Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls Book 1)

The blade of the knife pressed against my neck, piercing the skin as white-hot pain bloomed. It was so similar to the feeling of a burn. Too similar.

“I tried to come up with another way, Rho. I really did. But nothing will hurt him more than losing you. But it has to be right in front of his eyes this time. It’s the only way to end it,” Silas said, desperation in his tone.

As his words took root in my brain, realization bloomed. He didn’t expect to get away with this. The only thing he wanted was to hurt Anson the most.

“You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded.

He laughed then, the sound having a shrill quality to it. “But I do.” His fingers released my neck, and he moved his hand to stroke my face. “We’ll find each other in the afterlife. We’ll finally be together like it was always supposed to be. Just you and me. No more lies between us. No one else there to take you away.”

A fresh wave of nausea rolled through me. “Please.”

A twig snapped, and Silas moved so fast that everything was a blur. He shifted so he was behind me, the blade still at my neck, and his other hand gripping my hair so tightly my eyes watered. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” Silas singsonged.

Nothing moved or made a sound.

Silas let out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on now. We’re all better than this. You know I’m here. I know you’re there. If I had to guess, you’ve got officers surrounding me right now.”

“This is the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department. Release Rho and drop your weapon. Hands on your head.”

I couldn’t see Beth, but I recognized her voice—that authoritative tone she used when she was in deputy mode.

Silas made a tsking noise. “I don’t want to talk to you, Bethy. Where’s the profiler?”

“He’s not here,” Beth called back. “You’re going to have to deal with me.”

Silas sighed again but then yanked my hair so hard I couldn’t help but cry out. “Don’t. Lie. To. Me. I know that bastard is here. There’s no way he wouldn’t be.”

A second later, there was movement.

Panic seared me. “No! Anson, he wants to hurt you.”

Silas pressed the blade harder against my neck, digging in, and I couldn’t help the sound I made as blood trickled down my throat. “You’ll pay for your betrayal,” he snarled. “I could’ve made this quick and painless, but now you’re going to suffer.”

I knew Silas wouldn’t have sent me off pain-free. There was no way. He liked the reaction to his torture too much.

“I’m here,” Anson growled.

Tears pooled in my eyes. “Don’t,” I whispered. The word couldn’t have actually reached his ears, but as I took him in, I knew Anson had read it on my lips.

Agony swirled in those blue-gray eyes—something I never wanted to see there. There were a million things I wanted to say to him. But they were things I knew would escalate the situation, so I only said them in my mind. A silent whisper between me and the wind.

“Profiler,” Silas almost cooed. “Finally, we really meet.”

Anson hid his emotions well, but because I knew him as I did, I saw his struggle to keep them contained. “I don’t think you’ve ever truly met someone, Silas. Because you can’t be honest with who you really are.”

Silas’s hand tightened in my hair. “I know exactly who I am, and I’m not afraid of it. I’m a killer. I love the feeling of life bleeding out of them and into me. It makes me more powerful than you’ll ever be.”

Anson arched a brow in challenge. “You sure about that? Because you’ve only ever picked victims who were weaker than you. I don’t think that makes you powerful. It makes you a sniveling coward.”

Silas’s breaths came quicker in my ear. “You’re the coward,” he shot back. “You could never do what needed to be done to find me. Could never face what lived inside you enough to see the truth. That you’re the weak one.”

Anson’s eyes flashed, and Silas grinned. “I wish I would’ve recorded your sister’s screams so you could hear how beautiful they were. But I’ll just have to settle for you listening to Rho’s. Watching the blood drain from her body. Maybe this is always how it was meant to be. The three of us together. You’ll relive the pain, over and over again. You’ll never escape it.”

“It’s me you want to end, Silas. Let me trade places with her,” Anson said, panic bleeding into his voice.

Silas made that tsking noise again. “You know it can’t be that way, Profiler. You have to live with the pain. That’s the best torture of all.”

Silas pulled me harder against him as he moved backward, one step, then two. I tried to reach behind me and punch at his ribs, but Silas jerked my hair, pressing his face to mine. “Don’t make me end this early, Rhodes.”

Tears filled my eyes as my gaze collided with Anson’s. His hand curled around his weapon, but he didn’t lift it. He didn’t have a shot. No one did. Every angle risked taking me out along with Silas.

At least I knew this was the end for him, no matter what. Silas wouldn’t hurt any other women. Because he wouldn’t make it out of this. He’d just take me with him when he went.

Tears tracked down my cheeks as Anson’s face blurred. “I love you,” I croaked.

“Shut up,” Silas barked, tugging my hair in a vicious shake.

The tears fell faster as pain surged in my head, but I didn’t stop. “I don’t regret loving you for a single second. Scared the hell out of me, but it brought me back to life.”

“Reckless,” Anson choked out.

“I’ll always love you.”

“Stop it!” Silas screamed, tugging me backward.

There was a crack so loud and long it sounded like a vicious clap of thunder. At first, I thought it was a gunshot and braced for pain. But it wasn’t. The floor beneath our feet gave way, the boards snapping.

Everything slowed. It was as if I could see each millisecond in a snapshot. Anson screaming my name. Law enforcement charging out from the trees.

Then we were falling, descending into darkness. I couldn’t see where we were going. One second, shadows engulfed us. Then there was pain. Finally, only blissful nothingness.