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This would be my third Kyle.
I was starting to think the name was cursed.
Though, invariably, the J names came up the most.
Jason, Justin, Julian, and James, but only if he went by the nickname Jimmy.
You couldn’t trust a Jimmy, that was what the statistics told me.
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “And what did Kyle do to you?”
“That’s the thing. He didn’t do it to me,” she said, taking a deep breath, making her chest expand as she reached into her bag to pull out a picture. “This is the good picture,” she told me, pushing it across the surface of the table at me, mixing the chamomile and rosemary together in the process.
There in the picture was a girl who looked similar to Everleigh herself. Only this girl had bangs and a birth mark on her left cheek. And a nasty black eye.
“And this is the bad one,” she said, making me take a deep breath this time as she passed me the next picture.
There was the same girl.
But this time, laid up in a hospital bed that seemed to swallow her small frame. And her face, well, it was swollen almost twice its normal size with horrific bruises and gashes.
“Kyle did this to your sister?” I asked, stomach starting to churn with that familiar burning sort of rage.
“He did,” she confirmed, nodding, her jaw getting tight. “Broke her eye socket, two ribs, her fucking jaw, and knocked out four teeth. That’s not counting the gashes. Or the fact that he raped her too.”
“How is he still free?” I asked, even though I understood how easily monsters who preyed on women and children walked free thanks to our corrupt system.
“This was a while ago,” Everleigh explained. “He did go away. He was charged with felony domestic violence.”
“Which is, what, sixteen months to three years?” I asked, scoffing. “Like that makes up for this.”
“Exactly,” she said. “I was going to let it go. I have been focusing on Bayleigh and her recovery. It’s been a slow road. Physically and emotionally. But the thing is, he got out about four months ago.”
“Where is he? In Shady Valley?”
“Yes. And he is walking around like he never did anything wrong. But, well, I saw him when I was driving home from work one night. Right beside the bar, The Bog.”
“And?”
“And he had a new girlfriend who looks exactly like Bayleigh. He was grabbing her face with his hand and screaming at her. Then he flung her away from him so hard that she fell back onto the ground. He must have told her to get up because she did, then followed him back to his car. It’s just… monsters like him don’t stop,” she said, shaking her head. “Not until…”
“Not until someone stops them,” I finished for her.
“Yeah.”
I was in the business of stopping monsters.
That was why women trekked all the way out to my little homestead, even in the blistering heat, even knowing they were aiding and abetting a crime.
Sometimes, it was worth that risk.
“I have to ask because everyone’s desires are different.”
“Okay.”
“Is this a scare tactic, or…”
“Or,” she said, no hesitation. “Or for the rest of the vulnerable women in this area who could fall prey to him every sixteen months when he gets out of jail again. If he ever goes away at all. And for the women who will live in fear after knowing him. Or…for them. For all of us,” she added.
“Okay,” I agreed, nodding. “Then or it is.”
“Madison told me, you know,” she said, reaching back into her bags for an envelope that looked pretty full of cash. “If the amount hasn’t changed,” she added, putting it in the center of the table.
“It hasn’t. And I will need his last name. If you have any pictures or physical descriptions as well, those would be helpful. Then… you go home. You will never hear from me again, and you don’t need to contact me again either. Unless you come across another Kyle.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” I confirmed, watching as the tension in her shoulders eased. “I was in your shoes once,” I confided in her. “The choice is heavy to carry around. But I will say that I have never regretted making it. Nor has Madison. Or any other client that I have known of.”
That seemed to make the rest of the stress fall away as she rose to her feet.
“Thank you. Really. I will finally be able to sleep at night.”
“All of Shady Valley will sleep better soon,” I promised her as I made my way toward the door.
The only problem was, I didn’t anticipate him.
And he set out to fuck up everything I fought so hard to create.
The bastard even dared to have the name of my favorite bird.
Crow.
CHAPTER THREE
Crow
I didn’t see anything off as I made my way outside of the bar for a little air a while later, knowing that the guys likely wouldn’t move the party back to the clubhouse until last call.
