Page 130 of Stalker

A fucking legacy.

A laugh bubbled to the surface.

Then so be it. With both Xander’s and Zach’s help, we’d orchestrated a plan, something that should draw our father’s attention.

“Daddy!”The sharp sound, based in a long-forgotten memory, almost made me drop my drink.

I allowed the scene to play out in my mind, the images as stark and cold as the sensations that had once nearly torn me apart. Now they merely played like a cheap thriller movie.

“My son. My legacy. You’ll be a king one day, boy. I’m going to make certain of it. You’ll rule the world.”

I would never forget the bastard’s laugh or the fact I’d accused him of having paint on his hands, red being my favorite color, when in fact he’d been brazen enough to return home with blood on his hands.

My sweet mother had freaked, the other two kids crying in response. That hadn’t been the first time he’d knocked her across the room, but it was close to the last since a few days after that, the fucker had murdered her.

The visions slowly faded, but not the rage that I’d learned to control.

Whoever coined the phrase ‘karma is a bitch’ had no understanding of the Blackwell family. Although perhaps on this day, I should call myself a member of the Demarco family. In addition to the few gruesome details regarding the murders over two decades before, my buddy in the police department had supplied a photograph of the bastard who’d ruined my life.

The grainy photographs captured of the man in shackles being paraded in and out of a courtroom hadn’t done the man justice.

I pulled the picture of Dr. Cain Demarco, his loving wife Ava, and his three children clinging to one or the other parent into my hands. Even though the two adults were smiling, it should have been easy to see evil in the man’s eyes.

The man wanted what didn’t belong to him. I could either allow my lovely guest to provide the help she continued to insist on or lock her away. Only no lock had ever prevented the man’s three sons from obtaining entrance to any facility or any vault. Nothing would keep the Scorekeeper from reaching his goal.

He’d waited far too long to make that happen, escaping with a single thing on his mind.

Making his sons fulfill his legacy.

A ragged exhale was pulled from my throat and I tossed the photograph onto the end table. I doubted the bastard looked like that today. Hopefully, the fucker had been gutted by his fellow prisoners.

I moved away from the table on purpose, determined to continue going over the plan my brothers and I had discussed. It certainly wasn’t foolproof by any sense of the word, but with the bastard making actual contact with Cassandra, it was only a matter of time before he laid claim to another beautiful creature who didn’t belong to him.

Setting a trap for a human being wasn’t only about luring them with whatever he or she hungered for, but also about timing. Of course cunning maneuvers were also involved, but those were innate within a person. That was one of the main reasons people were either successful in war or a complete flop.

And as I reminded my brothers, we were in a war with our father. It was personal to a point given he was considered ‘family.’ However, humanity would benefit from his extermination. He was simply filth required to be cleansed.

A slight smile curled on my face as the thoughts continued shifting back and forth in my mind. As my phone pinged, I took a deep breath, staring out at the water lapping against the shore. Another storm had left the day gray and windy, but to me, it was the perfect weather.

Much like the evening when my mother had… died.

Time to even the score.

Time to fulfill my destiny.

CHAPTER31

Wilder

Xander:The bait has been dropped.

Me:Any issues?

Xander:I do own half the town. No one said a goddamn thing at the jail.

Me:Then let’s get it done.

Xander:You can’t see the forest for the trees, brother.