Page 170 of Sincerely, Butterfly

“Would it be a waste of my time to tell you to make smart decisions and be careful?”

“Most likely.” I nod.

“How many?” He means how many bodies am I going to leave behind tonight.

“At this moment, I’m not sure. One for sure, but I’m going to go with more than that.”

“Don’t get caught,” he warns. “Are you doing this as BK or you?”

“Me,” I answer. “I’m done playing games, Dad. Tonight they’re going to know everything.”

“And what if things don’t end up the way you want them to?”

“There’s no other way.” I narrow my eyes. “They will be mine. Officially.”

He leans in, getting in my face with a very serious look. “You can’t kill them.”

“I could if I wanted to.” I hold my chin up. “But lucky for them, I love them. And I don’t hurt the ones I love.”

He takes me in for a moment and then nods. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll let my contact know something is going down tonight.”

I’m going to assume he’s talking about his informant from the NOPD.

Mom comes back over, and we all say our goodbyes. As soon asthey’re gone, I bring the camera feed back up to scan for more details.

They’re still at the same place they were a few moments before, only this time there’s a whole group of girls surrounding them. The same ones still sit on the guy’s laps, but it seems their friends are jealous and want a piece of them, too.

I’d think better of that if I were you. At this point, you’re still going to get to keep breathing, but your friends aren’t going to be as lucky.

That is as long as they keep their hands to themselves.

The streets of New Orleans are packed, which is both a blessing and a curse.

There’s so much going on that no one is going to notice if one or two people go missing. People get swept up and lost in the crowds easily during times like this.

But that means more eyes that could potentially see me.

Music from all different kinds of instruments fills the air around me, mixing with the joyous laughter and chatter of the crowd.

People are dressed for the occasion, decked out in purple, green, and gold.

Someone walks past me, their face hidden behind a masquerade mask and my lips curve into a smile as an idea hits me.

What I need is a disguise. Something that will cover my face and help me blend into the crowd. Unfortunately, the media knows the Butterfly Killer by the mask, so they would spot me a mile away.

I quickly slip into one of the shops. Keeping my head down, I look around for the options of what I can get.

I decided on getting a full face mask. It’s cream with gold glitter shimmering over its cheeks and framing the face with green and purple, with gold coloring around the eyes.

On the side are beautiful feathers.

The outfit I’m wearing is a gold sequin top over a black skater dress, so it still matches nicely.

Once it’s paid for, I dip into an alley and quickly slip the mask on before checking my phone again.

They’re gone!

Fuck!