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  He blinked. His face had gone blank.

  “You killed him and you kept Cathy because you liked the power you had with her. Did she always do whatever you said?”

  He looked around the room. They were alone. No cameras. No guards. He pulled on the handcuffs—they were linked to a chain that had been secured around the leg of the table. “Always,” he whispered to Sarah. “Right until the end . . .”

  And that was when she’d died.

  He stared into Sarah’s eyes. “I won’t be locked away behind bars.”

  No, because he’d convinced the other shrinks that he was crazy, but she could see the truth. “You weren’t going to kill yourself at that cabin, were you? You knew Cash would stop you.”

  He laughed. “He’s such a good shot. If he’d thought I was the cold-blooded killer, he would have shot me right between the eyes, too.”

  “Cathy was about to kill Ana,” she said, feeling goose bumps rise on her arms. “Cash had no choice but to shoot her.”

  He shrugged. “So I gave him a choice, with me.”

  Instead of appearing as a killer, you turned yourself into a victim before him.

  Smart. Clever bastard.

  “You aren’t supposed to be here,” he whispered. “You snuck in. Naughty girl . . .”

  Sarah stiffened.

  “That’s why I can talk to you. No one will ever know what I say.”

  And he was saying plenty.

  “No cameras are running. No witnesses. Just us,” he whispered. “There will never be any proof of what I say here.”

  “You think people wouldn’t believe me?” Now she was angry. “I’m a respected profiler, I’m—”

  “I’m the boy who was taken and tortured. I’m the one who is so very . . .” He smiled. “Lost.”

  Sarah’s heartbeat drummed steadily in her chest. “What were you like before he took you?” Because William Marshall’s parents were dead. He had no living family. No one who could tell her about the boy that Billy had been so long ago.

  “Trying to see if I was already . . . different?” His laughter was rough. “Jonathan did like the different ones. The kids who enjoyed hurting themselves. Or their pets. He’d watch the kids for a while. Make sure they were just right.”

  Right . . . like you’d been right?

  “Said kids like us were easier to take. A bit of trouble, so the cops and the parents always waited longer to start looking for us. Thought we’d left on our own. Made it so much simpler for him.” Billy inclined his head. “He liked to bring out the darkness inside. Some people, they just have a lot of darkness, you know what I mean?” He paused. “Betting you have plenty of darkness, being Murphy’s daughter and all.”

  She licked her lips. “Yes. I do.” A very true answer. “The kids who died . . . I guess they weren’t dark enough?”

  “They didn’t follow the rules.” Said without any emotion. Did he have any emotion left inside of him? Sarah wasn’t so sure. “Sometimes, those rules meant we had to do very, very bad things.”

  A new picture was emerging in her mind. That was the thing about a profile. The more information you had, the more the profile would twist and turn.

  If Jonathan Bright had truly picked a certain “type” of child . . . one that was already striking out by hurting others, perhaps he’d honed his own monsters.

  Nature versus nurture. Kids that could have grown up to be perfectly normal had been altered. Their darkest urges pulled out, they’d been tormented until they either broke . . .

  Or they changed.

  Sarah stared at the man before her, and she saw a monster gazing back. “How many people did you and Cathy kill?”

  “Twenty . . .”

  Surprise had her heartbeat kicking to double-time speed, but she didn’t let her expression alter. “Did you murder my father? Did you kill Murphy?”

  The door opened behind her. She looked back and saw a guard slide inside the room. She’d only been promised five minutes. Five minutes with the prisoner completely secured. She needed longer. So much longer.

  “Time’s up,” the guard said, his voice brisk.

  Dammit. Sarah looked back at Billy.

  “I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Murphy.” Billy blinked innocently at her. “But maybe one day . . . when I get cured . . . I’ll be able to go back in society. I’ll be sure to look for him then.”

  The guard came around the table. He unlocked the chain that bound Billy to the table and he led him out of the room. Billy’s steps were slow as he shuffled away.

  Sarah sat there a moment, a dull ringing in her ears.

