Page 118 of The Art of Being a Psychopath

“I started talking to her online,” he went on, “Managed to get her to agree to meet me in real life. She was stubborn at first, but I’m a persuasive guy. What can I say?” He shrugged. “I’m a real charmer when I want to be. I talked her round, eventually. We went on a date, for a meal at my favourite restaurant.”

He wagged his finger at me playfully.

“You and I both know she was lucky that night. If Alex hadn’t arrived when he did, I’d have taken her out to my car, drugged her, and taken her back to my studio. I had it all set up, ready. The noose, the knives, the pretty bow. I was going stage the scene, so she’d look like the barbie I sent you. Then, when it was all over, I’d send her gift wrapped to your door with photographs to show you each stage of my process. But when I saw Alex, I decided to change my plan. She wasn’t who I wanted. You were.”

His voice began to change, becoming more sinister, as he said, “You need to go, Emma.” And then he screamed, “Because you’ve ruined FUCKING EVERYTHING!”

He started to pant, gritting his teeth, clenching his jaw and fisting his hands in fury. Then suddenly, he changed, jumping on the spot, shaking his arms and rolling his neck like a fighter about to enter the ring. The switch was so quick it made me scramble backwards, bending my knees as I braced myself against the tree trunk. This man was so wickedly unpredictable, so evil, I didn’t know what he’d say or do next. I needed to get out of here.

“You’re gonna die tonight,” he hissed, pointing at me as my eyes darted about, looking frantically around the clearing, praying for a way out. “And that right there is your grave that I’ll dump you in. I got it ready earlier because I don’t want to waste time on you. You’re not the main event tonight...”

As he said that, I saw movement in the trees up ahead, and when Alex appeared in the clearing, holding a gun pointed right at Arran’s head, I felt a rush of relief flood through me, then the sting of fear.

“You took your time,” Arran said calmly as he turned to face Alex. Then he focused back on me and said, “Don’t think he’s here to save you, by the way. He didn’t track us down with a tracker on the car or anything like that. I asked him to be here. He’s here for me.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-SEVEN

EMMA

Alex stalked towards Arran with purpose and pressed the barrel of his gun right against his forehead.

“She’s all I’m fucking here for,” he snapped, and he glared at him, panting as he kept the gun pressed against his head, his finger ready on the trigger.

But he didn’t pull it, and Arran just grinned back at him as he stood tall and proud, not showing a hint of fear as death looked him in the eye.

“Do you think you’re here to do your hero bullshit?” Arran asked, then tutted. “We’ve talked about this, remember? You need to work on that saviour complex of yours. It isn’t doing you any good. You need to stop with that shit. She...” He pointed right at me. “Isn’t part of our story. She isn’t part of any of this.” He shrugged nonchalantly as he added, “She needs to go.”

“She’s going nowhere,” Alex snapped and in a fit of anger, he moved away from Arran, walking towards me, but keeping his gun trained on his evil twin brother.

He knelt beside me, gun still in the air, as he used his other hand to try and rip the duct tape from my ankles.

“I’m getting you out of here,” he whispered as he yanked at the tape. “You’re gonna be okay.”

It wasn’t easy to work with one hand, and as he took his eyes off his brother to assess what he was doing, we heard a click.

I looked up to see Arran pointing a gun right at me. Alex did too, and instantly, he stood up, placing himself in front of me and holding his own gun in both hands as he sneered at his brother.

“Put the fucking gun down.”

“Not happening,” Arran replied, sidestepping to get to me.

Alex moved too, and Arran laughed.

“You can try and protect her all you want, but I’ll just shoot you in the kneecaps to get you out of the way before I shoot her in the head.”

“Do you think I won’t shoot you first?” Alex snapped.

“You could. But I’m hoping you won’t.”

“Why?” Alex stood his ground, his body tense as he challenged his brother.

“Because,” Arran said, dropping his arm to his side, the one that held the gun. “That isn’t what I had planned for us.”

“Whatever you’ve got planned, she isn’t a part of it,” Alex hissed.

“No. She isn’t,” Arran concurred.