“That’s notwhyI’m going to kill you, though. Because unlike you, Quill, I’m not a psychopath.”
I quirk up an eyebrow at the very clearly unhinged person standing before me. Gone is the cold, heartless girl who sits next to Piper in science class. In her place is a wild-eyed killer with bags under her eyes, as if she hasn’t slept for days.
“I’m going to kill you,” she continues, “because you murdered my father.”
Oh.For the first time since I found her standing with a gun over Ray’s lifeless form, I’m surprised.
So that’s who I killed that Sunday night, during my memory lapse. Cass’s father. Huh.
I guess I can’t fault Cass for wanting to kill me. My surprise gone, I wait passively for her to do that.
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” she seethes.
I shrug.
That clearly angers her. She must want me to ask questions. Or at least, defend myself. Apparently, she has a lot to get off her chest before she kills me. I set my jaw in aggravation as she continues to talk.
“You may have been drugged, Quill, but that doesnotexcuse your actions. And it turns out you messed with the wrong person. Because I...” She marks a dramatic pause. “Iam the Dark Devil.”
I stare at her dumbly.
“The Dark Devil,” she hisses. “Don’t you know what that is? Don’t you read the fucking news, idiot? Don’t you have the least bit of curiosity about what’s going on in the world? I’m a fucking serial killer!”
“Okay,” I shrug.
Iamadmittedly surprised to hear that Cass Henley of all people is a killer. But I also realize how pissed off it makes herthat I look unimpressed. So I keep a bored look on my face with the sole purpose of provoking her.
“I have urges, Quill,” she huffs out. “Maybe you know something about that. Well, my urges are bad.Reallybad. Dad brought me to Astley so I could take out those urges on people who deserve to die. People who work at Devil. And now, I have a nickname. The Dark Devil. Cool, huh?”
Her lips twist into a self-satisfied smile, but it quickly disappears under her usual cold, cruel expression.
“But now, my dad is dead. I don’t know why. I can only assume they thoughthewas the Dark Devil. After all, who would expect perfectly sweet Cass Henley to be a murderer in disguise?”
I snort, because if there’s one thing Cass is not, it’s sweet.
“I guess the good thing is that now, my urges have a purpose. I’m not just going to take down a few people who work at Devil. I’m going to fucking blight that company, and every single person connected with my dad’s death. Starting with you, Quill. What do you think about that?”
I shrug yet again.
She lets out a heartless laugh. “I bet the only brain activity going on in that thick skull of yours relates to your cock, and what you’re planning to do with it. But let me tell you something. Killing Ray also saved Piper. Because she was there, the night you killed my dad, and Ray beating her up would’ve just been the start of a real shitstorm, had I let him live.”
That makes me freeze. I stare at her, my eyes wide.
“Finally got a reaction out of you,” she smiles, letting out another cruel laugh. “Well, of course, seeing as your girl is the most oblivious human being on Earth, she doesn’t know she saw anything. She just happened to cross Ray’s path as he went to clean up your mess. As he went to burymydad. He was lugging around a big trash bag, filled withmydad’s remains, when she literally tripped over it and fell on her ass.”
Yeah, that’s Piper alright. The only thing keeping me from smiling at her clumsiness is anxiety, rolling in the pit of my stomach, as I wonder what kind of trouble she’s in.
“Well, my dad’s been missing since Sunday,” she continues, going back to a subject that I donotcare about. “But I wasn’t worried initially, because he’s often away for work. When I accidentally injected Finn, though—”
“Yes,” I spit out, cutting into her flow of words. “Youdidinject Finn. With the injection you’d been planning for Piper.”
“Oh, that.” She rolls her eyes. “Completely harmless. Supposed to give you photographic memory for like an hour. I thought it would help Piper, but Finn still had those other drugs in his system, and that mix was no good. It fucked him up, and he escaped. Campbell was freaking out, and somehow, he let his guard down and revealed parts of what happened Sunday night. Enough for me to piece it all together, and that’s when I started following you.”
She pauses a beat, as if waiting for me to say something, but I merely look at her passively, wishing I hadn’t interjected anything before, because her monologue is seriously neverending.
“So anyway, when I came here to the warehouse,” she continues, tossing a lock of blond hair back, “Ray gleefully told me that he’d been holding onto the information about Piper tripping over my dad’s body, and he was planning to tell you about it. Both so you’d know it could have been much worse than a few punches if someone else had found her, and to threaten you with telling his father. I’m not sure of his thought process there. I think he might be even stupider than you. Anyway, I was already planning to kill him. That was just the cherry on top.”
Her lips part into a smug smile, as if she expects me to thank her. But if anything, I’m even more pissed off than before.Ishould have been the one to kill him. That wasmyjob.