Sirens & Stilettos (Serial Killer Book Club #2)

Chapter 1 Hunter

New Year’s Eve

Despite being the city that never sleeps, the thundering footsteps that echo in the alley drown out the New Year’s Eve nightlife—the blaring horns of midnight taxis, the cheers from the partygoers in the club, even the blood rushing in my ears like a tidal wave.

She knows she’s being hunted. Knows exactly who’s on her trail. Still, the Shadow Siren runs as if she might escape this time. As if there isn’t a chain-link fence waiting to cut her flight short.

Maybe once she could have climbed it.

Not now. Now, she’s trapped. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

I stop as she takes heavy breaths, watching the way her heels stutter against the pavement. Ahead, her silhouette is caught in the sickly glow of a lone bulb that shines just over the dumpster on the other side of the barricade.

We’ve been playing this game for years, I never imagined she’d let herself be cornered.

She’s too clever. Too stubborn.

Too fucking perfect to make a mistake like this.

Her chin-length wig flashes neon as she spins, taking in her surroundings, and scanning for a route that doesn’t exist.

Fight or flight.

Except this time, she has more than herself to think about.

Fitting that now—of all times—she finally faces the weight of her choices.

Labored breaths. In. In. Out.

I can taste her panic in the air as I close the distance, one toe of my Oxfords in front of the other, casually stalking through the puddles and the stale stench of desperation that clings to this city.

“There’s nowhere to go.” My voice cuts through the night, and she flinches as she whips around. “It’s over.”

Each step herds her closer to the light.

Closer to the truth.

I already know. I see the swell beneath her dark trench coat, the curve of a stomach that wasn’t there before. I see the silvery scar tracing her cheek.

The chain rattles as she presses against it, hazel eyes burning with feral terror.

As if I’d ever harm a hair on her head.

Or our child’s.

Still cloaked in shadow, I let a dark chuckle slip free. I’ve dreamed of this moment—catching the infamous serial killer before me.

Fantasized about prying open the facade, stealing the woman’s heart, and keeping it in a glass box.

Right beside mine.

Together. Where they’ve always belonged.

One last stride, and the orange glow spills across us both. Face to face.

Bunny and her Hunter.

The devil and her devoted demon.

“Time’s up, Little Rabbit,” I murmur. “Looks like I’ve finally caught you.”