What the fuck? That I hadn’t anticipated.
I was already out in the parking lot, heading for the car.
“Your brother is going to die, Steven. Do you understand that? Because of you. He’s protecting you but you don’t give a shit about him.” The fucker couldn’t have gone too far. This was some fucking test and I was set to lose. And that just couldn’t happen. I refused to allow anything to happen to the woman that…
Well, fuck me. That I was falling hard for.
He’d seen us together. That’s why he’d taken her.
I should never have allowed her to come tonight.
“We’re all going to die. My brother is eager to please me. Don’t feel too sorry for him. He’s exactly like me. He just kills with a smile on his face. And my name is Timothy. I suggest you remember that.”
“Turn yourself in,Timothy. Make it easy on yourself because when I find you, and I will find you, I have no letter of the law to follow. Not this time.”
“Maybe that’s what I’m hoping for. To prove to you that I’m right. You know, all I’ve ever wanted is a family. That’s it. Did you know my adoptive parents were abusive? Did you know they used to beat us? Lock us in a room? They couldn’t care less about their two children, including one with special needs.”
Fucking Christ.
He blamed his mother for everything that had happened to him.
“Alexia doesn’t belong to you.”
“She’s perfect. I found her. But you touched her. You fucking touched her. Why didn’t you just leave her alone!”
“What did dear old Daddy say to you? You do realize he’s the reason your mother was taken from you.”
“That’s not true. She left us. She wanted nothing to do with us.” His psychosis was strong. Buttons had been pushed from seeing me with Alexia.
“Is that why you’re forcing her to keep your secret?”
His laugh was as maniacal as I remembered. Only this time, there was no cold chill. Just a determination to end the war that had been raging on inside of me for years. A war that had broken out long before he’d crossed my path.
One I was eager to end because I had a life to enjoy.
And he wasn’t part of it.
The laughter continued. I was at my car, searching the parking lot. Where the fuck was he taking her?
Think.
The girl who’d been found. In the Everglades again, but he wouldn’t be so stupid as to use the same area. Or… He would because he needed to improvise. Granted, there was a hell of a lot of real estate in the Glades.
“You can’t have her. She’s mine. She’s always been mine. I waited for a very long time to claim her. Mine. All mine.”
He was losing what little control of reality he’d had control over. When he did, he’d take out his anger on anyone who got in his way.
The bastard had learned from me during the time spent in the FBI. He’d known exactly how I was going to handle a case, the steps that I’d taken.
He’d used everything he’d learned to become the perfect killer.
Now it was time to bring an end to his killing regime.
“Make no mistake, Steven. I’m coming for you. Be prepared to meet your maker.”
CHAPTER 23
Maverick
