Silence fell between the two of them as Sophia digested his words. They shook her to her core. He had said that he had enjoyed the act of killing, the control it gave him, but this, actively seeking out people to murder, was something else. "I thought you said you killed for me," she said, her voice small.

"I was," Graham said. "I had to get your attention, Sophia. I wasn't careful. I didn't want to keep my identity from law enforcement. I wanted them to know, so word would get out, and you would know what I was doing."

"Why?"

"So you would know that I was coming for you." He stared at her intensely. It dawned on Sophia that he had some thought in his mind, even before he reached L.A., that she wanted him to, what, rescue her? From her oh-so-horrible life?

"I could have gone another route, yes," Graham said. "Sent you letters, called, something more normal. But we were never normal. And that fact that taking their lives gave me pleasure," he sat back with a happy sigh, "it just made sense."

"But the women weren't the only ones you killed," Sophia said. A traitorous tear leaked down her cheek, but Graham barely seemed to notice. "You killed one of their boyfriends, too."

Graham scoffed. "I had short but wonderful relationships with Helen and Jenny, I'll admit," he said. "And killing them was nowhere near as satisfying as killing Elizabeth, I suspect because I wasn't as close to them. But Jenny, she needed someone like me. Her old partner," he shook his head. "Horrible. He came after me when Jenny went missing, but I knew what he had done in the past. Terrible things to Jenny. So I killed him. Not because it brought me pleasure, but because I had to stop him from doing those things to anyone else."

The hypocrisy was downright astounding, but there was little point in bringing it up to him. "So, you got to L.A., and then what?"

"I saw you," Graham said, a small smile appearing on his face. "You were just as beautiful as when I last saw you. Older yes, but still beautiful. But you seemed nervous. That was the first time I followed you, almost back to your apartment, do you remember? You did a bunch of rights to shake me off; I figured you thought it was some random person who was stalking you."

"I remember."

"I didn't want to scare you, so I stopped tailing you, but circled back later. And that's when I saw him for the first time."

Graham's face hardened, and Sophia swallowed hard. He had to be talking about Dean, there wasn't anyone else.

"You were leaving the apartment, and you still looked nervous. And it was him, wasn't it? He was the one making you nervous?"

It took everything in Sophia's power not to gape at him. He really was delusional. But she gave a noncommittal shrug. "It's complicated," she said. "But you're not entirely wrong." God, please let Dean forgive her for saying that about him.

"So I knew I couldn't just go up to you out of the blue. He would have stopped me, wouldn't he?"

"Most likely."

"And I had to keep avoiding the Feds until I could find a way to make you mine again. I'll admit, the plan I came up with was insane, given that I wanted to avoid them, but it was the only way I could assure that you would separate from him."

Sophia narrowed her eyes. "You, you wanted me to call the cops? That's why you followed me so much, you wanted me to contact them, so the Feds would contact me?"

"You hadn't guessed that it was me who followed you, so I used that to my advantage. And I knew the Feds had to know about you, so if they hadn't contacted you yet, I was sure they would if you reached out for help."

"So you got me out of L.A., why waste time in Chicago?"

Graham's jaw tightened. "The Feds got just a little too close when they chased me in L.A., so I lost you. I assumed they would bring you to a big city, so I headed to Chicago, hoping to get wind of where you were there. But their security tightened. After so many months, I still had no luck, and eventually, they caught up with me."

"And that's why you killed that other woman?" Sophia asked.

"Now, you're starting to understand. I killed her, and I knew the Feds would spook and go running back to you to make sure you wouldn't fall into my hands. All I had to do was follow them."

"Which is how you got to New York. But how did you find me?"

"A stroke of luck." Graham gave her a smile. "Just another reason why I knew we were meant to find each other again. I saw you on T.V. It made sense that the Feds would have you work at a hospital, so I just waited. And when I saw you leaving early," he gave a chuckle, "I figured maybe there was a part of you that wanted me to find you."

Which brought them to where they were right now. The more Sophia digested his story, the more ill she felt. He thought she wanted all of this. He thought she wanted him back, wanted him to come 'save' her from her apparently dismal life in L.A. But now it was her turn. And she had to make the lies convincing.

"You're right, you know," she said, "about L.A. It wasn't great."

He nodded, sympathy shining in his eyes. Barf.

"And Dean..." Sophia trailed off. "That was his name. Dean. The man you saw me with."

"You were afraid of him?"

"He didn't understand me," Sophia said. "So when I would do things that he didn't understand, it was just all criticism, all the time. And it was hard to explain to him who I really was."

It was a lot easier for Sophia to talk shit about Dean when she was really just talking shit about Graham. But it still sucked.

"I wanted to leave, but leaving you was so hard for me." This time, Sophia played into her tears. Graham would lap them right up. "I didn't want to go through that again. So when you gave me the out, I took it."

"That's all I wanted to give you."

"So now what?" Sophia asked, gulping back her waterworks. "I understand you, and I think you understand me, but where does this leave us? What was the point of all of this, Graham? How does it end?"

"I told you, Sophia," he said, looking at her in earnest. "I want to be together. Not just until the end of our lives, but forever. And I know how to do that."

Sophia had seen it coming, but she widened her eyes, feigning shock. "You want me to die?"
"I want us to die. Together. So we can also be with each other."

Sophia lost the ability to talk. She knew it was coming, but hearing the whole plan, it was a lot to take in. She had to get out of here, but she, probably literally, only had minutes to live.

"Sophia?"

"Yeah," she gasped. "It's just, that's a lot to take in."

"I know," he said. "I know. But don't you trust me?"

Sophia chose her words carefully. This was no longer about placating him, working his ego. Now, she had to keep him from killing her just because she said the wrong thing. "In some ways, yes," she said cautiously. "But it's been ten years, Graham. We can't get back to where we were in just a few days."

He pressed his lips together, his entire face tightening, but then he nodded. "I understand."

"When, uh, when did you want to do this?"

"As soon as possible," came the immediate answer. "We have to, Sophia. The Feds are onto me. And if they find me, they'll separate us. We'll probably never see each other again."

"I understand," Sophia assured him. But then she stalled again. "How have you been avoiding the Feds, anyway? And how were able to follow them from Chicago to New York?"

Graham smirked. "It's easy to run if you know how to hide," he said. "They were so proud of themselves, having solved who killed Elizabeth. They thought I was an idiot for leaving hard evidence all around. But like I told you, Sophia, I wanted you to know what I was doing. And I know how to hide. Honestly? Avoiding them wasn't all that difficult.

"Following them, a little bit more, I'll admit. But all it took was the right bribe to the right air traffic controller, and I figured it out."

If she got out of here, Sophia would be having words with Travers and Jamie about who had access to F.B.I. flight plans

"This is going to happen, Sophia," he said, a hint of warning under his words, "it'll happen whether you want it to or not. But I would rather you want it to happen. I don't want to do anything to you that you don't want, but I will."

She nodded, a shiver of fear running up her spine. That seemed to have been Graham's philosophy for their entire relationship. "Can you give me some time to think?"

He didn't like that, she could tell. He was quiet, seemingly fighting with himself as to whether he should give her the time.

Apparently, his desire to have her on board with this whole plan won out over his urge to get the act done with as soon as possible. "You have twelve hours," he told her. Graham got up and replaced the chair against the wall. "But no more, after that. No more time to think, no more conversations, no more wasting time. I'll need an answer, Sophia. And you're not going to like who I am if you don't give me what I want."

And with that, Sophia was thrust back into darkness.