PROLOGUE
T
he sound of the cold April wind gusting against his back was drowned out by the rush of blood in his ears as he walked down the familiar, darkened road leading out of town.With every step he felt like he was in a dream, and it wasn’t just the chemicals in his bloodstream.
After all this time it was hard to believe that he was really here again.Andfinallyabout to get his last bit of revenge.
He slowed as he neared his target.Saw the final person he’d come to confront stiffen when they spotted him.Enjoyed the way their face froze.
“What the hell are you doing back here?”
He kept going, his heart beating faster.Didn’t stop until they stood less than ten feet apart.Relishing the moment.This was it.After this, he could leave this place and never look back.
His target didn’t move.Didn’t say another word, just stared at him with wary eyes.
Hatred pulsed through him, hot enough that he didn’t feel the cold bite of the wind through his thin hoodie.This is what he’d been dreaming of.
Revenge.
Holding that cold stare he’d last met in the courtroom two years ago, he said what he’d been fantasizing about while he’d been locked away behind bars.“Yeah, that’s right.I’m back.They let me out early for good behavior.”But only after losing two fucking years of his life.
“Get out of here.”The voice was low.Raspy.
Oh, no.Not until he had the satisfaction of giving the hammer blow he’d come to deliver.
He gave a smug smile that he felt all the way to his bones.“You and the others gave me a lot of time to think about what I did.And you know what I decided?”He paused, savoring the anticipation.“I did the world a favor by killing him.”
The telltale flinch told him he’d definitely hit a nerve with that one.
He cocked his head, put his hand to his ear, savoring every delicious moment.It was even better than he’d imagined.“What’s that?Nothing to say?”
Triumph ripped through him at the fury and loathing on that stupid face.The islanders who had testified against him had swayed the jury into convicting him of second-degree murder for killing that queer.“Came to tell you that he begged me for mercy at the end.But it just felt too good to stop.”
A sharp inhalation cut through the air.
Watching the horror and devastation on that face was exactly the rush he’d been hoping for.Even better than punching a steel blade through human flesh.
Message delivered, he turned away, snickering under his breath.Turns out he had the last laugh.
The queer was still dead, but he was a free man.And no matter how much everyone here hated him, there was nothing any of them could do about that.
He felt lighter inside as he walked back the way he’d come.Fuck this place and everyone on it.Skeleton Island.What a fucking stupid name for this shithole full of rejects.Coming here in the first place had been the biggest mistake of his life.
But that was all behind him now.He smirked to himself, filled with a renewed sense of anticipation when he thought of the future and the girl waiting for him back on the mainland.
In the distance down the hill, he could see the ocean, a deep green-gray under the pale moonlight, the wind kicking up whitecaps in the bay down by the ferry terminal.
His boat wasn’t leaving for another hour.Plenty of time to stop for a couple beers in town.Rub his newfound freedom in a few more locals’ faces as a final fuck you on his way out.
At the last second he heard something behind him.Caught a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye and started to turn.
Something hard slammed into the side of his head.
Blinding pain splintered through his skull, dropping him to his knees.
He crumpled to the damp pavement.Paralyzed.Unable to move or speak.
But his mind was still working, sluggish and disoriented.
