<It's like kill or be killed. That's my thing basically>

|Jadesola|

*SLIGHTLY UNEDITED😭*

Friday, September 17, 2021

GASPING, MY eyes flew open, a sea of black staring back at me. Where was I?

Fuck. I groaned loudly, feeling like a train had ran over me, smashing every bone in my body to dust. Why was I aching so much?

Slanting forward, I started to rise but couldn't. I was bound to a seat. No!

There was a pounding behind my temple, an insistent ache that refused to recede as I struggled in my bindings, my wrists wound tightly behind me.

Wait. I paused, craning my neck to and fro. Why was I bound in eerie dimness in the first place?

The stranger tailing me. His maniacal laughter as he caged my hands before I was knocked out.

My lips quivered in horror. I'd been kidnapped! Jesus Christ!

"Hail Mary. You're awake." Darkness shrouded the bent figure, cold voice slashing through the fetid air, "I thought I was going to have to wake you up with a bucket of water. Or blood."

Terror had my entire body quaking badly. I couldn't fathom why he'd kidnapped me, what was his gain? Ransom? Because I was married to Kian, my multi-billionaire husband? Shit. Instant regret at leaving him, clanged a dull pang in my heart. If only I had stayed back. If I had, my baby and I wouldn't be at risk. Fuck.

Sucking in a deep breath, loud yells escaped me, the ache in my temple increasing with every note, "Help! Someone help me! I've been kidnapped!"

That familiar voice again, this time more brittle and harsher, grunted, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Apart from making me angry, it's also a futile attempt because we're in an abandoned church. No one ever comes here."

Afraid to force his hand, I zipped my lips shut, cold sweat beading on my forehead.

The scraping of metal against cement, struck the air and a flood of bright light swarmed all over the place. The creepy asshole had switched on the bulb, his back turned to me.

Fuck him, I was keen to know who had dared kidnap me.

My eyes blinked fast as they got accustomed to the yellow glare, having been in the darkness for too long. Dust, tiny particles of debris, danced in the air as I swept my gaze around. Itching for a means of escape.

We were in a basement of some sorts, the brick-laid walls, dank and moisture dripping down it. From every direction I could view, there were four wide arches, leading to the entrance, the first arch, allowing a faint shaft of sun beam through.

How long had I even been knocked out for? Hours? Days? Weeks?

Looking away, I licked my dry, chapped lips, unable to figure out whether it was evening or afternoon. Terrified, I wasn't going to ask, before he finally decided to kill me.

Still inspecting my gloomy surroundings, I pinned my eyes forward. A metal chair and a table were placed ahead, some beads, a knife, guns and a diary situated atop it. Next to the legs of the table, a lump of black was settled. That should have been normal, except it wasn't. Not when a pale, limp white wrist speared the bag, explaining the repulsive odor that permeated the atmosphere.

Was that a fucking body in a bag? My eyes flared wider, stomach churching as fear, ire and trepidation dragged me under.

"Sharp as a fiddle, girl. That is one of my latest sacrifices to Mary. The little one screamed her lungs out while we had our fun. And it makes me wonder, will you be louder?" The man's broad shoulders were still turned to me, but I could sense the sickening grin tinged in his tone.

Fucker! He'd heard me speak! Unbeknownst to me, I'd voiced my thoughts out loud.

"You are deranged!" I spat, welcoming the sparks of anger that razed through my veins, hot and furious.

"Try better, dearie. I've been called worse." He shrugged, voice eerily like that of Kian's and finally circled around.

"Mr. Fields?!" My mouth fell open, disbelief running rife in me, chasing away the sting behind my temple.

Richard Fields, the senator of Illinois, Chicago stood before me in all his shocking glory. His facial features which were stark, as dry as a desert, resembled Kian's. Right down from his blue, striking eyes to the same cheekbones and arrogant brows. Stress lines creased his forehead, his wavy, salt and pepper hair that must have been blonde back in his youth days, cut short.

My lunatic father-in-law shot me an intense stare, thorny, sharp. "Shocking, isn't it?!"

"It's you?!" I couldn't believe it. Couldn't understand why he held me captive.

The first and last time I'd seen him in person was in Kian's office. Back when I was Kian's personal assistant, him and I, foes. Richard had seemed charming then, a man with a huge amount of influence as he'd walked past me into his son's office.

"Yes, the one and only A.M." His tone was preppy, like we were discussing the weather and not the fact that he had killed a girl and kidnapped me too.

"A.M?" I furrowed my brows, wondering what he was on about.

"Don't you read the news?" Tsking, he clicked his tongue, waving his leather gloved encased hands. Splatters of red were sprayed on his nondescript shirt and trousers, a macabre artwork created with the blood of an innocent girl.

"Your generation is worthless, I tell you. Very worthless. But yes, I am A.M. Ave Maria, the serial killer."

A.M. A faint bell of comprehension rang in my head as I recalled my mother's warnings for me to be careful while walking out nowadays. That a monster preyed on the streets of Chicago, searching for little girls he would lure to their death after raping them.

Goosebumps pierced my skin, my heart sinking into my stomach, overloaded by fear. I was conversing with an actual serial killer? Kian's fucking father?

In all my life, I'd never known I would be a target. Never thought I would be at the forefront of a killer's mercy. Lulled into a false sense of security, I'd been up and about, unknowing of the numerous dangers that reigned on around me.

