Vicious Read Online Free PDF Page B

LEFT . The squat, drab, boxy prison buildings appeared in the distance, surrounded by a menacing mess of barbed wire. Hanna pulled through the entrance and parked. Everyone was silent as they walked into the visitor’s gate and handed over their IDs to a woman behind a desk. As the woman took their names and contacted a guard inside, Hanna glanced surreptitiously around, her heart pounding hard. The air smelled of rotting meat. From somewhere inside the walls came a deep, manly bellow that sounded like a cross between a roar and a moan.
    A guard poked his head into the waiting room. “Visitors for Maxwell?”
    Everyone shot to their feet. The guard motioned for them to follow, and soon enough they were in a long, narrow room. The guard directed them to a private vestibule at the very end, and they shuffled forward. There were no other visitors in the room. A fluorescent light flickered overhead.
    A door on the far wall opened. A guard pushed a guy in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs into the room. Hanna’s stomach twisted. There he was. Nick.
    He’d lost a significant amount of weight since she’d last seen him in the basement, and he looked entirely different from when she’d first seen him, when he’d fed her and a new friend, Madison, drink after drink at a dive bar in Philly. Without even peeking around, Hanna could tell that her friends were each having their own struggles with the Nick they’d known—the shape-shifter who’d tricked them into trusting him—and the Nick who loved Ali. It was a thrill to see him in prison garb, though. If only Ali were by his side, behind bars, too.
    Nick raised his head and saw them. His eyes narrowed. His mouth set in a straight, angry line. He glanced at the guard and shook his head, murmuring something that looked like no.
    Spencer jumped to her feet. “We’re not here to curse you out. We’re on your side.”
    Nick peeked at them again. There was a shadow of a bruise by his eye. His chest heaved up and down, as if he’d been running hard. Finally, he lowered his shoulders and slumped toward the seat across the table from the girls. He was so close Hanna could reach out and touch him if she wanted. She stared at his hands. The skin under his fingernails was filthy.
    â€œLook, you know as well as we do that Ali’s not dead,” Spencer started, when no one else spoke. “She’s too smart for that. We heard what she wrote about you in that journal. She lied about us, too. She screwed all of us. We should be on the same side here.”
    Nick’s eyes danced. “I don’t know, girls. Maybe you did kill her.” He cocked his head teasingly. “I distinctly recall the rage in your eyes in that basement when we trapped you. I distinctly remember how badly you wanted her gone.”
    Hanna curled her fist. “Yeah, and I distinctly recall how easy it was for you to torture people, judging by what you did to us that night.” She didn’t blink. “Who’s to say you didn’t do that to Ali?”
    The playful look on Nick’s face vanished. “ I loved her.”
    â€œDo you still love her now?” Hanna challenged.
    Nick muttered something Hanna couldn’t hear.
    Aria shifted her weight. “Look, we’re trying to find Ali. Bringing her back, making her explain—it will help you, too. You’ll serve much less time. We know you didn’t orchestrate those murders. We know you weren’t the ringleader.”
    Nick’s jaw was so tense that ropy cords stood out on his neck. “I hate you bitches,” he whispered raspily. “You were supposed to die in that room. Ali and I were supposed to escape together.”
    â€œBut instead, she left you for the police to find,” Emily pressed. “She framed you.”
    Nick’s bottom lip twitched. “She was trying to save herself. It was part of our plan.”
    Aria snorted. “It