Chapter 16
KNOX
This time, I brought toys. I had waited eight days before the compulsion to be in my little criminal’s space won.
Also, it had taken Hugh and his team almost a week to re-hack and infiltrate her security.
I knew my little criminal and her friends weren’t home, thanks to Hugh.
He’d let me know that a large number of their vehicles had exited the driveway.
While my little criminal is one of the best hackers, and their security system is the best of the best, my brother has spent his life beating the best, all for me.
This wasn’t the first time I’d used his help.
As a young teen, I had a tough time navigating people.
They confused me. The words they spoke often contradicted their actions.
The sick pleasure I saw in the bullies’ eyes brought out the worst in me.
But because I had promised Mom not to kill anyone, I was left to resort to other means to teach the bullies a lesson. That was where Hugh came in.
While I didn’t care about people, I cared about justice.
I loathed it when criminals walked free, when wrongdoers profited, and when abusers went unpunished.
But working in the system, trying to follow the law, I’d learned to suppress the beast that raged at my own helplessness.
It pulled me apart from the inside, thrashing in opposing directions, frothing at the mouth to bring justice to the victims, but leashed around the throat by the law.
Hugh helped me keep track of these monsters. He found the dirt and evidence when no one in my department could. He found me locations, people, evidence, and crime footage that we couldn’t get our hands on.
I involved him in the case of my little criminal because I knew he had my back.
The moment I stepped foot inside my little criminal’s apartment, her rabid dog lunged.
Before he could have his jaw wrapped around my healing calf again, I extended the large plushie of a cat at his face.
Dogs hated cats, right? By the time Shadow sniffed up the plushie, I’d locked the door behind me, enclosing myself in the apartment with the vicious dog of my vicious beauty.
I moved toward the kitchen island to place my bag when a loud snarling bark rang behind me, and I felt the weight of Shadow on my back.
Knowing that Shadow moved to kill, I immediately slid away from his grip and snatched the treat bag from the closet.
The moment I opened the pack of treats, Shadow growled, his eyes darting between me and the treat. “You want this, buddy?”
He growled, saliva dripping down its maw.
“You don’t get it if you’re a bad boy now. Sit, Shadow.” I attempted the most basic command anybody would teach their dog.
Instead, Shadow lunged, his paws missing my face by an inch. “Fuck. Shadow, down, boy.”
The fucker did not listen to me. Just like his mom.
He jumped and grabbed the pack in his teeth. I kept my hold on the pack as the two of us played fucking tug-of-war with the treats.
This was not why I was here. Fuck.
I gritted my teeth as his teeth rested an inch from my fingers. “Alright, Shadow. I’ll give you the treat.”
I used more force and snatched the pack, raising it over my head. Grabbing five of the little treats in my palm, I threw each of the treats in different directions in the large apartment.
Shadow struggled with conflict for a second before launching himself toward the treats, leaving me at the kitchen island.
My heart was racing like I’d run ten miles, not fought with a dog over treats.
What had my life come to?
Afraid of the dog returning, I quickly pulled down my bag from my shoulder and placed it on the island. That was when I saw it.
A paper with “Lt. Knox Steele” written in beautiful, cursive handwriting.
My heart pounded as embers of desire licked down my spine. I picked up the letter and gave it a sniff. Ink, paper, and something sweet.
I unfolded the note, and my lips twitched in a smile.
Lt. Knox Steele,
Knew you’d be back.
You need to stop being obsessed with me and do your job.
Or would you like me to do it for you?
Oh…that’s right. I already did.
Burning down the Russian hideouts? Really?
You’re a shortsighted idiot.
Wasted months of my time.
Fuck you very much for that.
Just know that every time you break into my house and invade my privacy, I’ll do the same to you.
Be very careful about your next steps.
Yours Truly,
Nothing
Mind your business
I’d barely finished reading the letter when my snarling best friend lunged at me again. I blocked his advance and raised the letter above my head. “Just like your mommy, aren’t you? Vicious little creature.”
I plucked the marrow bone from my bag that I’d gotten for him and offered it to him before he chewed my leg off. His snarling growls turned to huffing pants as he sniffed the bone. Once he’d had his fill of sniffing it, I threw it to the far corner of the living room behind the couch.
Immediately, Shadow barked and ran to the bone, finally leaving me alone.
I read the letter from my beauty again, and again, and again, until a permanent smile was etched on my face.
I grabbed the pen from the front pocket of my shirt and wrote my response on the back of the letter.
Once done, I added more recording devices to the house.
Shadow had found them all the last time, but I was determined to have them around the house for as long as possible.
I decided to forgo installing any devices at their HQ, just because I’d rather spend more time in my little criminal’s apartment.
Once I was satisfied with my work, I pulled the groceries out of my bag.
This was just to mess with her mind. I wanted her to feel like I’d taken control of every minor thing in her life.
I wanted her to be consumed by the thought of my motives, my actions.
I wanted to savor her anger and frustrations.
I wanted her to stumble and mess up and leave some evidence behind for me.
Just so I could peg her down. Not in that way. I think.
It was definitely not because I wanted her to eat the food I prepared. That would be preposterous.
I prepared a large, meaty footlong sandwich as I put the groceries away.
What kind of person only had milk, beer, bubbly, and mayo in her fridge?
What would she do if her boss, fucking Dominic Park, stopped paying for the neatly packed lunches and dinners stacked in her fridge?
And I could tell it was Dominic Park because each packed meal had a little Park logo.
A person should have some fruits, veggies, and meats in her fridge, for Christ’s sake.
While Shadow gnawed at the marrow bone, I grabbed one of the beer cans from the fridge and took half a sandwich to the couch. I took a seat and deliberately wiggled on it so it’d leave an impression of a person having sat there.
Mind games. I was a mastermind at that.
Shadow immediately grabbed his bone and plonked right beside me on the couch. “You love the bone, don’t you, buddy? If you stop biting me, I’ll bring more.”
Promptly, he threw the bone off the couch and jumped on me. “Fucking hell, man.”
I raised a hand to ward off the evil dog, grabbed the bone with my other hand, and threw it behind me. With a sharp bark, Shadow flew off the couch and ran to his precious bone.
With a grumble, he sat a few feet away from the couch as I ate my sandwich and drank the beer. Every time he remembered that I was stranger danger, he leaped back at me, and every time, I threw his bone away or distracted him with the plushie.
Once I’d washed my dish, and the other pile of dishes—the little criminal was a fucking slob and needed to be fucking disciplined—I made my way to her bedroom. Just to inspect and look for evidence, and again, not because the room smelled like her.
Once again, the bed was a mess. The comforter wasn’t folded, the pillows were askew, and the fucking bedsheet was rumpled. There was a half-empty glass of water on the side table, and two slippers lying in different directions. What sort of animal was my little criminal?
This was what happened when you had to investigate a lawless criminal.
Once I’d cleaned up her room, I stole another pair of her underwear—this time, not from her underwear drawer but the laundry basket—and walked out of the apartment after snatching away the bone from my new best friend.
He needed to know that I was the source of his favorite bone.
He needed to be waiting for me with eagerness, not with viciousness. And he fucking would. They both would.