"No. I'm sure everything is fine. Thanks for your help."
Christian switched off the phone before the man replied. If Fiona had gone to so much trouble to disappear, he'd honor her wishes. But he ached with the emptiness of her departure. She was his anchor, his only semblance of family.
Christian looked up. His eyes fixed upon the mirror. A stranger stared back. He'd grown used to the stark look of grief. Robbed of his innocence all those years ago, he'd never shaken the sense of loss. The tragedy cleaved to him like a malignancy, never letting him forget.
Yet the greatest cruelty was the things he'd never remember. He still kept his old baseball glove, but came up empty when he tried to recall his father giving it to him. An old photograph of a birthday party felt like the remembrance of a stranger. Joy lay buried in his brain, a casualty of violence. The intrusion of death into his young life had left him maimed beyond hope, leaving him to wonder why he'd been the one spared.
Then Fiona had rescued him from the institutionalized care of the state. She made sure he received the best treatment for post-traumatic stress, even taking him into her home. Never judging him, she was the only one who understood his rage—and his fear.
But now, he had never felt so alone. It reminded him of the first time he'd stared into a mirror, looking through a child's eyes yet no longer a child. Fiona had aligned herself beside him back then. Too numb to understand her reason for caring, he had resisted her tenacity at first, fighting her every move. Eventually, he drew from her strength, and accepted her nurturing.
But his demons had come for him at last, peering out of the shadows of his past. Now, they brazenly hovered like vultures, eager to strip him of what remained. The image made him weary. He'd grown so tired of hurting.
"Shake it off, Delacorte," he chastised. "Put an end to it."
Fiona needed him for a change. He owed her far more than he could repay. She'd gotten him to this point. The rest was up to him. His desire for revenge had become a weapon, an obsession to overcome his fear of the dark. It gave him purpose, a reason to crawl out of bed each and every day. His weakness flourished into strength, and darkness had become his ally—a link forged despite the countless nightmares he'd endured over the years.
Prepared to fight, he tensed his jaw. A stern resolve fired his eyes. He wouldn't let Fiona down.
The old clapboard house on Elm Street looked more like condemned property than the residence of Logan McBride and his men. Logan had always despised the accommodations. They were beneath him. The locale allowed him anonymity, decreeing the respect he earned. But fear had been the real driver. Anyone in the surrounding neighborhoods who knew of his reputation gave him a wide berth.
On the outskirts of the warehouse district, in a section of Chicago even the police feared to tread, the dilapidated, two-story structure was the property of Vinnie Buck, his number two man. Vinnie had earned his status after allowing Logan to leech off his good fortune, such as it was. And McBride's mercenaries soon followed, slowly rebuilding his followers after his stint in prison.
His quarters were extravagant compared to the others. Wall-to-wall cots dotted the interior of the house while he enjoyed the privacy of his well-appointed single room. It was good to be king!
Lying on his unmade bed with only a sheet over his bare body, Logan read the newspaper, his shoulders propped up against the old wooden headboard. A naked whore lay sprawled beside him, her dark hair splayed over his bed linens. For the entire afternoon, she'd taken his abusive and forceful behavior, whimpering in a tantalizing fashion when he got too rough. At one point, the pathetic wailing reminded him of a rabbit he'd set on fire when he was eight. This, of course, only spurred him on.
Now after reading about the dead body found at St. Sebastian's, a part of his anatomy grew rigid again as he relived the moment he'd robbed Mickey Blair of his future. Yanking the covers off the woman, he clutched her bare ass with his hand, squeezing it hard enough to earn him a yelp.
"Don't hurt me. I'm awake. What do you—" Before she finished, he'd grabbed a fistful of hair, forcing her head between his legs.
"I don't pay you to talk. Get to work," he demanded, closing his eyes and burrowing into the pillows at his back. The newspaper fell to the floor. Through his eyelashes, he watched her and grinned. The bob of her head and the feel of her warm, wet mouth really charged his blood, but her humiliation and willingness to take his abuse had been an even greater turn-on. A soft knock on his bedroom door disturbed his reverie.
"Go away!" he ordered impatiently.
The hooker's eyes sought his, looking for approval. Most probably, she prayed for his dismissal at the intrusion. With a cruel sneer, he gave her neither. Hope left her eyes. She continued with even greater determination to please him. He held back his contempt at her pathetic display to curry favor.
"It's Vinnie. I can come back." The muffled sound of the man's voice filtered through the closed door.
His smile broadened as he bellowed, "Come in, Vin." Then, under his breath, he added, "This should be interesting."
Barely opening his eyes, he glanced at the man's reaction as he waved him closer. Wide-eyed, Vinnie stared at the woman, in obvious admiration of her enthusiasm. Unable to ignore her, he licked his lips greedily, then eventually stammered, "You cut that pretty close last night. That little priest nearly got sent to his maker, paying a premature call to Peter at them pearly gates."
Vinnie's version of small talk amused him. And he appreciated the man's attempt at being cryptic in front of the whore. No need for that. If she talked about anything within these four walls, she'd be fish food by nightfall.
"I knew you could handle it. Nothing like the rush"—he gasped as he came, groaning his approval— "of almost getting caught." With a heavy sigh, Logan closed his eyes again. He shuddered at the woman's steadfast ministrations, then asked, "How did Krueger do? He have a sense of humor?"
His eyes on the hooker, Vin elaborated on their latest recruit, Danny Krueger. "He was cool. Took two of us, like you figured. Would've given anything to see the look on that priest's face. Bet he had to change his drawers."
A low chuckle rolled through Logan's chest. His hand brushed back the hair of the woman gazing up at him. An enticing mix of fear and adoration reflected in her eyes. As he glanced up at Vinnie, he noticed the man leered at the hooker once again. But his number two man kept up his end of the conversation, despite the lust filling his eyes.
"Yeah, Krueger's gonna work out. The bastard got a rush out of the hunt, wants to know when we can do that again. He's got a thing for killing animals. Guy's even more twisted about it than you."
Still stroking the woman's hair, Logan smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment. The hunt is more of a rush when it's up close and personal." His accomplice hadn't missed the insinuation to his work with the blade. He saw it in his eyes as he continued, "It's almost better than sex. Almost."
Directing his next comment to the woman lying across his lap, he ordered, "Go wash yourself in the bathroom. And shut the door. I wanna hear that water running."
She scurried away without question, not bothering to cover her bare body. He knew that by the look on Vin's face, the gesture titillated his depraved nature.
"You look like you got something else on your mind. What is it?" Logan demanded when they were alone and the water was running in the next room.
"Yeah."
Vinnie's teeth were stained yellow. And Logan smelled the man's breath from across the room, the stench only outdone by his body odor. He tolerated the man because of his interminable devotion. But there were days when Logan contemplated slitting his throat just for the fun of it. He watched the man's Adam's apple bob in place, fantasizing the feel of his blade across it.