“Are you kidding me?” Ruby said, belting out a laugh. “We both know how you feel about her. Remember when I told you I knew you couldn’t love me because you had no room in your heart to love. I didn’t say that because I thought you were incapable of loving someone. I said it because Lisa fills that space, and no amount of denial or fucking other women will make it go away, Bennett. And after getting to know you, it was clear you were a good person, one who had integrity, honesty, and compassion, so I began hating myself for doing what I was doing. It clearly didn’t make me stop, though, so I have to apologize for everything I did to get to this point.”

“What are you talking about?” Bennett said, tilting her head. “What else did you do?”

Ruby sighed. “Napoleon’s goons killed the people in the park, but I was the one who killed the pushers in the alleys.”

“What? Why?”

“If you remember, the first one was right before Rapture. You’d given me enough signs to know you were finally interested in me, and I wanted to be prepared. If we were to have sex, it had to be great sex, and I needed the stamina to give you a run for your money.”

“Christ.”

“I killed the second guy because I was trying to force your hand. I thought if you believed Napoleon hadn’t stopped hunting in Back Bay, you’d go after him, and then I could follow you. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and after waiting for so long and being so close, my vengefulness ended up getting the best of me. I was running out of ideas. I was running out of patience, and so I switched out your blood supply in hopes you’d believe he’d done it, and you’d finally lead me to him…which you did.”

Bennett’s eyes flashed blue. “Do you have any bloody idea how many people you put in danger by that stunt? Jesus Christ, Ruby, if I had gone on a rampage, I’d have not only killed innocents, it would have put our entire goddamned race at risk. What in the hell were you thinking?”

“I thought you’d just get antsy when you were trying to maintain with the bags. I had no idea you weren’t feeding on anything else. I figured you’d realize the blood was bad before it got as far as it did. I guess that was stupid on my part.”

“No, what’s stupid is the fact I’m still allowing you to breathe,” Bennett growled, pulling the dagger from her boot. “Although, that’s something I can easily remedy.”