Tempted by Sin (A Dark Stalker Romance #1)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ace

For once, I’m not stalking my little bird.

This time, I have my eyes set on her loser fiancé. I knew politics was fucking boring, but it’s even worse witnessing it with my own eyes. The mundane cream walls and white tiles in this building make me want to rip my eyeballs out of my skull.

It was easy to blend in with the crowd, posing as a janitor who cleans the hallways and offices. Given how far up each other’s asses these people are, I knew I would be able to lurk the hallways undetected, keeping a watchful eye.

When I decided to watch Paetyn’s fiancé today, just to see what he does throughout the day, I knew what I was walking into—boring people talking about an equally boring topic. I set up a video camera in his office when he left for lunch, hoping that when he returned he would give me something, anything, that would be of interest.

I have no idea what I’m expecting to get out of this. But I knew I had to find something incriminating to hold against this motherfucker with her. The sooner I get him away from my little bird, the better.

After I kissed Paetyn in the alleyway two nights ago, my obsession with her has only grown. I had no intention of giving her my lips because I’m not one to kiss on the mouth, the act far too intimate for me, but I couldn’t help myself, not when she was looking at me with those innocent eyes. She is all I think about—her sweet voice on a constant loop in my mind, and her intoxicating scent simmering beneath my skin.

I’m consumed by every inch of her to the point it’s maddening, but I welcome it. Crave it, even.

When I followed her home that night and watched through the open balcony curtains as that asshole fucked her mouth like it was his, all I saw was red. The deep-rooted obsession and desire to make this woman mine almost pushed me to the point of snapping his fucking neck just so he would stop touching her.

But I reined in my temper enough to not storm the room and show that fucker who Paetyn really wants.

She couldn’t see me, but I know she felt my presence, and my eyes watching her from afar. I could tell by the way her cheeks flushed a light pink and her eyes stayed focused on the open space between us, as if she were wishing I would appear.

She wants me, even if she refuses to admit it.

From my position behind a cleaning cart I found in the storage room earlier, I watch the door to Liam’s office. I managed to slip into the storage room undetected and stole a spare uniform lying on one of the shelves before taking the cart, using it as my shield from the eyes of the people walking the halls of the building.

No one is any the wiser as I lurk nearby, watching, waiting.

I check my watch and frown. Fifteen minutes. That’s how long ago a leggy redhead waltzed into Liam’s office and hasn’t returned since.

I’ve been watching this fucker all day, and he has done nothing but attend meetings, talk with people in the hallway about boring political shit, and sit in his office doing God knows what. Besides this one little detail, he has been a very uninteresting fucking person to watch.

I glance over my shoulder at the near empty hallway. Most of the people in the building have long since left once 5:00 PM rolled around, with some lingering as they collect the last of their belongings. But not Liam Aster. When everyone in their respective offices left thirty minutes ago, he made no move to leave. Instead, he stayed put in his office, still joined by the unknown redhead.

My hands tighten around the handle attached to the cart. Whatever is happening in there, the video camera I strategically placed on the bookcase facing his desk will capture it. Whether anything of note is happening, I’m not sure.

I pretend to fiddle with items on the cart when the last of the lingering people in the hallway pass by, their eyes never straying toward me. Given I’m dressed in a janitor uniform and everyone else here is dressed in a suit, of course they don’t take the time to glance in my direction. If anything, they view me as someone beneath them, no better than the dirt stuck to the bottom of their overpriced shoes.

If only they knew I was the devil in disguise.

After another long fifteen minutes, the hallway now empty, Liam and the redhead step out of his office. She adjusts her button-down shirt, her large tits barely contained by the material. Creases that weren’t embedded into the fabric before she went in are now visible from where I stand at the end of the hallway. Her red lipstick is smeared ever so slightly, and a light sheen of sweat glistens over her pale skin. A noticeable glow that wasn’t there before is now evident.

The redhead waves at Liam as she saunters down the hallway, fluffing her hair.

Liam bites his bottom lip as he watches her. He looks just as disheveled as the redhead. Not only is his hair a mess, but the forest green tie around his neck hangs loosely, and the top three buttons on his shirt are undone. But what makes me see red is the belt hanging loosely around his waist, and his unbuttoned trousers.

Oh, this motherfucker….

I fist my hands at my side, contemplating if I should shove him back into his office and allow him to get acquainted with my fists. The rage boiling beneath my skin is set to explode, but if it does, I’ll be screwed. The last thing I need is for him to take notice of me and become suspicious. If he figures me out, this will have all been for nothing.

