Feeling foolish, she turned toward the rail and waited as the couple embraced and walked away. She hated Gavin for making her see threats in the faces of strangers. She hated him for the evil he brought to the world. And she hated him because he was about to get away with his fourth murder.

Lila, and Andi, and Niki were bound by rules, and yet he could cheat. If only she didn’t have those constraints.

Somewhere in that thought a seed took root, its tendrils reaching to the sky in search of inspiration while its roots burrowed down to find strength. She could feel it grow inside her, consuming all her air until she understood—the time had come to start playing by a new set of rules.

And just like that, she saw what had to be done. She tapped her fingers on the rail as pieces of a plan moved through her head, cogs and wheels locking into place one by one. Gavin had chosen the playing field. He had chosen the game. He had been controlling the moves from the beginning, and the time had come to turn that around.

She started walking, and by the time she stepped off the Stone Arch Bridge, Lila knew how she would finally get Gavin Spencer.

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Sitting at his table near the guard station, Gavin wanted to crow. Even with the added curveball of Lila’s involvement, his plan had worked just as he had conceived it. In a matter of hours, he would be free to take the next steps, the ones that would ensure that he would never again lose sleep over his mistakes. He would put a stop to Lila before she could put a stop to him.

Like a child waiting for Christmas, he felt as though time had slowed to a near dead stop, the clock’s second hand cruelly lingering before sliding to the next dot. Yet at the same time, Gavin’s mind spun at a fever pitch, jumping from one idea to the next.

He finally calmed himself by thinking about war, specifically the idea that in every war there has to be a last soldier to die—that guy who did everything right, surviving battle after battle, dodging bullets and bombs, only to get shot by some asshole who refused to believe that the end had come. That last soldier let down his guard, believing that some finish line had already been crossed when in truth it remained miles away. Gavin resolved that he would not be that last dead soldier.