Page 1 of Darling Wildfire
PROLOGUE
Who am I if not a hunter?
I don’t want to think about what I’ll do after this. I’ve spent the last decade wreaking havoc around the world in preparation—destroying, building and killing—a lot of killing. For most people that would be the part that would get to them, but not me. At what point do you start considering yourself the reaper? At what point do you give in to the god complex of holding a life in your hands? Sometimes literally—I’ve held a bleeding heart, still beating, after I’ve torn it from my enemies chest.
At what point do you consider yourself evil?
Those are the questions your humanity is supposed to answer, but unfortunately that was stripped from me long ago.
What happens to a man when that’s gone? I’m afraid I’ll know the answer when all of this is over. That’s what they don’t tell you—no matter how deep into the shadows you go, the fear of losing yourself follows.
Even the dead and the dying fear the darkness.
Who am I if not a hunter?
Maybe I’ll live long enough to find out.
But first…
One last hunt.
One last dangerous game.
PRESENT DAY
His desire for revenge had not forsaken him.
COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
1
THERON
NEW YORK CITY
I looked out over the dark bay from my vantage point in my office and took a deep breath as excitement and anticipation filled me. The skyline sparkled with lights from the docks and the nearly full moon illuminated the water.
It was time.
Everything I’d built, everything I’d accomplished, it all led up to this.
The patience, the hard work—literal blood, sweat and tears—forged into the foundation of everything I’d done the last decade.
Anything to accomplish my goal.Revenge.
Oh, and what an addictive drug that was.
Ever since I’d escaped the hell that wasAtrox Gaming Inc., my blood had raged with the lust for complete annihilation of the one who had taken everything from me.
Vetticus.
My rage for him festered. It dug under my skin and grew into something alive, with a monstrous hunger for vengeance not easily sated and impatient for action. But I didn’t need to suppress it any longer. It was time to unleash everything I’d meticulously built and passionately cultivated.
It was the beginning of the end.The last game.
I looked down at my phone clutched tightly in my hand as my five team members around the world checked in. Five kill shots that would set everything in motion. As the last team let me know they were in position, I typed out the two words that would help bring about the retribution I longed for and the peace I knew would come after. Two words that would incite justice for not only myself but all the people I’d lost in the process of getting here.
My thumb hovered over the button.
