“I told you Chris was someone to stay away from. He has more secrets that should stay buried than myself. It was easy enough to find proof and blackmail the sheriff.”

“I’m sorry, I really am, that your fiancé left you, but that isn’t a reason to hurt others. They didn’t deserve that,” I tried, my mind reeling.

“They didn’t deserve the pain. Don’t you see?”

“See what?” I asked.

“I see them,” she insisted. “I saved them. I gave them peace and made sure they never knew the pain I felt.”

It was all coming together.

“I never wanted to be saved,” I argued.

“You needed to be,” she said firmly and shook her head.

“I would’ve left him eventually.”

“He was only going to hurt you,” Mallory insisted. “I saved you.”

My stomach turned, and I held back the growing nausea. “Is that why you stopped?” I asked, my stomach thinking of every last victim who died at Mallory’s hands.

“When I saw how free you were because of what I did to you, I knew I’d fulfilled my purpose,” she said. “All this was meant to bring me to you. I know it was.”

“You knew who I was,” I guessed. “That day at the café when we first met. That wasn’t an accident?”

“Of course not. I knew who you were. I had to know. When you survived, I had to make sure you didn’t go back to him. When I met you, you were so sad. I knew you understood. I knew you felt the same pain as me. That’s why the world brought us together.”

The delusional thoughts only got worse the more I pushed. I tugged gently at the binds holding my hands, but they didn’t budge.

“I believed you, all these years,” I said, feeling the anger festering in my chest. Everything in me screamed at me to have some sense of self preservation, but I couldn’t stop the words tumbling out.

“I trusted you! You were my friend.”

“We still are friends! Can’t you see? I did all of this for you,” she cried.

“What do you mean?”

“I killed those two women for you to show you, to help you understand.”

“No,” I said. “That wasn’t for me. I never wanted that.”

Something seemed to snap inside of Mallory, and her entire face shifted, her scowl growing. I swallowed hard.

“Ungrateful,” she spat into my face. “I did all of this for you. I sent you that gift, and you’re going to sit here and pretend not to understand.”

“I don’t understand!” I shouted back.

I knew it was a mistake the second I said it. I was only adding fuel to the fire.

“You’re only saying that because of him,” Mallory accused. She paced back-and-forth in front of me. “He ruined it. He lied to you, made you hate me.”