The Serial Killers Guide to Love (Deadly Darling #1)

Chapter 32

32

Lilly

I tried to be cool, but it was not easy.

We sat in a truck that Sam borrowed, he explained to me that it’s a thing he does to ensure that the truck is not connected to him and watched this guy’s house.

There was a freaking bathtub on the lawn, all overgrown and I bet he had frogs living in it.

The house looked bad. Like a place I would hate to haunt if I would be a ghost with standards. It was the house of someone who gave up. Or at least that was what I was thinking. The other houses down the street looked exactly the same, with the exception that somewhere clean and even freshly painted, a few people still hung on to hope that life was not over for them and that they still had a chance to make something out of their future.

“I once read something about the fact that as long as there is life, there is possibility, and only when you die, there is nothing left to plan and hope. “

Sam was different. Focused. Each of his moves was like the move of a cat. Calculated and precise.

“We have our life ahead, I can’t say that for him.”

A tall man, with a big beer belly walked out of an old dirty looking truck. The truck had so many holes in it, only duct tape kept the thing together. Weeds grew down from the lawn area of the sidewalk. It was all derelict and it made me sad. Granny and I, we had been very poor. The house needed repairs she couldn’t afford, but we always made sure to do what we could. We painted it, we trimmed the grass and cared for the garden and our small shabby house looked like a cute fae cottage. All colorful, filled with books and trinkets, plants and dried flowers. A sight left my chest.

“Is that him?”

The way he walked and moved, made me want to rub my arms, to defeat the chill that was not real during this hot and moist Florida night.

It’s all good.

It’s all good. It wasn’t my first kill, but the first of this kind.

Then I recalled Roy and was not feeling that innocent anymore. Nothing about me was innocent. The only difference between Sam and I was the method we used to kill. Mine was the cowards approach, as I wasn’t dealing with the cleanup.

Sitting with him in the car a strange thrill filled my chest.

“Are you good?”

“Uh huh.”

I nodded.

I saw the kill room. The house next to this was empty and Sam already prepared it. It looked like a damn movie set. I was not even aware that you can literally wrap an entire room in plastic. Just one simple white table stood in the middle.

I was fascinated by his planning and precision.

“Repeat the plan.”

Sam asked.

“I sit here. You go and tranq him, then I wait 10 minutes and walk into the kill room. Right?”

“Yes. Perfect.”

I nodded and sat there.

Sam was wearing Jeans and a t-shirt. For a large man he had a way to fade in the background. He was so handsome, but most people would just say that he looks like a normal guy. And with the exception of his incredible green eyes, he was cultivating this look.

I watched him and he moved towards the house.

The street was empty.

He knocked on the door and a rather upset James Miller opened.

I expected something.

Maybe a struggle, but there was nothing. Sam moved the syringe fast, so fast indeed that I just saw the moment when it touched Miller’s neck, but he was already fading away, melting.

Okay, breathe.

I had to repeat that to myself.

I need to breathe.

My heart was beating like crazy, my chest was constricted and my head was buzzing.

I will be there, I will share this moment with Sam.

Sam had hit the timer on the dashboard, and I watched the minutes run.

Each second moving slowly.

My sweaty palms shivered.

Gloves, right.

Sam said that I need to wear gloves, even though the entire thing was covered in plastic.

And I had a random weird thought.

What if Roy lied to me?

It came out of the blue.

What if Mike knew about me? What if Roy planned to take my money and still hand me over to Mike?

The hot Florida evening turned into a winter night in the Alps.

Fear moved like ice inside me.

What if Mike has an eye on me?

A bad feeling of being watched made me turn my head.

There was no one out there. The street was empty and surely Sam would have noticed something. But Sam doesn’t know Mike, not like I do.

Sam doesn’t know that Mike made a mother watch as they pulled her sons teeth and then took a hammer and asked her to break his nose, or else he would kill him.

He doesn’t know what Mike is capable of.

I started picking at my cuticle.

Maybe I should run. Take the money I have and get away.

I bit my lower lip, until blood flew.

The necklace I have around my neck held one lethal dose of Aconite. If I would ever need it, I could take it and I could off myself.

I would rather die than be in Mike’s house again.

A knock on the window made me jump.

Sam stood there, watching me.

He opened the door and I stumbled out of the car. Scared, shaking.

“Hey, hey, are you okay, what happened?”

His eyes looked me up and down. Searching for visible wounds. His hands moved on my upper arms.

“I am fine. I just.”

“Listen, if you don’t want to come in, you don’t have to. I can drive you home right away. I don’t want you to hurt, my deadly darling.”

“You don’t. Let’s do this.”

His hand wrapped around my fingers and I took a big gulp of air.

I can do this, this will put my mind at ease.