“Afraid of me yet?” I asked darkly, and her eyes glazed over, focused on the blade and making sure she stayed out of its path. “You’re never getting out of this alive, Pia. I won’t fucking let you.”
“We’ll see about that,” she muttered, and I swung.
The first strike missed her, but the second time I stabbed, the blade dug into flesh and bone and she screamed so loudly it sounded like a wounded animal. It made me laugh out loud, pride swelling my chest and putting a large, triumphant smile on my sweat-soaked face. I had a moment of doubt earlier, but now I knew I could get her. And there would be no going back once I’d slashed at her enough times to color the floor crimson. I couldn’t fucking wait.
“You think you’re special to him,” I told her, because I couldn’t help myself. “You think he’ll come back to you, don’t you, Pia?”
She held her side where I’d cut her, her eyes filling with tears as she tried to avoid the next inevitable blow. But by now it was a cat and mouse game, and I knew I’d finish her off, so I might as well take my fucking time with it. I couldn’t wait to see her suffer, but more than her pain, I wanted her anguish, the look of pure fucking devastation once it finally dawned on her that I was the next Rose, not her. Not Harlow. Me.
“You don’t know anything about us,” she said weakly, clutching her side. “You don’t know what Thorn and I have been through, you have no fucking idea, you lunatic.”
“Still,” I said with a saccharine voice. “It wasn’t enough, was it? He still chose another girl…”
“You don’t know shit!” she snarled, and I dodged her attack easily, laughing in her face.
“I know everything,” I told her plainly. “And I know in the end, Thorn will chose me!”
I slashed at her again, but this time I didn’t cut into her flesh. I did rip her dress though, and the fabric parted on her stomach, exposing a sliver of skin.
“Let me go,” she said, sounding out of breath. “Let me go. I won’t tell him what you’ve done. I won’t tell anyone about this…”
I laughed in her face, knowing she’d reached her breaking point. Now she was begging me to let her go, because she knew there was no way out of this.
I wiped her blood off my blade and smiled at her.
“You know,” I said thoughtfully. “I always knew you would beg in the end. I just didn’t think you’d give in so fucking quickly.”
I walked up to her, grabbing a handful of her lush hair and pulling her up. My blade went to her neck and I held it there, waiting before I dealt the final blow. She tried to break free but I wouldn’t let her, and as she resisted, my knife cut into her throat, leaving behind a small trickle of blood that dripped down her neck.
“Any last words?” I asked sweetly, twirling the knife into a point on the hollow of her throat.
“Yes,” she croaked. “Fuck you, bitch.”
With all her might, she pushed me back, and I stumbled. In seconds she was upon me, bleeding and angry as fuck, an avenging fucking angel. She stepped on my knife-wielding hand, and my bones crunched under her heels. I screamed and saw stars when she broke my wrist. Hate flared before my eyes, making me see blood red before me. I would kill the stupid bitch for this.
But she was attacking me the next second, and all my thoughts of killing her vanished into thin air. There was only one thought left in my mind, only one instinct shouting a single word at me, demanding I obeyed.
Survive! Survive! Survive!
I fought her. I really fucking did. But she was vicious with the knife. One strike became two turned into three. I had wounds all over. I stopped counting at five. Stopped screaming at seven. Stopped resisting at twelve.
She stood back with a triumphant smile on her face, and we stared at one another, a silent understanding passing between us.
“You never got it,” she said gently. “I love Thorn. I always will. But I never wanted him for myself.”
With those words, she plunged the knife inside my body for the very last time.
My last thought was standing in the spotlight. Dancing for an audience. My final bow was not to Harlow or Thorn, but to Pia instead.
I died with a single tear slipping down my cheek. And then, merciful, beautiful darkness took over.
Eighteen
Rose
I came to in my bedroom, with Thorn’s arms around me.
I tried to sit up and groaned at the pain flowing through my body. He held me closer and sat up himself, his eyes thunderous as they zeroed in on mine.