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He speaks slowly. “No, Micah, I’m not talking about my sister… I’m talking about your little budding journalist.”

I grind my teeth. “You’re fucking bluffing.” There is no way he has London. I came straight here. She was sleeping when I left her, and James and Ezra were with her. He had to have been watching us all night. I would have fucking seen or sensed him.

My hairs stand on end as my fingers curl around my weapon. “If you have her, then where the fuck is she?” The possibility that he has her cripples me, and it’s the only reason he’s still breathing.

He clicks his tongue. “So fucking impatient. You’ll learn quickly I am not as emotional as Ezra, and also, unlike Ezra, I do not have a soft spot for London. You’d be wise not to poke at me right now. You are not, in any way, shape, or form, in control of anything right now.”

“You can’t fucking do anything to me, asshole,” I mock him. “You’ll wither away and die before me, and you fucking know it. And if you kill her, there is nothing stopping me from killing you.”

“Micah… he will kill her. Don’t test him,” Jade moans from the ground. She’s rolled onto her side, keeping her head down and avoiding looking at Nigel at all.

“Well said, Jade,” he says, picking his nails. “And who’s to say I haven’t already?” He waves his hand at me. “Please. Continue your lecture, Micah. You are so good at protecting everyone else, but you can’t seem to protect her, can you?”

A wave of nausea hits me. London has already been through so much because of my actions.

He clicks his tongue. “You’re so predictable, Micah. I’ve been watching you and studying you for months, even before we came on this trip. In class, at the gym, on the hockey rink, and in the cafeteria. Everywhere. I know what you will do before you even do it. I’m not sure when you’ll figure out I am smarter than you.”

I look at Jade for validation of what he is saying. “He has her, Micah,” she whispers as tears drip from her eyes.

Fuck.

“Where is she?” My voice is slightly more hesitant as I curl my fingers around my weapon. So close. One second, and I could end him.

So fucking tempting.

He jumps into the brush faster than I can blink, and I don’t hesitate. I chase after him, leaving Jade alone, huddled on the ground and barely breathing, with her sliced-up body curled in a ball.

When I run into the brush, he’s standing there, and London is hanging in his arms like a vision of death. His arms are around her neck in a chokehold, and he has a stupid grin on his face.

He knew I’d come alone, and he knew she’d follow. I fucking failed her, like I failed Maison and Olivia… Like I fail everyone.

I draw in one long breath. London’s eyes are closed—I’m not even sure she’s conscious. I stare down at him, and I desperately want to break his jaw.

“Why are you doing this?” My voice is broken and shaky.

A dangerous flash swirls in his eyes. “Because I can,” he spits. “I don’t need more of a reason than that.”

“Is that why you killed Ollie?” I ask him. “Because you could?”

A feline smile tugs at his lips, and he shrugs as if killing his classmate is merely amusing. “I was bored, and he was just wandering around like a lost lamb looking for wood. Similar to London when she came out of the plane looking for you. It was easy… She’s really lost her mind, hasn’t she?”

London opens her eyes briefly before closing them again, her head hung low. She won’t even look at me, and in the fleeting moment she makes eye contact with me, her eyes are like venom.

I fucking love her for it. She’s still with me, and I’ll take whatever venomous stare she gives me as long as she’s still breathing.

Just hold on a few seconds, baby. Let me figure a way out of this.

“If you kill her, there is nothing stopping me from tearing you apart, limb by limb,” I warn.

With a casual shrug, he maintains a vice-like grip around her neck, squeezing so tightly that her lips are turning blue. “Yeah, but she’ll be dead. And as you’ve so elegantly pointed out, I’m a dead man anyway.”

A few tense moments pass between us. Just the sound of lapping waves, the hiss of the embers when Nigel tried to burn me alive, and the wind as it scatters through the trees.

A snap of twigs has both of us whipping our heads around just as James comes into view. A red ember floats in the air and lands on my wrist. I stare down at it, thinking about how much it stings and how much pain Jade must be in from the hundreds of cuts he gave her.

I jerk my head toward the shelter. “Jade’s over there,” I tell him.

James makes a motion toward her.