Endgame Romance, page 60
“Well?” Justin asks, and as soon as X hears the voice coming from my phone, he opens his eyes and whirls. He starts forward as if he’s going to take my phone from me, like a repeat of the incident at the coffee shop. Only this time, Parrish and Chasm step between him and me. “Did you see her?”
“I saw her,” the Maxx on the video admits, and then he looks up, mouth in a severe frown, eyes wracked with pain. “She was wearing a U of O t-shirt and driving a purple Chevy Camaro. It was old. Sixties or seventies I’d guess. New York license plate. I only managed to get the last few numbers.” X reaches into his hoodie pocket, withdrawing a piece of paper and tossing it onto the floor between him and Justin.
My father doesn’t move to pick it up, instead waiting for Raúl to do it for him. His pet arsonist with the fancy glasses and the snappy shoes shows Justin the paper before using his lighter to set it on fire. Ashes drift to the carpet near their feet.
“Anything else you want to tell me?” Justin asks, and X looks down at the floor again, as if he’s ashamed of himself.
“Dakota … professed her to love to me.” The words seem to hurt as they come out, and I look up to see Maxx staring at me. That silent apology is still there, but he offers no explanation. Another text pings my phone and I glance down to read it.
As I said, choose your pawns wisely. Maybe next time, you’ll listen?
I look up again, but I refuse to believe it. I flat-out refuse. Maxim Wright is too open, too transparent to be able to lie to me like that, to tell me he loves me, kiss me, fuck me … Then I start to think about certain things that snap and gnaw at the edges of my mind.
He knew who I was at the coffee shop and lied about it. He organized Parrish’s search parties by himself. When Parrish went missing, he moved into his room on a semi-permanent basis. He took my phone from me at the coffee shop and forcibly unlocked it. He turned away Maxine at the door and brought her letter to me himself. He was willing to kill the rabbit. He trailed Delphine and found nothing amiss despite her connection to Justin. He claimed to have never kissed or fucked any other girl. He just so happened to be at the Vanguard house in time to save the family from the fire.
I feel sick. My phone drops from my hand and shatters on the cobblestone path.
“I told you, Dakota,” Maxx begins, his voice harsh and pained. At the same moment, my sister comes around the corner, panting and shaking, her eyes flicking from me to Lumen, Parrish, Chasm … X. “When I want something, I really am willing to do whatever it takes—especially for the right girl.”
Whatever it takes, he’d said during sex. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
“Even if that girl isn’t you.” He looks down at the ground as Chasm takes a step back and bumps into me, eyes wide with shock.
“You … but … no. I don’t believe it. I don’t. Shiro.”
“I told you,” Lumen grinds out, coming over to stand beside us, pointing at X with a shaking hand. “I fucking told you!”
“You forget,” Parrish begins, teeth gritted, hands clenched into fists. “That we know he’s controlling you.” It’s a repeat of what he said when Justin showed him the video of me and Chasm having sex for the second time.
“You forget that I know you’re controlling her.”
Only … only this time …
Another video comes in, and I squat down to snatch my phone as Maxine moves over to stand beside me. I look over and into her eyes and I see—as I always do—what I know to be true: no matter what’s going on in all of this, my sister is innocent. I reach down to take her hand, and I press play one, last time.
“I won’t do it.” Maxx is angry in this video; he’s trembling. “Who the fuck do you think you are that you can make me do something like that?”
“It’d be easy, right?” Justin schmoozes, walking in a circle around Maxx. They’re not in his office this time, but somewhere else. I don’t recognize the room, the marble floors, the soaring ceilings. Unless … is this Chasm’s house? “You want to save your girlfriend, don’t you? All you have to do is convince her little sister that you’re in love with her. The little sister that your best friends hate. The little sister that made your honorary mother figure, Tess Vanguard, cry. The brat. The snobby East Coast little shit. How hard would that be?”
“Fuck you.” X spits at Justin and turns to go, but my father isn’t done. Oh no. Not even close. Raúl is waiting at the door, holding out a phone toward Maxx. He hesitates briefly before he takes it, and then he presses play. Whatever he sees there must change his mind because when he looks up, there’s nothing but terror written into every line of his face.
“Make her fall for you. I don’t care how you do it. I don’t care what it takes. Just think of it as a good deed: Maxine Banks will be safe. Besides that, she’d want her little sister to be safe, too, no matter the cost, wouldn’t she? She’s just that sort of person.”
I throw the phone as hard as I can, heaving and panting, wishing it weren’t true, believing that it’s not, questioning myself all over again.
