Page 94 of Requiem
Nico leans against the counter, arms crossed, jaw tight. Kieran is beside him, staring at the floor. Heather and Adriana are both on the couch, looking uncomfortable as fuck.
Rafe sets the last bag down. “What happened?” he asks.
Adela glances at me, then back at her screen. “Alexei sent something else out.”
My stomach drops before she even finishes the sentence.
“Another photo,” Nico adds, his voice flat. “It’s, uh, bad, dude.”
Rage surges inside my chest. I don’t even think. “Phone,” I say. “Whoever has it, give it to me now.”
Without hesitation, Rafe reaches into his jacket and hands it over like he already knew this was coming.
The weight of it in my hand feels weird, considering I haven’t bothered to use it in god knows how long. I stare at it for a second before I turn it on.
And then—
Everything hits at once.
Missed calls. Dozens.Hundreds. Messages stacking over each other, names I recognize, names I don’t. Notifications lighting up the screen faster than I can process them.
Where are you?
Are you okay?
Call us, son.
Please come home. Vanessa is worried about you. We all are.
Jude, what the fuck is going on?
Brother, talk to me. Please…
The screen blurs. My chest tightens like like I’m having a heart attack, my fingers clenching around the phone as the noise builds in my head, louder and louder until it’s almost—
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Fuck—”
Too much. It’s too fucking much.
The photo staring back at me is clearly me, walking away from the house belonging to one of the men I murdered. I remember him. In the photo, you can see me sliding the mask off my face, with a dead body in the background. I’m looking off to the side, hair messy, eyes dark and wild as hell.
How the fuck did someone get this photo?
I drag in a breath through my nose, forcing myself back into my body before I lose my shit completely. Then I scroll, find his number, and hitcall.
“Jude—” Emma’s voice cuts in, sharp with warning as she steps closer, a grocery bag slipping from her hand onto the counter.
“Don’t,” Micah adds, already moving toward me.
I ignore both of them. The line rings once. Twice. Then—
A click. “Ah,” Alexei murmurs,amused. “There you are.”
Something in me snaps. “I’m coming to your stupid fucking party,” I bite out, the words ripping out of me. “So why the fuck would you release more?”
A quiet laugh hums through the line. “Because,” he says smoothly, “You need to know that a life apart from me is not possible. If they all see what you did, and hate you for it, then there is no point.”
My jaw tightens so hard it hurts. “I could just kill myself, you know.”
