Ezra's POV
I chase Victoria into the street, but she's already gone.
A black car speeds away, and I know she's inside it. Going to Marcus. Walking into a death trap.
"No, no, no!" I run back to check on the agents. They're breathing but unconscious. Drugged, not dead. I grab one of their phones and call Agent Morrison.
"Victoria's gone," I gasp when she answers. "Marcus threatened to kill me if she didn't come to him. He had a sniper. The agents are down—"
"I'm sending backup to your location. Stay there—"
"I can't! He's going to kill her!" I'm already running to the garage where the agents' car is parked. "I'm going after her."
"Ezra, wait—"
I hang up and hot-wire the car. It's a skill I learned when I was sixteen and stupid. Never thought I'd need it to save someone's life.
The drive to Marcus's house takes eight minutes. The longest eight minutes of my life.
I think about Victoria's face when she kissed me. The fear in her eyes. The way she chose to sacrifice herself to save me.
No one's ever done that before. Professor Mitchell died trying to save her students, but that was different. Victoria barely knows me. We've only been in each other's lives for a few weeks.
But it feels like forever. Like we've been fighting together for years.
I pull up to Marcus's house. It's dark except for one light in the upstairs window. Victoria's bedroom, probably.
The front door is unlocked. Of course it is. Marcus is expecting me. He knew I'd come.
"Victoria!" I shout, running inside.
"Up here, Ezra." Marcus's voice floats down from upstairs. "Join us. The more the merrier."
I take the stairs two at a time. My heart pounds so hard it hurts.
The bedroom door is open. Victoria is sitting in a chair, alive but tied up. Marcus stands behind her with a knife against her throat.
"Let her go," I say.
"No." Marcus smiles. "But thank you for coming. This works out better anyway. Killing you both together will be more poetic."
"The FBI knows I'm here."
"So? By the time they arrive, you'll both be dead. Murder-suicide. Troubled student kills his mentor's wife, then himself. The evidence is already planted. Your fingerprints on the knife. Your DNA under Victoria's fingernails from your 'struggle.' It's all very convincing."
"You're insane."
"I'm thorough." Marcus presses the knife closer to Victoria's neck. A thin line of blood appears. "But I'm curious, Ezra. Why did you really help Victoria? Was it guilt over Professor Mitchell? Or do you actually care about my wife?"
"Both," I say honestly.
"Interesting. You know what's funny? Sarah Mitchell cared about you too. That's why she died. She was going to expose me to protect students like you. All that caring got her was a six-story drop."
Victoria's eyes widen. "You admit it. You killed her."
"Of course I killed her. She was going to ruin everything I built." Marcus sounds proud. "I invited her to my office that morning. We had coffee. I put sedatives in hers—just enough to make her dizzy and confused. Then I walked her to the window and told her how much her students would suffer if she exposed me. How I'd destroy every single one of them. She was crying, begging me to leave them alone."
My hands curl into fists. "And then you pushed her."
"She jumped," Marcus corrects. "I simply made her believe that jumping was the only way to save her students. That's the beauty of psychological manipulation, Ezra. You don't have to push people. You make them want to jump."
"That's murder."
"That's science." Marcus tilts his head. "Tell me, did you ever suspect? During all those therapy sessions I gave you after her death? When I was helping you process your guilt?"
I did suspect. Deep down, some part of me always knew Marcus's kindness felt wrong. But I was drowning in grief and guilt, and he threw me a rope. I grabbed it without questioning where it led.
"You were studying me," I say. "The whole time. Watching how I handled her death."
"You were fascinating. The way you blamed yourself even though you did nothing wrong. The way you let guilt destroy you for two years. Perfect data for my research." Marcus looks at Victoria. "Just like you, darling. The way you blamed yourself for Daniel's death. The way you let me drug you and control you and break you down piece by piece. Beautiful."
"You're a monster," Victoria whispers.
"I'm a genius." Marcus's grip tightens on the knife. "But now the study is over. Time to close the final chapter."
"Wait," I say desperately. "You said you like studying people. That you find us fascinating. If you kill us now, you lose your subjects. But if you let us live, you can keep studying us. Watch how we try to recover. See if we ever really heal."
Marcus considers this. For a moment, I think it might work.
Then he laughs. "Nice try. But dead subjects are safer than living witnesses. Besides, I have plenty of other experiments waiting."
He raises the knife.
I lunge forward, but I'm too far away. I'm going to watch Victoria die and there's nothing I can do—
The window explodes inward.
Glass flies everywhere. A figure in tactical gear swings through on a rope, kicking Marcus away from Victoria.
More agents pour through the door behind me.
Marcus tries to run, but they tackle him. The knife skitters across the floor.
I rush to Victoria, untying her hands. "You're okay. You're safe now."
