“Actually,” Skully points to both of us. “It’s both of you.” My chest rises and falls as my heart thrashes against my ribcage. Shaking my head, I whisper. “No. Why are you here!”

Wicked ignores me. “Take me instead, Skully.”

“I don’t want you, Wicked. I need her. She is the only one who can save her.”

“Save who?” I scream so loud my throat aches.

Wicked’s legs falter, and he raises his arms to the side. He’s shirtless, his jeans and boots with nothing else. His arms widen like a bat, desperate and precise. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Skully. To you only. For as long as I live…”

My brows cross in, and I twist, attempting to pull myself out of the binds around my ankles. “What the fuck is happening?” The pain is now burning the core part of my brain, the area I can’t feel.

“You would go against her?” Skully asks, and I watch as Wicked takes calculated steps closer to the wounded man kneeling at Skully’s feet. The people surrounding us part, turning to look at one another in shock.

“I would go against her, for her.” Silence stretches out through the air, and I feel my heart fracturing in my chest like thin twigs between my fingers.

“And what of what I needed from Ruby? What then?”

Wicked’s head is dipped, the muscles on his neck throbbing, the sweat. “I brought you a gift. I need to grab a piece of paper out of my jeans back pocket—” Before he can finish his sentence, someone reaches in and snatches it, removing his mask to read the words. He looks around Wicked’s age, with soft features and chubby cheeks.

His eyes rest on Wicked before they find Skully. “There’s another.”

Skully steps forward, swiping the paper off him and reading the words.

Wicked doesn’t waste time. He looks partially over his shoulder, and I follow his sight as Royce drags in a young girl with blonde curly hair. She doesn’t look familiar, and for a few seconds, I wonder who she is.

“This—” Wicked rises to his feet, squaring his shoulders. “Is Jesenia La Rosa. The twin sister of Ruby. You didn’t know who she was when you thought I killed her.” My blood turns to ice and my stomach drops to the ground. “She’s a match, Skully. Use her, take me, and let Ruby go. I’ll be the greatest fucking Hangman.” Wicked looks to baby-face beside him, rolling spit in his mouth before aiming it toward the ground. “Like I always have been.”

“I must do my own checks before I let her go,” Skully says, slowly removing the mask around his face. “What happened to Victor?”