Page 58 of Mercy & Malice

I’m not fucking crazy. “Stop lying. The simplest fucking challenge, and you backed out. The entire fucking time you’ve been pulling the strings. You let them bury us alive; you had no problem walking across a fucking rusted walkway in middle of the Gulf. But you wouldn’t drink a simple vial of liquid and tell me the truth after I drank it first to show it was safe?”

Was I set up? Did Luca play me from the start too? Will he tell me the truth? I ask him, “Did you know? Is that why you made us partner together?”

His stance doesn’t change as he plainly explains, “I suspected it when she didn’t want to play. She had more reason to need Mercy than any of us. But that’s not why I made her partner with you. Ivy had to be with me.”

He suspected it from the beginning. I didn’t. I know her better. At least, I thought I did. “So, the bitch just played me for fun.”

Brooke’s softly sobs out the words, “I’m sorry. I had to win.”

Her words stab at my chest, the ache too much. How could she do this to me and then cry and pretend she’s suffering? She needs to suffer. “No, don’t cry. I’m not falling for your act again.”

Brooke tries to come towards me, but I jerk back before she stays in place and rambles, “I couldn’t sacrifice you. I saved your life. Would you have rather me gotten us to the final round and stab you? Or would you have stabbed me? I knew what was ahead, and I couldn’t do it.”

She’s lying. She doesn’t care about me. She never has. “You did stab me. Right in the fucking back.”

Luca tells me, “Your issue is not with Ivy. Let her go.”

He’s right. He’s always right. Always stronger, better, smarter, Luca fucking Montclair, the superior twin. “You always think you’re better than everyone else. That you should get your way just because you’re you.”

Luca says, “I played the same game you did. Let. Her. Go.”

It wasn’t the same fucking game. Mine was doomed from the start. “No. This is bullshit. I didn’t have a chance with the lying bitch.”

Decider speaks, “Choices. You picked your teammate, which was a test of your judgment. Yours proved to be catastrophic.”

My brother keeps a level stare on me as he says, “And your next choice will be fatal if you don’t remove the fucking knife from her neck. She didn’t want to play Mercy. We did. This is between us. Leave her out of it.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. “I need to win.”

Luca retorts, “Too late. But you can walk out of here alive if she does.”

Brooke whines again, “I’m so sorry.”

My rage explodes as I yell at her, distracted as Luca rushes me. We both go to the ground.

I struggle to keep a grip on the dagger but release it as Luca takes it, looming over me.

If he stabs me, it’ll be the best way out of this nightmare. But he doesn’t. His foot sinks into my gut before he backs away.

Why didn’t he end me? I wanted it to be over.

I attempt to get up, thinking he will finish me off, but his foot just connects with my side again.

Ivy says, “Stop it. There’s enough killing already.”

She should’ve let him execute me.

Instead, Ivy declares, “I’m done. You win. And you don’t even have to kill me.”

Decider tells her, “That’s not an option. Winner has to sacrifice. No one will succeed by default.”

“You’re really getting on my fucking nerves with the Mercy riddles. It’s just a fucking game. I quit.” She attempts to leave but they block her path.

I head to the door. “I’m done. There’s no need for me to be here.”

What the fuck is the point? I leave the old campus for the last time, unsure where to go. I’m driving aimlessly when my phone rings and I see my father’s name. Might as well get it over with. “What?”

“Damn, Micah. I’ve been trying to reach you to get an update.”