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Condescension rolled from her chuckle, and I came up short when she suddenly spun around and jammed her finger into my chest. “You are something else, do you know that? I mean, I knew you were an asshole and all, but you are a straight up narcissist. Or maybe a psychopath. I haven’t decided yet. But what I do know is You. Are. Insane.”
She punctuated each one with a jab.
Anger burst in my blood, and I grabbed her finger. Blood sloshed through my veins, chaos bashing through my brain, unable to believe this woman would have the audacity to touch me this way. I angled in close, this unfound fury grating between my teeth. “And you are careless. Thoughtless. Doing whatever you please.”
Fury flashed through her moss-colored eyes. “I was asking Nate what supplements they are giving Mazzy to ensure she is getting the right nutrition she needs to grow, not flirting with him or taking up his time or being thoughtless.”
She yanked her finger out of my hold. “Not that I have to explain myself to you.”
Fuck.
My teeth ground so hard I thought my jaw was going to crack.
I should apologize for overreacting.
But nah, what did I do? I was angling in closer and letting the unjustifiable anger slide out.
“You do when you work for me.”
She choked on a sarcastic laugh, disbelief twisting her brow. “That’s good then because I don’t work here any longer.”
Was she implying she quit? Before I could refute her claim, she plucked the envelope from my other hand. “I take it this is for me?”
She didn’t wait for me to respond before she waved it in my face like a consolation prize. “Great. Perfect. Then I’ll just be on my way because I’m sure as hell not sticking around here.”
Spinning on her heel, she stomped toward that monstrosity that was parked off to the far side of the barn, disgust and disappointment burning from her golden skin.
I chased after her.
“We had an agreement, Ms. Dae.”
She ripped open the door to her truck, glaring back at me when she spat, “Yeah, I had one more chance. I remember. It seems I just used it. Tell Evelyn I’m sorry. Actually, you know what? You tell her you’re sorry because this is on you.”
She hopped into her truck and slammed the door in my face. She bounced in her seat as she turned the ignition, having to pump the gas to coax the pile to life.
It roared when she did, and I stumbled back when she threw it in reverse and whipped out before she shifted into drive and gunned it down the dirt lane.
A reckless riot kicking up rocks and debris as she left.
EIGHT
CALEB
Fear sloshed through his veins, the soles of his shoes slapping on the pitted pavement of the dingy alley. Rain poured from the night-stricken sky, a deluge that covered him in desperation.
“Kimberly!” He screamed it.
Begged her name.
Searched through the disorienting storm that pummeled from above.
Washing him through to reveal the monster hiding underneath.
“Kimberly!”
He dropped to his knees in the blood-soaked puddle, took her face, begged again, “Kimberly, no.”
He got no answer.
No reprieve.
No forgiveness for what he’d done.
The only response the vacant eyes that stared back.
I swallowed a bitter gulp of bourbon where I sat in the high-backed chair in my room, staring out the window at the ranch below while thoughts consumed me.
It was cloaked in darkness, still and calm, though I somehow felt the demons lurking in the shadows and playing in the fields.
There was no outrunning who I was or the damage I had done.
Still, I’d attempted it. For Evelyn.
Coming here.
A fresh start.
A new beginning.
But how could you become someone you’d never been? How could you erase the vileness from your consciousness and the deeds you had done?
Impossible when I hungered for revenge. When the thirst for blood soaked me through. The oath that I would track down whoever was responsible, find him, and snuff out his life the way he’d done the others.
Blowing out a sigh, I pushed to standing, set my tumbler aside, and moved out of my room and into the sleeping house. Stillness howled, and I eased down the darkened hall, the barest light illuminating my path from the running lights that glowed from the base of the floor. The wood creaked beneath my feet as I passed by Ms. Sandberg’s room. A television quietly droned through the crack she’d left in her door.
One I’d insisted upon.
She was to be available twenty-four seven. There to see to any of Evelyn’s needs.
I wanted to be, but I didn’t know how, so I spent most of my time held in a void of separation, hiding out in my office or room, the walls thick and my heart harder.
But tonight, I couldn’t sit still in it.
Evelyn would have been put to bed two hours ago, and I crept to the door next to Ms. Sandberg’s.
