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2026-07-21 04:12:45
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To Love A Monster ninety-eight.
NicholasThree days have passed since that night. Since Valentina threw herself into the pool and took that bullet for me. Three days since she almost died to save me.I squeeze her hand, careful not to touch the bruise that's formed where the IV is attached at the back of it.She was lucky, they say. I'm not so sure. The bullet was barely a centimeter from her heart. It almost killed her. It would have killed me. She saved me.I wipe yet another tear sliding down over her temple. She doesn't move, doesn't respond, but she does cry. Surgery to remove the bullet and repair the damage lasted eight hours. She could open her eyes any minute now. Any minute. I haven't left her side because when she does, I need her to see me. To know I'm here for her.Horatio brought me a change of clothes. I showered here, in the bathroom in her hospital room, exactly once. I've smelled better. I won't leave her side, though.I brush her hair away from her face then slip my hand around hers."I'm thinking
To Love A Monster ninety-seven.
ValentinaThe last face I see is Nicholas's. The last sound I hear is his. Even the cold doesn't bother me more than a few moments, not after the tearing, searing pain. But that physical agony, it's nothing to what I feel when I see Nicholas's face. When I hear him say my name over and over again. Because I know what it means.He's always rescuing me.He rescued me in this very pool once a long time ago. The night I fell in love with him.He would die for me.I would die for him, too.Did he know that before? Does he know it now?I wish I could say it. I wish I could look into his eyes just one more time. Feel his arms around me. Feel the safety of his embrace. That is the agony, that I cannot. That all I can do is watch from above, removed, my body lying still on those blood-stained stones, him trying to make me breathe. Him screaming for me to breathe. His tears falling on my face too late to warm me. Too late.-------------------------------NicholasIt takes four sets of arms to d
To Love A Monster ninety-six.
NicholasI'm closer now—still too far to disarm him and get to her if he shoves her into the pool, but closer."Oh, I'm not unhappy but honestly, I stopped caring about Sullivan Ricci a while ago.""That so? Change of heart?"I look at V who is looking up at me, eyes wide. I nod. "Yeah. Let her go, Cielo. She has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me. It's always been between you and me.""Yeah, but here's the thing. I kill you and," he shrugs a shoulder, "it's done. Over. Boring. But hey, I'm going to give you one more opportunity to rescue her. In about one second, Tina here is going to go for a swim. And I'm going to start shooting when she does. If you're already in the pool, you have a chance to save her. I'll even give you a head start getting her out before I shoot. If not, well, I guess you'll have her blood on your hands. Now get in the motherfucking pool." He sets his dirty shoe on Valentina's back readying to push her in.I hold up my hands. "Tell me something
To Love A Monster ninety-five.
NicholasCan she swim yet, bro? We'll finish this where it started.I read the texts over and over again and I know he's not here. He's not at the brownstone. Not anymore. This started in Sinistral. He's taking her back there. Back to the place I hate.I reverse out of the street, tires screeching as I swerve to merge into traffic. I shouldn't have left her alone. But how did he know where she was? And how did he get past Hamish?Those questions don't matter, not now.I blow through so many red and yellow lights, I can't count them. The road is slick with what has become a mix of freezing rain and wet, heavy snow, and it's worse in Sinistral. It's always worse in Sinistral.I pass the hotel on my way to the darker, lonelier streets of the wealthier neighborhood, the larger homes, some gated, spaced farther apart, offering too much privacy. If I call the police, tell them Cielo kidnapped Valentina, would they go to the Ricci house? Cielo is still a Ricci, and I am Nicholas Hendrick, th
To Love A Monster ninety-four.
Nicholas"Hamish! Why didn't you answer?" I bark into the phone, driving like a mad man back to Boston, back to the brownstone. At least I got hold of Valentina. She's fine. Cielo is at the funeral. He doesn't know she's at the brownstone.A text comes through from Nigella. I glance at the phone in its cradle on the dash and read it while passing a car.Nigella: Got hold of Wells. They're going to pick up Cielo."Hamish?" I say, realizing he hasn't answered.There's a strange sound, a gurgling. And in the background, a thud."Hamish?" I press my foot to the accelerator. "What the fuck is going on?"I barely get the sentence out when I hear Valentina's voice caught between a gasp and a scream before the line goes dead.I race to the brownstone, but I'm at least twenty minutes out. I dial 911 and tell them to get to the house, yelling at the operator when she asks questions that don't matter. When I'm sure they're on their way, I begin to dial Valentina and Hamish in turn, but my calls
To Love A Monster ninety-three.
NicholasI walk out of that church, not caring about the dozens of eyes on my back, not hearing their whispers and theories about the illegitimate son over the sound of the organ. I call Nigella as soon as I'm out the doors, not even caring about the rain as I make my way to the SUV."Nigella. What did they find?""He won't say over the phone. I sent you the location. Did you get that?""I have it. It's a half hour the wrong way from Boston. Can't they just send me the video?""No. It's deemed sensitive. He's giving us a heads up before he calls that idiot detective, and that's thanks to my charm.""Or my money.""Yeah, probably that.""Where are you?""I'm headed out to their building now. I'll be there in about twenty minutes.""Okay, I'll see you there."Between people driving like idiots in the rain and general traffic, it takes me forty-five minutes to get to the address Nigella texted. It's an obscure space housed in a squat building that looks like it should have been taken dow
To Love A Monster six
Valentina"What are you doing here anyway? How did you get in?" I ask."Sly's security system leaves something to be desired." He releases my hand, steps away, and I feel the loss of him like I felt the cold coming in through the open door just moments ago. It's like he takes the warmth with him, t
To Love A Monster five
ValentinaA light goes on in the cottage and I jump, remembering how he'd caught me watching them that first day when they all moved in. What he'd said to me, his cryptic message to a twelve-year-old girl:Some things are better left unknown.Thinking back on it now, it's like he was reading my fut
To Love A Monster four
ValentinaPresentI unlock the front door of my childhood home. I haven't lived here for over three years, but it's always been home. Now, though, since Dad's arrest and very public trial, since the federal agents trampled through every room, pried into every corner, and dissected every aspect of o
To Love A Monster three
Valentina"Cielo, come here and meet Tina, darling."Cielo looks up at his mom, then at me and he smiles, but there's something about him that makes me feel weird."Hey, Tina. Nice glasses," he says.I'm pretty sure he doesn't think they're at all nice.I adjust them, pushing them farther up my nos
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