  After a moment, she gathered her bag and hurried outside. She’d just left the secure holding area when—

  The FBI executive assistant director stepped into her path. “Judging by your face, Dr. Jacobs, that little meeting went as I feared it would.”

  She drew up short.

  Darius inclined his head toward her. “I had to give my approval to get you in there. Who do you think Gabe contacted? Lucky for him, I had already agreed to provide LOST with a favor.”

  “Billy Marshall might have been a victim once,” she said clearly, “but he’s a killer now.” Something she believed with utter certainty.

  “I know.” He sighed. “But no jury is going to convict that guy. They’ll see him as damaged. Broken. The defense will show pictures of a boy who was taken from his family. The jury will look at those images and they’ll never see him for the predator that he is today. They’ll find him not guilty. Probably by reason of mental defect or maybe they’ll just straight up pull jury nullification. I’ve seen shit happen like that before.”

  “He said . . . twenty victims. That he’d killed twenty people.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I think there are more.”

  His eyes closed. “Hell.” Sadness and rage blended on his face. “Sometimes, I think it won’t ever end.”

  “If he gets out, Billy will just kill again.”

  Darius nodded. “Then I guess I have to make sure he doesn’t get out.”

  Easier said than done.

  He turned away from her, but stopped. “Did you find out about your father?”

  “He said . . . he said he hasn’t killed Murphy.”

  “And did you believe that?”

  She had. “I think he would have bragged about the crime.”

  Darius seemed to absorb that for a moment. “I agree.” His head tilted as he studied her. “Did you know that there are about two hundred and fifty serial killers on the loose . . . at any given time?”

  “Yes.” Her stomach clenched. “Yes, I did know that.”

  “Course you knew.” He offered her a tight smile. “Well, we just knocked that number down, didn’t we? Consider this a win. He won’t get out, not for a long time, and when he does . . . we’ll be ready for him.”

  Right. They had time to fight this battle.

  She nodded and her grip tightened on her bag.

  “Besides, until then, he’ll be staying at River View Psychiatric Hospital.” His lips twisted. “Dr. Summers won’t be supervising his care, but she had friends at that place. Friends who I am sure . . . well, they’ll give dear Billy extra special treatment.” His laughter was mocking. “Extra special. Bet he didn’t count on that . . .”

  Chill bumps skated down her spine.

  “Payback can be a real bitch,” Darius said. Then he headed down the narrow hallway.

  Sarah stood there a moment, heart racing.

  And she knew he was right.

  People paid for their crimes, in one way or another. No one ever escaped justice.

  Not really.

  Not forever.

  Acknowledgments

  I’ve had such an incredible time writing my LOST books. I want to thank the awesome staff at Avon for all of their help and insight. I want to thank my readers for following this series and reading the twists and turns in the books. To put it
simply, thank you for getting LOST with me.

  About the Author

  Award-winning author CYNTHIA EDEN writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader bestseller. Cynthia is also a three-time finalist for the prestigious RITA® Award. Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over sixty novels and novellas.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  Praise for Cynthia Eden and her novels . . .

  BROKEN

  “Cynthia Eden’s Broken is what romantic suspense is supposed to be—fast, furious, and very sexy!”

  Karen Rose, New York Times bestselling author

  “Sexy, mysterious, and full of heart-pounding suspense!”

  Laura Kaye, New York Times bestselling author

  “I dare you not to love a Cynthia Eden book!”

  Larissa Ione, New York Times bestselling author

  “Fast-paced, smart, sexy and emotionally wrenching—everything I love about a Cynthia Eden book!”

  HelenKay Dimon

  “Cynthia Eden’s on my must-buy list.”

  Angie Fox, New York Times bestselling author

  By Cynthia Eden

  The LOST Series

  Wrecked

  Taken

  Torn

  Shattered

  Twisted

  Broken

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  wrecked. Copyright © 2017 by Cindy Roussos. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  First Avon Books mass market printing: June 2017

  Digital Edition JUNE 2017 ISBN: 978-0-06-243749-5

  Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-243748-8

  Avon, Avon & logo, and Avon Books & logo are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.

  HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.

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