob and I talked over one another.

“Fucking crazies.”

“William, focus! Look into the camera and admit to my murder so we can get this over and done with. Otherwise, I’m going to go get my blade and start cutting off fingers and toes to get your attention.”

With that, William snapped into action, mouth closing before a retort could form on the tip of his tongue and his eyes centered on the camera.

“And why did I kill you?”

“Because I got too close to blowing the lid off your trafficking ring and taking you down. By the way, you took me from my house.”

Focusing directly on the camera, William began speaking.

“I took Ms. Nila Winters, my therapist, from her home in order to hide my crimes after she got too close to discovering the truth. I killed her to protect my secret, but I no longer can.”

Jacob put the camera down and came closer, pulling the gun off the table beside him. Holding it to William’s head, Jacob cocked the trigger.

“Any last words?”

“I hope you burn in hell, the both of you.”

Grabbing William’s hand in his, and being sure it was his dominant one, Jacob placed William’s hand around the gun to be sure his fingerprints were on it and the gunpowder would show if tested. With one bullet, William was dead.

“Okay, do me.”

“With pleasure,” Jacob smirked.

“Oh, hush. You know what I meant.”

Trusting Jacob, I put my life into his hands, literally, as I handed him the needle. Filled with the drug we’d chosen, there was a good chance that once this needle entered my skin and the drug worked its way through my system, I may never wake again.

Scary as it was, it was the only way our plan would succeed. The cops had to really believe I was dead, and the only way to prove it was to produce my body for them.

Staring into Jacob’s eyes, I thought of all the things I never got a chance to say to him and all the things I wish we could’ve shared together. I committed his image to memory, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time I saw his handsome face staring back at me, eyes gazing into mine, drinking me in as if I were a cool drink in the middle of the hot desert.

“I love you, Jacob,” I whispered as I grabbed his hand, pulling him into me. “Hear me? I love you. Even if I don’t wake from this, I need you to know that. I need you to realize I will always love you, in life and in death. You’re my soul mate, my other half. Without you, I am not complete. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. For showing me who you truly are, who I truly am, and thank you for sharing the last few months with me.”

“Baby, don’t talk like this.”

“I don’t want anything left unsaid. We spent so many years apart, and now that we are together, I want to make sure you know the truth.”

Tears came to my eyes for the first time in a long time. I tried to brush them away, but Jacob held me tighter, planting a kiss on the top of my head.

“I love you. And I know you love me. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

“I do love you, Jacob. And I trust you.”

Safe in Jacob’s arms was the only place I wanted to be. It was funny how my captor’s son would save me, only to one day become my captor himself. But instead of fearing him as I did his father, I grew to love him. Immensely. My love for Jacob was indescribable. Despite how fucked-up most people would find our story, it was ours. It was our love story filled with pain, blood, and tears. We’d both survived a monster by working together to put an end to him. Now, eight years later, we ended another monster’s life together. As a team, we were unstoppable. We had overcome so much in our lives, suffered so much in the years spent apart. Now we were here, in this moment. In love, happy, ready to start a new life together.

I only prayed once the drug wore off, I would wake up.

I couldn’t bear for Jacob to be left alone. Knowing Jacob as I did, I knew he would self-destruct and become a shell of himself until he killed himself or was caught. I couldn’t have that.

For the first time since I was a teenager, I prayed.

I prayed to live. I prayed to love. I prayed to be Jacob’s forever, to stay with him.

Reaching up and grabbing Jacob’s face in my hands, I made sure he was looking at me.

“I love you, Jacob VanDuyn.” With that, I kissed him.

“Don’t you leave me, Alana. Don’t you dare.”

“I can’t promise you that, Jacob. We both know the risks. But I’m sure as hell not going to say goodbye to you, my love.”

“No goodbyes. Only see you soon.”

“I can’t wait to start our life together.”

“Neither can I.”

“It’s going to be a good one, isn’t it?”

“It’s going to be amazing,” Jacob said, kissing the tip of my nose. “I love you, Alana Masters.”

“How many times do I need to tell you that it’s Nila?” I smirked.

“You’ll always be Alana to me.”

Losing myself in his eyes, I whispered one last I love you to him.

“Do it, Jacob. Do it now.”

His hand moved, tightening around the needle, and the distress played across his face. Agony and despair filled his eyes as he plunged the needle into my arm. With a sad smile, I whispered, “I love you.”

And then my body was sinking, sinking, sinking until I was no more.