From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(116)

Squirrel’s arm tightened around Sarah. “I can’t leave Jared. What would he do without me? What would I do without him? This isn’t about Jared. This is about you bitches who can’t see past him.”

“He wasn’t interested in Lena.”

“No, but Lena found out. That bitch went through my shit and found all the press clippings of the murders. She was going to go to Jared and tell him I was a pervert.”

Kori wished Lena had been a little faster with her tattle telling. “He wouldn’t have believed her.”

“No, but he would have known those names. Do you know how hard I’ve worked to keep him from even thinking about those girls?”

She had to keep him talking. “Sarah hasn’t rejected you.”

“She would.” His tone dripped with disgust. “She wouldn’t let me touch her. She only wants Jared like they all want Jared. Like they all try to take him away from me.”

God, he was insane and she wasn’t sure what she could do. He was too close to the knives, and unlike Mia she didn’t tote a gun around, though now she did see the value in owning one. Just in case crazy serial killer who’s in love with his best friend and doesn’t like women turning him down decides to show up. That’s what a gun was for.

But he had given her something to work with. “You’re not thinking this through, Squirrel. Jared is going to know about this. He’s with Kai right now. You can’t pin this one on him.”

“I didn’t mean to pin Lena on him. I swear I didn’t. He’s my best friend. I can’t let him go to jail, but I can save him from one more gold-digging bitch. Now I can get rid of you and then off myself and everything will be made clean for Jared again,” he said.

“Please think about this.” She couldn’t stand here and watch Sarah die. This couldn’t be how she ended. “Sarah hadn’t even kissed him. They aren’t close.”

“I wasn’t thinking about marrying him. Actually, I was lying and I don’t find him attractive at all,” Sarah managed to wheeze.

“Liar,” Squirrel spat. “I saw how you looked at him. It’s the same way all the others looked at him. You wanted to use him like those women did when we were kids. I watched it. I saw how those old ladies would use him and he was helpless. I thought I could help him. I offered to take his place once but that bitch sneered at me and told me I could never be worth a dime. I killed her. She wasn’t my first, but she was one of the best. I loved the way she screamed. I wish I had more time with you, gorgeous. I wish I had time to show you what you missed out on. Do you know that most of the women begged me to stay with them after I showed them how good I was?”

“They weren’t begging you to rape them again, dumbass. They were trying to survive the experience,” Sarah shot back.

“Will you shut up and stop irritating him?” Sarah’s mouth was definitely going to have to go. “Squirrel, I was wrong. If you kill Sarah and then kill yourself, they’ll think Jared did all of it. They’ll think Jared was jealous that you stole his girl. That’s what the cops will believe. It’s going to be so bad for Jared in prison. He’ll probably die.”

Squirrel’s eyes went wide. “Can’t you see I did this all for him? I did this to take care of him. If only I’d had more time with Lena. I should have hidden her body. Why would they think he killed Lena?”

She needed to make him see some kind of reason. “Because the feds have been on to you for a while now. Well, not you. They think Jared did all of this, and if you don’t talk to them, he’ll go to jail.”

“He’ll get the death penalty,” Sarah corrected. “They’ll stick a needle in his arm and everything he’s done will be tainted.”

“He won’t be a hero anymore.” Kori was willing to try anything to keep this from happening.

“I think I should kill you, too. For good measure,” Squirrel said. “You’re his type, you know. You and this one. You’re exactly the type of women he adores to f*ck, but Jared wouldn’t ever make it real. He wouldn’t be seen on the red carpet with a woman like you. You’re too fat. He’d be a laughingstock.”

“Then why kill her? Why kill me? He won’t ever love us. For that matter, I’m involved with his brother and Sarah was just a girl he almost kissed. We can’t hurt your place with him.” He’d done that all on his own when he’d decided to start killing women.

Squirrel stared through her. “Once he starts taking fancy roles, he’ll drop me, too. Now that he has his brother back, I don’t think he’ll need me anymore. I never wanted that f*cker to come back in our lives.”

“You’re the one who slashed my tires.” He’d thought the car was Kai’s.

“I hate him. He always told Jared I wasn’t good enough for him. He’s still f*cking saying it. For years he ignored Jared, and the minute he’s willing to talk, Jared dumps me with the rest of the crew. Like I was another employee. I couldn’t stand it. It eats at me. I can usually go a year or so before I really need to hurt someone, but the minute he started talking about his brother, I knew I would have to do this. I thought I could hold out, but the pressure’s too much. I can’t wait.”

“Please stop.” She could see a thin line of red on Sarah’s neck, see the pain in her friend’s eyes.