Page 9 of No Small Sin

Beck was right to trust me with this, for whatever reason he chose to do so.

The fact that he did felt immense.

And I would honor that decision as such.

What he didn’t know was that I always snapped a picture of the license plates of strange cars near my home. My neighborhood was sketchy as fuck and I was paranoid like that. This was one instance in which I considered myself a smart bitch for that little tendency of mine, or at least a lucky one because I wasn’t about to let this man slip through my fingers when he’d just shown up for me in such a huge way.

I don’t know what his original guiding principles were when it came to Alex, but I do know that he could have reacted to my presence in a number of ways.

He didn’t question why I’d reacted so viscerally and chaotically to the things I knew about Alex and his intentions toward me.

He chose me.

Finding someone’s name and home address once you had their license plate number really wasn’t that difficult. The internet was full of all kinds of fun resources if you knew where to look.

It took no time at all for me to track down where he stayed in his downtime, which seemed to be in an apartment just above his place of employment.

I was certain it was a front for whatever other business they attended behind closed doors given Beck Wolffbrandt’s chosen extracurricular activities, but since I’d just lost my job and needed work, I considered it a golden opportunity.

The possibility of working here would mean a greater chance of running into him again. It would be all too easy to make it seem like an utter coincidence.

I could even pretend at first, around others anyway, that I didn’t recognize him. Maybe this would solidify to him that I had no intention of outing our ties to one another — maybe he’d also be convinced that I hadn’t sought him out at all.

That our paths had just conveniently crossed again.

That maybe we were fated.

I liked taking fate into my own hands.

Admittedly, in a way, I guess I felt concerned for him. It couldn’t be easy to just kill someone like that and feel good about it after. I was prepared to do the same, but I knew it would likely affect me in some kind of way.

And he literally had to touch the man’s actual dick, which was kind of gross.

In addition to that, there’s no way Alexander was just a one-time thing. It wasn’t so random that there hadn’t been any premeditation behind it at all, because we both know he was at the golf course that morning for a reason that went beyond just playing golf.

There was a baser need being met here. Any real true crime junkie could tell you that much.

But that was fine.

I didn’t want to fix him.

I just wanted to be his outlet, and I think I’d already proven that I was up for the task.

He obviously needed someone if he was so willing to let me stick around.

That someone could be me.

I could be there for him without judgment. I was thankful for what he’d done for me and I wanted to show him that thanks.

But first I would need to charm myself into a new place of employment.

L’Ultima Cena was an upscale restaurant and winery in downtown Fate Trace. I doubt that anyone would have considered it unremarkable. While the food was traditional in the Italian sense, the atmosphere was anything but that. L’Ultima Cena was well known for hosting insane parties, both public and private. It was the place to be in Fate Trace, and it was no secret that the staff aimed to please. Discreetly of course.

But not so discreetly that the more lascivious Fate Trace residents didn’t know where to go for a good time.

I had always been suspicious. I was more than certain now that the place was being used to disguise the true source of the owner’s money, but I couldn’t give a fuck less.

I was greeted at the front by a pretty, well-dressed blonde, who gave my skin-tight, black scoop neck sweater and tan, plaid print belted mini skirt an approving once over. It was likely not acceptable attire for most interviews, but I was under no assumption that this was just a normal interview and I needed this job.

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