Hit List

sixty five | warehouse

Bree's POV

I step into the building. The space is dark and smells of dust and ashes. It's achingly dry and quiet, filled with the hollowed screams of people that will never take another breath.

Because of me.

But I'm here to change things. To be stronger. To do better.

On Thursdays, Antonio is usually here. I've never asked why—not that he would tell me. I've only known that he says he is 'going to the warehouse'. I assume it's to do more of his dirty work.

"Do you think I don't know what you're doing?" His voice says, achingly familiar and yet it sounds miles away. A recording?

"Antonio?" I turn in the dark, empty warehouse, searching for where the voice is coming from.

There, in the far end of the warehouse, someone is tied with a black bag over their head. They fight with all their might to get out of their shackles, but it is no use.

But I know those clothes. I know that tanned shade of skin. I've touched the muscles that are flexing as he tries to get out of his trap.

"I have your final victim. Once you have completed this, you're free to go. You're free to live your life."

I rush over to Elijah, pulling the bag off his head before Antonio can finish speaking. His eyes are wide, his mouth shut with tape. Tears create pathways down his cheeks. I pull of the tape.

"Bree, he took her. He has Kasey. Please." His voice is dry and rough, filled with raw pain. The words bring her racing heart to a halt.

"What? How?"

I search for the device that Antonio is using to talk through. A phone. "I have cameras set up everywhere. Including in this building. Did you really think I wouldn't know what your plan is? Did you really think I didn't notice when you kept stalling, avoiding killing your friend? Come on Bree, you know I keep track of all my rats."

"Why are you doing this?" All I want is to get out.

"For the same reason that I killed your sisters. Those who are vulnerable are easily moulded; are easily influenced to do unspeakably bad things." His laugh hums through the other end of the line, uncaring of the pain it causes.

Antonio was the man in the black boots. He is the one that I saw from the gap beneath my bed. The one that made my sisters bodies drop like lifeless dolls. "You." The word is filled with so much poison, so much hatred, that even Elijah stops trying to get out of his bindings. "I'm coming for—"

"Uh, uh, uh. Not so fast, Bree. Do not forget that one, I have your video tape and two, I have your lover's little sister. Do you want to hear the way she breathes when she is scared out of her little mind?" The phone shifts and soft cries fill the phone. "Say hi, Kasey." She screams at a high pitch, the sounds of her struggling coming through the phone, but her mouth must be taped because she doesn't say anything.

"What do you want, Antonio?" He has everyone exactly where he wants them, wrapped around his fingers.

"I want you to remain my little monster. I want you to suffer, because suffering is a breeding ground for evil. Evil makes me a lot of money. So I am going to make sure you suffer endlessly. Kill him or I kill her." I can already see it—my hands wrapped around Antonio's throat, finally seeing the life leave those devilish eyes.

Elijah's eyes widen. "Bree, don't let him hurt her. Do what you have to. I understand. I get it now, okay? I see why you couldn't stop it. I forgive you. Just save Kasey."

"No, Elijah. I won't hurt you." He has already killed my sisters. That's why I was left alone and vulnerable in the first place. My entire life was rerouted onto the path he wanted me to take.