With my jaw clenched, I step back into the shadows of the hallway, my face growing hot with anger.

Liam taps the door frame before stepping back inside. I stand in silence for another ten minutes before he makes a move to leave for the night. When he shuts the door to his office, I’m surprised to see he doesn’t lock it. Given he’s a big shot politician, I would’ve thought he would lock up whatever shit he’s hiding in there.

When he’s out of sight, heading home to my little bird, I step out of the shadows and walk toward the closed door. It opens with ease, and I slip inside, making sure to shut it quietly behind me. The room is dark, save for the moonlight streaming in from the window behind the desk. I don’t stop to gaze around the room, only focused on collecting the video camera from the bookshelf and getting the fuck out of here.

I snatch the device disguised as a book off the shelf and slip out of the room. I don’t bother to put the cart away or take off the janitor uniform. I’m itching to get back to my car parked across the street and view the footage.

When I’m in the safety of my car, I plug the book camera into my laptop and wait for the footage to upload. My leg bounces beneath me, my patience wearing thin. If there is anything incriminating in this footage, I’ll have to use some major restraint not to go to his house and kill the fucker. I already suspected he was cheating, but seeing it with my own eyes, and having evidence of such, will make me even more furious.

Touching what’s mine is one thing, but thinking he can hurt her is another.

The uploaded file flashes on the screen. I waste no time clicking on it, watching as the video stream comes to life. The file is time stamped at nearly seven hours long, so I skip through the boring shit of him sitting in meetings, working on his computer and talking with whoever stopped by.

When I get to the last thirty minutes of the video, I stop, letting it play out. As soon as the redhead enters the room, closes the door behind her, and locks it, I lean back in the seat, my eyes focused on the scene playing out before me.

Liam stands from his desk and wastes no time pulling the redhead into his arms and kissing her. My fists clench on my thighs as I watch them make out, their hands all over each other. It gets worse when he bends her over his desk, flips her skirt up, and fucks her from behind.

That was all I needed to see.

I click out of the video and slam my laptop closed. Silence settles deep into my bones as I stare across the road at the building I spent all day watching this motherfucker. Fury gnaws at my sides. The fucking audacity of this guy.

What should I do with the information I’ve been armed with? It would be so fucking easy for me to leak this footage to the media and watch the assholes career and life crumble beneath his feet. I want to see him crash and burn for hurting what’s mine.

Alternatively, I could use the video as leverage for him to leave Paetyn. I highly doubt a man of his status would want this type of scandal to reach the media, so if he were a smart man, he would leave what’s mine and go about his life without so much as speaking a word about the footage.

Either option sounds appealing to me.

As I consider my options, captivating emerald eyes appear in my mind, followed by almost silver hair that looks fucking amazing wrapped around my fist. I grin as I remember the night we shared together out in the cabin. It killed me that she couldn’t scream my name as she came undone on my cock. But she couldn’t know who I was. It would ruin everything.

But now she knows my name, so I’ll be damned if I don’t get to hear my name fall from her lips as I fill her.

My eyes flick to the closed laptop and the concealed video file hidden inside. Maybe I’ll sit on what I should do with it for a little bit longer. Besides, I like this game I’m playing with my little bird. The one where she pretends she doesn’t want me, but I know she’s thinking about me, especially whenever she’s with her fiancé.

If anything, it only fuels the obsession, knowing I have her at my fingertips but can’t have her. At least, not yet. But soon.

I grin as I pull out my phone and click on her phone number. For now, I’ll hold onto the footage until I need it. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a need for it soon enough.

ACE: What are you wearing, little bird?

PAE: Go away.

ACE: You don’t mean that, do you?

PAE: Yes, I do. Leave me alone.

ACE: Tsk. That’s not what I saw in those pretty innocent eyes of yours two nights ago when your mouth was stuffed with another man’s cock. You were looking for me, wishing you had your lips wrapped around me. You knew I was watching.

PAE: You’re crazy and delusional.

ACE: Oh, little bird. Don’t you know I like it when you talk dirty to me. Don’t make me show you what I’m truly capable of.

PAE: I want you to stop messaging me and stalking me. I want you to leave me alone.

ACE: It’s cute that you think I would just give up on you. I will stop at nothing to get what I want. That is you.

PAE: I’ll never be yours, asshole.

ACE: We’ll see about that, little bird.