THE SERIAL KILLER MIND - Chapter 15: The Watcher

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The next morning, she packed.

Two suitcases. No hesitation.

She left the recorder on the table, wiped the blood from her wrist, and wrote Vinci a note.

“I can’t do this anymore. I care about you, but I’m scared. You need help beyond what I can give.”

She never heard him come in.

Only the shuffle of a step behind her.

“You’re leaving?”

Ella turned, heart in her throat. Vinci stood at the threshold, his eyes bloodshot. Not angry. Empty.

“I have to.”

His voice cracked. “You said you’d stay.”

“I said I’d try.”

He walked toward her. “Don’t go yet. Just one more day.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. You need to see someone who can really help you.”

Vinci reached for her hand—but she recoiled.

And something in him broke.

She left that evening. Rented a room two blocks down. Slept with the lights on.

But when she woke at 3 a.m. to a soft scratching on the motel window, her skin crawled.

She peeked through the blinds.

No one.

But taped to the outside?

A charcoal sketch.

Of her.

Asleep.

The date scribbled in the corner read tonight.

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