She took his father’s love.
And then she took his life.
The stranger stood, humming Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy” beneath his breath as he walked out of the stadium. He strolled down the street and took his phone out. He dialed a familiar number.
“We need another victim.”
It wasn’t until he stopped and glanced across the street that he saw Autumn standing at the top of the steps leading into the subway terminal.
She looked straight at him.
The stranger smiled as she appeared to struggle with something, and with a shake of her head, she descended the steps.
Looking for me?
“Give me a few days to research. You shouldn’t be going after someone again so quickly.”
“Find me someone, or I’ll do it on my own,” he ended the call. He wished he still owned a flip phone. There was something more satisfying with the hard snap of shutting the lid.
Like the snapping of someone’s neck.
He continued, still humming. When someone bumped into him from behind, it caused his sunglasses to dislodge and fall to the ground. He picked them up before the masses strode by and crushed them.
“I’m—”
The indrawn breath was the first thing the stranger heard when the kid looked at his face. The glass, opaque eye, and drooping eyelid were what everyone always saw first.
The kid ran as if the hounds of hell were on his back.
The stranger grunted and put the glasses back on. The man started humming again. He put his hands in his pockets and went to the hotel where he was staying. He had plans to make. A smile crept up his lips.
The next setting was going to be very personal for Autumn.
She’d never see it coming.
Chapter 4
AssoonasAutumnentered her apartment, her phone shrilled “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down. Her lips twitched at the ringtone she chose for her adoptive father, Braeden Walker.
No, he wasn’t her actual adoptive father, but he and Lilli were more than her biological father, David Taylor, would ever be.
“Hey.”
“Hi honey, what’s going on?”
Autumn leaned back on the sofa, her entire body going lax at Braeden’s calm tone. “Everything’s okay. Are you enjoying retirement? It’s day, what? One hundred and fifty-five?”
“Okay, smartass, more like day three hundred.”
Autumn chuckled and stroked her cat, Dune, on the top of his head. Being a Savannah cat, Dune was about the size of a small Siberian Husky and had the appetite to match.
“Hey, smartasses have all the fun,” she commented, then stood and walked to the kitchen.
Autumn pulled some ground beef from the fridge, added broth, and chopped carrots to the mixture. While she boiled it, Dune sat and flicked his tail. His tongue came out to lick his furry mouth, his long canines bared as he yawned, watching his human make dinner.
“Uh-huh,” came Braeden's murmured reply. Autumn could almost hear Braeden’s eyes roll.
With a grin, she switched on the television in the living room while she waited for Dune’s dinner to cook. Her gaze flickered to the television, not that she was actively watching it. The newscaster droned on about some corrupt politician or another.