"So," Richard ambled in the direction of his seat. Kicking the bag away like it was garbage, he pushed the chair back from the table and sat down. "Do you like your new clothes? I had to find one suitable to contain you and your baby. Seeing you in that makes it easier for me to kill you. I'll think you're a small girl and slash!"

Eyes glowing with fire, he flung his blood-stained chaplet forward, slicing through the empty space that divided us. An intimidating gesture that depicted what exactly he was going to do to me.

Strangle me with them after raping me.

Christ have mercy!

Shivering, I glanced down immediately. Truly, the bastard had changed my clothes while I was dead to the world. He had dressed me in a nun's habit, the long clothe hiding my shackled ankles, my braids tucked into a black scarf.

Bile surged upwards in my throat as I imagined his filthy, revolting hands touching my skin. Lingering for too long.

Nauseated, I shivered again, the cold fingers of fear crawling up my spine.

"Wipe off that disgusted look on your face. I haven't touched you in that way. Yet." His thin lips spread in a horrific smirk as he lowered the metal beads and tugged his white notebook open. One that was painfully similar to Kian's.

Having obviously dismissed me, I watched him flip open the pages and begin writing. Different thoughts ran like wildfire through my mind, destroying every possibility there was of fleeing. What was he writing? Was he going to kill me immediately after?

Most definitely.

Again, I struggled. Anxiety drowned my nerve ends as I strived to free my hands, my chest heaving rapidly. But it was useless. The ropes were bound tightly, so fucking taut they gnawed at my flesh.

"Stop exhausting your strength. You'll need it for later."

Tipping my head up, I peeked at him, glaring darkly. The hideous being wasn't even glancing at me, his fingers moving fast across the crisp, white pages.

"What is your gain?! Why are you doing this?!"

Richard's clenched fingers paused and he raised his gray head, fixing me to a lazy look. "The million dollar question. Why do we do what we do? I'll tell you if you can answer this. Why do we breathe?"

God, this guy was a total nutjob.

I ground out between gritted teeth, "Because it is a necessity?"

He twirled his pen, bobbing his head in agreement. "That, right there, is the answer to your question."

Was he fucking with me?

"Do you not have a heart? A sense of compassion? Those innocent children you killed, it was only a need for you?" I raked him a nasty glare, wondering how on earth this scumbag had gotten away with murder and paedophila.

He reclined back in the seat. "Of course, I do have a heart. I wouldn't be alive if I didn't have one."

A slight chuckle then, those icy, blue eyes glinted, assessing me with a raptor, sharp gaze as he continued, "And a sense of compassion? It was long destroyed by my father while I was young. So blame it all, every action I have done. Every child I have killed. The girls I have raped and sacrificed to Mother Mary, blame it all on my old-man."

Sacrificed? Mother Mary? To say I was repulsed was saying the least. The acrid venom laced in his words had me flinching, like I was the cause of his demons, but I braced myself. I had questions and I wouldn't back down until I knew why I was here.

Swallowing down the lump of fear clogging my throat, I hurled out, tense, "That is your plan?! You are going to kill me too and blame it on your father?"

Dumb question, Jadesola. I mentally slapped my forehead. Dumb question.

"Are you deaf? Of course I am." The mole on his chin crinkled as he threw his head back in a mocking laugh. "What do you take me for? A fucking clown?"

"Why aren't you doing it now?" My voice was tiny, afraid.

"I'm waiting for Sunday morning. Might as well kill my least favorite person on my least favorite day, eh?" His perfect dentition glinted in the light, as he smirked. Showcasing the devil that say a few feet away from me.

Pricking tears burned my eyes but I refused to let them fall. Now wasn't the time for my hormones to come through.

With the conviction I sorely lacked, I uttered in a strong tone, "My husband won't rest until he finds out who killed his wife. If he has to burn the whole city, raze it down until it is all in ashes, Kian will do it. And when he does, your crime will be in the light. You will fail and you will pay."

Richard's shoulders vibrated in another round of demonic laughter, the ear-splitting sound bouncing off the walls and into my ears. "I have known my son more than you do. Were you not just married months ago?"

Mute, I said nothing, wondering how he knew that piece of information.

He noticed because he sat straighter, twirling that blood-stained pen in his hands. "Yes, I know, Jadesola. I know everything about you. About Kian. I have lived with him for more than twenty years and Kian won't lift a single finger. I doubt he loves you even. After all, your father killed my wife. So. . . that leaves you with what? Nothing. Now, hush, no more questions. I need to finish this letter as Mother deserves to know what I've been up to."

A/N: HEYYYYY! So we all know A.M now. I do know you are left with more questions than answers but I HAVE MY REASONS. I don't want to info-dump, that is why every single hint, clue and secrets will be revealed in the last three chapters. Includes the dates in his diary.🙃

DID YOU KNOW a lot of pple guessed right?

I spent a few mins staring at my laptop screen and notebook, wondering if I should just change it to Kian having a deranged twin. His father would obviously groom his twin and they would be the serial killer duo.

BUT I don't like repeating twists, I already have a twist like this for another of my book SO I decided to leave it at silly, old Richard!🫣❤️✨

Next chap comes soon!

Love,
Nita.