Chapter 124

King POV

“You’ll regret this!” Gary Phillips, the police chief of Brookhaven, Oregon, spits through clenched teeth.

I tilt my head, studying him through the eyeholes of my ‘Call of Duty’ mask. He dangles from the wall, stripped down to nothing but his underwear. Pale, flabby, weak—his chest heaves, streaked with blood from the cuts I’ve carved into his chest.

“You know,” I drawl, my voice cold and mocking, “for a police chief, you’d think you’d hit the gym once in a while.”

I press the tip of the blade against his sternum, just enough for him to feel it. His pupils dilate, terror clouding his already broken expression. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. The fear. The desperation.

Soon, he’ll be begging for his life, even though deep down, he already knows he won’t leave here alive. I’ve made that more than clear already.

The blade glides lower, slow and precise, as I slice into him again. His skin splits easily, the blood welling up to bead