Chapter 2

Iliana’s POV:

My eyes snapped open. A scream erupted in the air. It wasn’t his. It was mine.

He, on the other hand, was utterly and eerily silent. Not even a scream, not even a hiss. He was standing still as if the last few minutes never happened.

I had stabbed him. I had stabbed my stalker. Oh God, what the fuck did I do. Why did I do it? How could I kill a living being?

A sob wretched out of me, and my eyes watered as I shook my head, “No. No no no. It can’t be.”

All types of evil thoughts started reeling through my mind. Would I ever be able to believe in court that I did it in self-defence? How would I prove that he intruded into my apartment? Police already thought that I was exaggerating. Oh God…

Cold sweat slicked down my back. My fingers trembled around the knife. With my other hand, I gripped the counter to keep myself from collapsing.

And then, the world slowed down around me when his hand moved from my cheek to my hand holding the knife that was still plunged into his chest.

A low, chilling chuckle filled the air between us as he tightened his hold over my hand. “You are afraid,” he sounded almost surprised and amused as if he had unlocked the greatest mystery of all time.

Before I could process anything, my eyebrows dipped into a deep frown as he slowly slid the knife out of his chest without so much as a wince of pain. More blood pooled out of a gaping hole in his chest. Nausea rose in my throat.

Anyone else would be grunting and howling in agony, but this man didn’t even show a speck of damage done to him. He kept standing upright as if it were a needle that pricked his skin instead of a large, sharp knife.

I loosened my grip on the knife, all ready to let go of the weapon that was going to be used against me in the court.

But to my shock, he tightened his hold around mine. A shiver crawled up my spine, seeping deep inside me, infiltrating every cell of mine, paralyzing me from the inside out. What was going on in his mind?

His voice sounded exhilarating as he chuckled creepily, “Too bad that I now thrive on your fear, Little Muse.”

He didn’t give me time to process his words because the very next moment, he raised my hand in the air, and before my mind could even register it, he thrust the knife back into his chest with a sickening, wet squelch. Deeper this time.

A loud, sharp scream tore from my throat. I tried to crawl away from him, but caged between his body and the counter, I had nowhere to run to.

“What are you doing?” I asked in bafflement.

My shoulders shook as ugly sobs ripped out of me as he, once again, slid the knife out, only to be plunged right back into his chest as if tearing through a slab of raw meat.

Another shower of hot blood sprayed over my face, making me recoil in on myself. My head felt dizzy as if all the blood had drained out of me.

In short, ragged whispers, I begged him, “No…please…stop…don’t…” My voice died in my throat.

My fear seemed to fuel his entertainment because the only response to my desperate pleas was his low, guttural laugh, “You’re the one who started it, Iliana.”

I shook my head vehemently as he started sliding the knife out again. I tried to beg him, but the words got stuck in my throat.

Unable to take it anymore, my mind was shutting down to the terror unfolding in front of my eyes. My hold on the counter loosened. My knees buckled beneath my weight. My eyelids refused to stay open any longer.

Before I knew it, my body tumbled downward. I waited to thud to the hard floor, but instead, strong arms wrapped around my back before I hit the floor. The irony of him wanting to protect me didn’t go unnoticed by me.

But I was too exhausted to even think about that. My vision blurred before my eyes closed.

The last sound I registered was of the knife clattering to the floor before everything around me went silent, and darkness engulfed me whole.