She's shaking, crying, touching the cut on her neck. "He was going to kill us."
"But he didn't. We're alive."
Agent Morrison enters, surveying the scene. "Dr. Chen, you're under arrest for murder, kidnapping, and assault. This time, there's no bail."
As they drag Marcus away in handcuffs, he looks back at us one more time.
"You think this is over?" he calls out. "You think arresting me solves anything? I have fifteen years of research. Hundreds of pages documenting every technique I used. Every way to break a human mind. That research is hidden somewhere safe, and if anything happens to me, it gets published. The whole world will learn my methods."
"You're bluffing," Agent Morrison says.
"Am I? Check your email, Agent. I just sent you a preview. Five pages describing exactly how I drove Sarah Mitchell to suicide. How I killed Daniel Chen and made it look like an accident. Step-by-step instructions anyone can follow."
Agent Morrison checks her phone. Her face goes white. "Get him out of here. Now."
They drag Marcus away, but his laughter echoes through the house.
Later, at FBI headquarters, Agent Morrison shows us what Marcus sent.
It's real. Detailed instructions on psychological torture. How to isolate someone. How to make them doubt their own mind. How to push them to suicide without leaving evidence.
"If this gets out," Agent Morrison says, "people will use it. Marcus has created a manual for psychological murder."
"Where's the full research?" I ask.
"We don't know. He won't tell us." She looks exhausted. "We're searching his office, his house, his computer files. But Marcus is smart. He could have hidden it anywhere."
Victoria and I exchange looks. We're both thinking the same thing.
"We know where it is," Victoria says quietly.
"How?"
"Because I know Marcus. He's proud of his work. He'd keep it somewhere he could see it. Somewhere that made him feel powerful." Victoria stands up. "It's in Daniel's room. In our house. He moved into my son's bedroom after Daniel died. Said he was turning it into his private office. I was never allowed inside."
Agent Morrison mobilizes a team immediately. We drive to the house—my house that never felt like home after Daniel died.
The door to Daniel's room is locked. Agents break it down.
Inside, Marcus has turned our son's bedroom into a shrine to his research. The walls are covered with photos, charts, and notes. Years of victims documented like specimens.
And there, in the closet hidden behind Daniel's old toys, we find it.
Fifteen leather-bound journals. Marcus's complete research.
"This is enough to convict him fifty times over," Agent Morrison breathes. "Every victim. Every method. Every crime."
But as I flip through the pages, my blood runs cold.
"Victoria," I say. "Look at this."
It's a journal entry dated three months ago. The title makes my hands shake.
"FINAL EXPERIMENT: Subject 16 - Ezra Blackwell. Objective: Complete psychological destruction followed by murder disguised as suicide. Method: Use Subject 15 (Victoria Chen) as emotional attachment point. Subject 16 shows protective instincts toward damaged women due to mother's death. Predict Subject 16 will develop romantic feelings for Subject 15. When attachment is sufficiently strong, eliminate Subject 15 in Subject 16's presence. Document resulting trauma and guilt. Expected timeline for Subject 16's suicide: 6-8 weeks."
Victoria reads over my shoulder. "He planned all of this. Our meeting. Our friendship. Everything."
"He was going to kill you in front of me," I whisper. "To break me completely. Then watch me kill myself from guilt."
"But it didn't work," Victoria says fiercely. "We survived. We stopped him."
I want to believe her. But I can't stop reading.
There's more. A final entry dated yesterday.
"CONTINGENCY PLAN: If primary plan fails and I am arrested, Subject 16's sister (Emily Blackwell, age 19) will be targeted by Associates 3 and 7. Her death will serve two purposes: 1) Punish Subject 16 for interference. 2) Provide data on delayed trauma response. Associates have been paid in advance and will proceed regardless of my incarceration."
The journal falls from my hands.
"Emily," I breathe. "He's going after my sister."
I grab my phone and call her. It rings and rings.
No answer.
I call again. Still nothing.
"Agent Morrison," I say, my voice breaking. "We need to get to my sister. Right now."
We race across town to Emily's apartment. Agent Morrison has local police meet us there.
We pound on the door. No answer.
They break it down.
The apartment is empty. Signs of a struggle. A broken lamp. Emily's phone on the floor, screen cracked.
And on the wall, written in red lipstick:
"TOO LATE. —Associate 3"
My legs give out. Victoria catches me before I fall.
"No," I whisper. "Not Emily. Please not Emily."
Agent Morrison is already on her phone, putting out an alert.
But I know the truth. Marcus has her. His associates have her.
And if we don't find her soon, my little sister—the only family I have left—is going to die.
Marcus played us. Even from a jail cell, he's still winning.
And this time, the price is Emily's life.