Page 43 of Stalker

“Mr. Wells. One last question. This seems very personal to you. Do you mind me asking why?”

Maximus Wells had never been a man who wore his emotions on his sleeve. Today was the first time he’d seemed truly personable. He was struggling with the answer, but I waited.

I needed to know what I was getting myself in the middle of.

“Cassandra, we all have secrets. It doesn’t matter who we are or the happiness we convey. There’s always something that haunts us through every action, every friendship and encounter. Try and remember, I wasn’t always an attorney. A long time ago, I had an entirely different life.”

When he walked away, I remained where I was.

He was right.

Everyone had secrets.

CHAPTER11

Stalker

Darkness.

The absence of light.

The feel of the earth beneath your feet.

The smell of decay and moss, even death.

They were some of my favorite things.

But what I loved the most was the absence of noise. Silence had been both my prisoner and my comfort over the years.

When I hunted, I became the Stalker, but tonight wasn’t about eliminating trash. My muscles still tingled from the two hours I’d spent in the gym in preparation. Mostly to rid my bloodstream of the high doses of adrenaline and testosterone.

My hunger was more intense than usual. Maybe because I’d decided to partake in the hunt itself instead of playing rule keeper.

“Did you hear about Drew Monahan? You know, the guy you tackled in the park?” Xander asked as he moved beside me. “If the reports are true, some nice fellow laid out some pretty damning evidence that he killed several women. I wonder who that could be?”

I remained silent for a few seconds. “He’s a gutless pig. Maybe he’ll get what he deserves.”

“You don’t think Daddy will get him off?”

“Not a fucking chance.”

He laughed. “You know more than you’re telling. Don’t you? You have me very curious as to what you did. I’m also surprised you didn’t just kill the man.”

I turned to face him. We didn’t compare notes. We’d rarely worked together. But we knew what each other was capable of. “The three of us decided a long time ago to leave our past alone.”

“This isn’t our past, brother. This is very much the here and now. We know who we are and now why we are the monsters we’ve become.”

There was no reason for me to bristle in having a conversation with my brother, but that’s what was happening. “You’re convinced we’re like our father.”

“Aren’t you? Let’s not pretend. It’s just the two of us. We took great joy in hunting, capturing, torturing, and killing those who hurt us and I suspect in your case a few that you actually cared about. I had no one who cared about me. Not a single person who ever looked past the broken kid. Instead, I was tormented from the day I was put into foster care. Demon seed. Wasn’t that something you were called?”

“And you think I had them lining up to give a shit if I was beaten or starved?”

In the glow from the lit torches, Xander eyed me curiously. “But there was someone. Wasn’t there?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because you’re the one holding out on finding out what happened to our deadbeat father.”

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