Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I’ve hired Victor before. He’s an assassin of the finest caliber but semi-retired. I had to lure him here with a seven-figure advance, so he’s joking about auditioning.
“You might be the only one in the running. We haven’t accepted the job,” Damien tells him.
The room turns expectant eyes on me. I need to sell this. “He’s murdering families. I’m hunting him on my own, but I can’t leave this to chance.”
St. James stirs but doesn’t say anything. He knows why I’m so invested in finding the Bondage Killer, but he wants me to explain why. I knew this meeting would require my complete honesty. It’s a risk to reveal my weakness, but from what I’ve gleaned, Fraternitas understands loyalty. They have rituals revolving around their members claiming a chosen one, so I’m hoping they’ll respect my commitment to Inara.
“He’s targeting someone important to me,” I admit to the room. “A detective named Inara Ramos. She happens to be the only victim of his who escaped.”
Damien finds the copy of the front page of the newspaper that reported the Bondage Killer’s crimes with a picture of Inara as a child in black and white. Hamish paper-clipped a second, more recent photo of her from the NRPD’s employee files.
“She was a child,” he states, frowning at the photos.
“Yes. The Bondage Killer murdered her entire family and saved her for last. It’s not clear why he spared her. She then became a detective to lock up monsters like him.”
Damien rubs the lower half of his face. The back of his hand bears a tattoo of a skull, and the effect of his hand over his face makes him look like he is wearing a mask over his mouth. “What else do we know about this fuck?”
“You have everything we know.” I dip my head toward the files. “Letters tie him to the current scene, but this is the first activity from him in decades. He was presumed dead in a fire.”
I explain how the case in Elyria grew until the whole nation was watching. The feds got involved, but the break in the case came from Lacy Collins, who found the Bondage Killer’s hideout in an abandoned warehouse.
Victor speaks up. “You say he’s targeting your girl. What are your plans to keep her safe?”
“She’s currently in lockdown at my estate.”
Damien nods, and I remember he has his own bride. Rumor has it she was reluctant to wed him. Even though she was in danger from multiple factions, she tried to escape him, so he kept her under lock and key for the first few months of their marriage.
I should be disturbed that our methods are so similar, but I understand his reasoning perfectly.
“Is she?” Victor asks. “Maybe we just follow her around and catch the killer when he comes for her.”
“Unacceptable. I won’t allow it.” I fix the assassin with a glare.
“It looks like the good detective has other plans.” Victor flicks his fingers and carefully reaches into his jacket pocket to remove his phone. After a few taps on its screen, he holds it up to show me a picture of Inara in the passenger side of a black armored car.
I stiffen. “When was this taken?”
“A few minutes ago, when she entered the city limits. You’ll need to keep better tabs on her if you’re going to ensure her safety.”
She escaped. Hamish must have helped her. I recognize that car. It’s one I’ve made my own modifications to, so it’s fully autonomous and has anti-surveillance equipment.
I curse, and Victor smiles. “Would you like to know where she is?”
Inara
* * *
My day begins in the strangest way possible: with a little robot chirping at me from the foot of the bed.
I rise quickly and realize the bedroom door is unlocked. Rex is gone.
“Alfie?” I greet the robot and it warbles an acknowledgment. “Good morning, Detective. Please dress and follow me.”
I rise from the bed, feeling disoriented. Rex has been a constant presence claiming my days and my nights, and even though I’ve fought it, it feels weird with him not here. Is he somewhere in the mansion, and he just sent Alfie to summon me? Is this a test?
Last night I bared myself to him, and I felt his pain when he said, You’re all I have.
I don’t know where we go from here.
The robot chirps as if urging me to hurry. There are clothes and brown boots for me at the foot of the bed.
I dress quickly and follow it, still half-expecting a trap. Instead, it leads me through low corridors until we’re walking out of a heavy exit door, straight into a long hangar with concrete floors. The lights snap on, and I shiver in the chill. We’re in a garage filled with rows and rows of expensive cars.
Alfie rolls up to a black sports car, and sleek doors open upward, like wings. On the driver’s seat are my purse and jacket.