Page 30 of Stalker

After all, his father was considered an important man, his mother high on the social scale. He often flew to Italy to update his wardrobe and drove expensive sports cars. All because of a massive trust fund of course.

The man had barely worked a day in his life.

He’d managed to hide his proclivities over the years, but his overconfidence had finally caught up to him. Sadly, as I’d suspected, he’d been let off on bail, his father hiring the best defense attorney money could buy. I was no fool. I knew exactly what would happen. Suddenly, the single witness would have a loss of memory and the case would be tossed out of court.

I’d tried to curtail my acts of vengeance over the years and had been fairly successful. Perhaps in saving the beauty I’d nicknamed Lady Butterfly I’d remembered how joyful exacting my brand of wrath and revenge had been.

Plus, I couldn’t stand pricks who thought they were not only getting one over on the cops, but on me. The bastard had made the mistake of snickering when I’d been convinced not to kill the son of a bitch.

That would be corrected tonight.

He had no idea how angry I was. As his car pulled up in his driveway, I took a deep breath. At least he lived alone, which would avoid all the nasty issues with witnesses.

Drew had stopped off and grabbed some Chinese takeout. After exiting his Range Rover, he headed for his front door. He hadn’t even bothered to park it inside the garage. I knew why.

He had all his equipment inside, various tools that I suspected he used to kidnap and torture his victims.

I’d been counting on the fact he’d allow me in through the front door.

With his keys in hand, he headed for the entrance, stopping long enough to glance up at the motion detector light that hadn’t come on this evening. Tsk. Tsk. All I’d needed to do was raise my arm and unscrew the bulb slightly. He hadn’t placed it high enough on the roof line. A costly mistake.

As soon as the door was open, he instantly turned off his alarm.

It would seem he remained oblivious to my presence. Since I’d been driven into a piss-poor mood, I decided to take out my frustration on the man who’d interrupted my nice, peaceful jog and who’d gotten my name in the papers.

Fucker.

I inched closer, stepping from the shadows. “Hello, Drew. Remember me?”

I slapped one hand over his mouth while driving a syringe into his neck with the other.

Just before he passed out, I whispered softly in his ear, “I’ll make certain I remind you when we have a little fun together. Are you excited?”

* * *

Cassandra

You shouldn’t be doing this.

I’d told myself that a thousand times but had never paid attention. It was no longer about desperately needing the money, although living expenses in Chicago were high and I put every dime I made from my second job into my house fund and paying off my college loans.

It wasn’t about being coerced because I’d carefully established an entirely different identity. While my social security number for payment could easily be checked, the payments listed in my bank account appeared to be from consulting work. It would take someone picking through a few barriers, some of them I’d established myself to discover who I was.

There was no real thought of doing anything further with the second career.

But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t savored the seductive thrill, the secret allowing the darkest part of me to be in a safe place.

The truth was that I enjoyed the attention, the thrill of being someone else while knowing men were watching me, hungering for me.

Behind the mask, I turned into a sensual vixen. The excitement was real.

Sadly, I hadn’t been able to enjoy the nights for a couple of months. While I’d been with David, I’d kept my nighttime activities to myself with the single exception early in our relationship. He’d been turned on by watching me, fully engaged in the moment.

He’d even done a special video with me, but we hadn’t uploaded it. It had been the thrill of doing something kinky that’d had him begging me to engage. Maybe especially tonight I should feel concerned or even guilty about my extracurricular activities, but for several years before I’d met David, it had abated the loneliness.

Now it reminded me of just how truly lonely I was.

Two days had passed since David’s threat and I still couldn’t shake the horrible feeling he would soon come through with it. Maybe that’s why I’d finally gotten to the point of saying fuck it. I needed a release and this was the only way that provided any relaxation or peace.

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