Evelyn
My breath hitched. I staggered back, my pulse a wild, erratic thing in my chest. No. He couldn’t be here.
My gaze darted to the security camera, and there he was.
The same black hoodie. The same soulless eyes. Standing closer than before. At our doorstep.
“Well,” his voice slithered through the speaker, smooth, taunting, “stepping away from the door won’t do much. If I wanted to hurt you, I fucking would.” He paused, the weight of his words pressing against my ribs. “But here’s the thing-I’m not here to hurt you. Not today.” A beat of silence. Then, a soft chuckle. “Can’t say the narrative won’t change next time we meet.”
My stomach twisted violently. I could see it-that sick grin. The one he wore when he watched people crumble.
“And you know what?” His voice dropped lower, dripping with cruel amusement. “Two birds, one stone. If I hurt you, I hurt that thing growing inside you-Mr. Adriano’s offspring.” He inhaled, as if savoring the thought. “Just imagining it makes me want to do it right now.”
A trembling hand flew to my mouth, muffling my strangled gasp.
My eyes flicked away from the screen, landing on the door.
Something about this Tyler-this version of him-felt worse than before. More unhinged. More lethal. Like he had nothing left to lose. I was almost afraid he’d tear through that door.
“But not now, Belladonna.” His voice was closer. Louder. The hairs on my arms rose. “After all, if there’s one thing I am, it’s patient. I like to take my time.” Another chuckle, slow and deliberate. “And I promise, sweetheart, it’ll be excruciatingly slow when I rip that bastard’s baby out of your ripped stomach.”
The room tilted. My knees buckled.
No…
I couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t let him hurt our baby.
“Sienna, right?” He sighed the name, as if tasting it. “That’s what your dear fiance’s been calling her. Kinda stupid, assuming the gender. But let him have his moment.”
A sharp metallic scrape echoed through the speaker. My breath caught as I watched him pull a knife from his pocket, dragging it across the door. The sound sliced into my ears, jagged and cruel.
“Not like he’ll ever get to hold his child alive.”
Terror rooted me in place. Not just at his words, but at how much he knew. Every little detail of our life.
“Wanna know something, darling?” His voice was a serpent’s hiss. “I have big plans for the both of you. Jacob won’t suffer much-just the loss of his fiancee and child.” Another pause. “But you two? You’ll kiss the world goodbye.”
I stumbled back, my heartbeat a violent drum against my ribs. My vision blurred with unshed tears. I felt so cold. So terrifyingly cold. I needed Jacob’s warmth, his arms around me, his voice telling me everything would be okay.
But Jacob wasn’t here.
Tyler exhaled sharply, almost thoughtful. “I wasn’t planning on killing you both, you know. But prison… prison changed things.” His tone was eerily casual, like he was discussing the weather. “And then Jacob had to go and take everything I built. That struck a nerve.”
A pause. A shift. And then-
“Now? Now, I have no intention of keeping you alive.”
My breath left me in a sharp, broken exhale.
“I’ll admit,” he mused, “I used to want to enjoy that sweet, beautiful body of yours.” My stomach turned violently. “But prison? It made my tastes… dull. Now, I crave something else.” I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to know. He exhaled, slow and satisfied, “Your death-your child’s death-it’ll be a treat to myself. A gift.”
I exhaled shakily, my breath uneven, my hands trembling so violently that my entire body quaked. My legs felt weak-like they might give out beneath me.
Tyler’s sick grin stretched wider as he tilted his head, his gaze lifting to the camera-locking onto me. He knew I was watching. And for the first time, I saw him. Really saw him. This was the same Tyler I had encountered before. Same face. Same features. But something was different now. The wicked gleam in his eyes was gone, replaced by something far worse. Something lethal.
Like an urge. Like a predator that had finally been set loose. Maybe this was who he had always been beneath the mask of a business tycoon. And now, with nothing left to lose, the psychopath inside him had fully emerged.
His voice slithered through the speaker, slow and deliberate, “And do you know how I’ll kill you, Belladonna?”
My stomach twisted violently. His grin stretched wider, his voice dripping with sick amusement.
“First,” he murmured, “I’ll carve open that stomach of yours, pull your child out, and kill it.” I choked on a breath. He let out a soft sigh, as if savoring the thought. “Then, I’ll cut it into pieces-right in front of you.”
My knees nearly buckled.
“And when you’ve had your fill of horror, I’ll put a bullet through your skull, Baby,” he purred. “I’ll watch as your brain splatters across the floor. And then-” he took another step closer, the camera distorting his face into something monstrous “-I’ll take my time cutting up that beautiful body of yours, too.”
Panic surged through me, a raw and primal thing. My breath came in short, uneven bursts. My body screamed at me to run.
Tyler lifted the knife, twirling it lazily between his fingers, before holding it up to the camera. His expression turned eerily blank.
“Goodbye, Belladonna,” he whispered. Then, almost as an afterthought, his lips curled into something sinister. “And be careful… I might change my mind and take your life sooner than intended.”
I didn’t wait for him to turn away. I ran. I sprinted down the hall, my heart hammering against my ribs. My hands fumbled as I threw open the bedroom door, slamming it shut behind me. Clothes. I needed to hide. I ripped garments from the closet, tossing them to the floor until there was enough space. Crawling inside, I pressed myself into the corner, shielding my belly with trembling hands.
“It’s okay…” My voice was barely a whisper, trembling as hard as my body. “I won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll stay here. We’ll never leave.” But even as I whispered promises to the life growing inside me, hot tears slipped down my cheeks.
Because deep down, a horrible, suffocating fear coiled around my heart.
Would I really be able to save our baby from that monster?