“I’m sorry, Dakota,” X says again, wetting his lips as Parrish stares at him like he’s never seen him before. “But now, after getting to know you the way I do, I know this is what you’d want, too. Anything to keep Maxine safe. Anything.”
“Keep me safe?” Maxine asks, blinking surprised eyes as she stares at me and not her … ex-boyfriend.
“It’s a complicated situation. It’s not something any of us would’ve entered into without … outside influence. It doesn’t reflect on you at all.” That’s what X said to Maxine the evening of the dinner party.
“I thought I was going to break that day at the coffee shop, after you ran Maxine off and made her cry.” He said that, too, didn’t he?
He said all sorts of things, did all sorts of things, and I …
“Told you that you should’ve dated me,” Lumen mumbles, glaring at Maxx as he moves around me and over to my sister.
“What are you doing?” she chokes out as he takes her by the shoulders, leans down, and …
I turn away. I can’t look. I don’t want to see.
And then I start to run, even as Parrish and Chasm call out to me, even as they chase me.
This isn’t happening. I don’t believe it. I refuse. I hate Justin. I hate him. I fucking hate him.
What was I thinking when I told myself it’d be hard to kill him? It won’t be hard. I want to kill him. I want to bleed him. I want to make him hurt. I want him to suffer the way he’s made me and my family and my boys and everyone else around me suffer.
So.
This is me, Dakota Banks, losing every last part of herself. Every cell. Every molecule. My very essence.
Because I’ve done all sorts of things I regret in the last few weeks: burned a bloody wedding dress, fell for my sister’s lover, plotted to kidnap my classmate.
But this is the worst.
Truly, the worst thing that I have ever done.
Because I mean it this time: I want to kill my own father.
I’m going to enjoy it.
And he’s never going to see it coming.
A hand reaches out from the foliage, snatches my arm, and yanks me into the cool shadows of the underbrush and into another world.
To Be Continued …
Originally, ‘Lost Daughter of a Serial Killer’ was intended to be a trilogy. However, when the word count exceeded 400,000 words (the length of four very long books and more than double the first book, ‘Stolen Crush’) I felt it could no longer be contained in one volume. The fourth and final book in this series will release in Summer 2022 as a live release. Please check my website (www.cmstunich.com), social media (tiktok.com/@cmstunich or www.instagram.com/cmstunich or facebook.com/groups/thebookishbatcave), or sign-up to receive text alerts by texting BOOKS to 484848 to get news on the release.
Fun facts! Everyone knows J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous series, ‘The Lord of the Rings’, right? Just to put it in perspective, that entire series is around 576,000 words in length. The first book in this series was 180,000 words, the second was 211,000 words, and the third is 200,000 words. The fourth and final will be even longer. That means, ‘Lost Daughter of a Serial Killer’ is longer than ‘The Lord of the Rings’ already.
I wrote this series with the sole purpose of lingering on the characters’ emotions. I was getting annoyed with movies, TV shows, and books where someone is hurt or dies or betrayed and the characters move on in a flash. I started writing this series after a personal loss, and this is the tale I needed so desperately.
It still is.
As always, the entire series is free to read with Kindle Unlimited as well.
Thank you so much for reading, and Dakota and I will see you soon!
Love, C.M.
A Crossover Novel
Stepbrother Inked, Standalone
Adamson All-Boys Academy, Book #1
Rich Boys of Burberry Prep, Book #1
Devils' Day Party, Standalone
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About the Author
C.M. Stunich is a self-admitted bibliophile with a love for exotic teas and a whole host of characters who live full time inside the strange, swirling vortex of her thoughts. Some folks might call this crazy, but Caitlin Morgan doesn't mind - especially considering she has to write biographies in the third person. Oh, and half the host of characters in her head are searing hot bad boys with dirty mouths and skillful hands (among other things). If being crazy means hanging out with them everyday, C.M. has decided to have herself committed.
She hates tapioca pudding, loves to binge on cheesy horror movies, and is a slave to many cats. When she's not vacuuming fur off of her couch, C.M. can be found with her nose buried in a book or her eyes glued to a computer screen. She's the author of over a hundred novels - romance, new adult, fantasy, and young adult included. Please, come and join her inside her crazy. There's a heck of a lot to do there.
Oh, and Caitlin loves to chat (incessantly), so feel free to e-mail her, send her a Facebook message, or put up smoke signals. She's already looking forward to it.
Stunich, C.M., Endgame Romance
