X
MICAH
T oo many things had changed in the past three years.
I did my best.
I tried to leave my Bambi alone, to let her live the life she deserved. I stayed away from her, watching her from the shadows, hoping that soon enough, she was going to forget all about me.
It meant that I couldn’t remain selfish.
Yet, she didn’t.
Instead, she was desperate to see me again. She was yearning for my touch, my presence — to be by my side. My resolve flew out of the window the moment I saw her in that amphitheater, giving her students an assignment.
The assignment was me.
That was when I simply couldn’t let her be. The beast inside of me didn’t want to let her go, but for the sake of her future, I had to sacrifice my selfish needs and desires and allow her to experience a world without me.
She didn’t want that.
I wasn’t sure why I thought she’d ever want that. I didn’t even know why I thought I’d be able to let her go. The way she talked, walked, and smiled at those around her was fake, almost beyond belief.
Yet no one figured it out.
My Bambi was all alone, suffering and in pain without a single person noticing.
That was when I decided that she truly belonged with me, next to me. Since I had a job or two to finish in New York, the goal was to get her afterward. That bastard, Kyle Morrison, beat me to it.
I’d heard of him in passing. He only acted like a big shot. In reality, he was just an average man with big dreams. Dreams he had no means of turning into reality. The fact that he used my girl to try to lure me out was enough for me to want to snap his neck like a twig.
It didn’t take a lot for me to find out where he was staying, what his plans were and how to prevent him from getting what he so desperately wanted.
And that was one of the things that hadn’t changed in the past three years.
Many motherfuckers were still lurking around Storm. Some were more innocent than others, but not Kyle Morrison. That bastard was aware of our relationship before he reached out to her. He wanted to use her like a pawn in his game. And I was going to be damned if a man like him would ever be enough to capture me.
I expected him to arrive sooner than anticipated. I threw him a bait and he took it. Just how I willingly took the bait they planted at the coffee shop.
I couldn’t resist the urge to grab her.
I couldn’t control myself anymore.
I couldn’t contain my desire to finally have her all for myself, until my last dying breath.
With the help of a young man who worked under the same man as me, I’d invited Kyle Morrison into this hideout. He didn’t expect that the house was soundproof and built like a cage to capture him.
The moment I closed the door, with Storm’s sweet taste still on my tongue, I clutched the gun in my hand. The night was going to end with someone dying, and it wasn’t going to be Storm or me.
Deliberately, the door was left unlocked.
Every piece of evidence he would want and need was right there in the open. But as soon as he left the comfort of his home, Arlo made sure there wasn’t going to be any cell service. Hence, calling for backup or trying to send incriminating images was futile.
And Morrison was too proud to ask for help immediately.
To him, I was nothing but a small fish in the sea.
How arrogant of him to believe that he could use my Bambi and still not see me as a direct threat to his life.
I didn’t lock the basement door. Knowing Storm’s curiosity, she was going to come upstairs sooner or later. And there was something I needed to confirm, something that I could barely stop thinking about.
Pride swelled in my chest.
My Bambi killed someone to keep me safe, to keep us safe.
At first, the thought of her taking a man’s life pained me. It wasn’t the life I wanted her to live, even with me. Then, I got to see the look of determination on her face, with not an ounce of regret behind her big, pretty eyes.
That was when worry turned into pride.
The chain of malice I set into motion came back to bind Storm to me, forever. Once we were shackled together, not even the Devil himself was going to separate us. Until death did us part.
By the time the door behind me was safely closed, with Storm still being in the room downstairs, Morrison was already inside. Luckily, the house itself was small, even smaller than that cabin in the middle of nowhere.
He was right in front of me, with a gun pointed at me.
“Long time, no see,’’ he commented.
I blinked.
It took me too long to remember his face.
He looked the same, just aged a decade. The sly look was still on his face and his arrogance as obvious as ever. A loud laugh came from me as I took a step forward, thinking about the days we spent together.
“Ah, so it is you.’’ I grinned. “How have you been?”
Morrison ignored me. “Where’s the girl?”
“What girl?”
“Your accomplice. Where is she?”
“Accomplice?” I repeated, confused. “She’s far from being my accomplice, Kyle. She hasn’t done anything wrong, not yet.’’
Carefully, Morrison stepped forward. He was gripping the gun in his hand as if he was afraid I’d jump on him at any given moment. Well, technically, he was right to think so; however, I wasn’t as stupid as he’d hoped. I was just waiting for an opportunity.
“Yet?” he gritted out. “That means you plan on having her do something illegal.’’
Kyle Morrison was the older brother of one of the men who had raped my little sister. At the time, he was away, so I couldn’t get to him and kill him, and he was smart to stay off my radar until now.
The only reason he slipped by was because during the initial investigation and the time after my imprisonment, I hadn’t seen him or heard anything about him. To think that he’d gotten this successful was shocking.
His brother suffered, though, and in my eyes, it wasn’t sufficient.
If I could bring him back from the dead, and torture him all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.
“You’re overthinking it,’’ I sighed. “But let’s stop with the useless conversations, shall we? It’s me who you want, not Storm.’’
He chuckled without moving a muscle. His eyes bore into my face, and he was prepared to shoot, but he was waiting for a reason. Once I remained in my spot, barely moving or speaking to him, he stepped forward with his head held high.
“That’s right,’’ he confirmed. “But why should I stop at that? You killed my brother. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to take someone you hold dear away from you.’’
I clenched my fist to my side while being fully prepared to shoot him where he stood. But I couldn’t. There was something my Bambi had to do in my stead, so I managed to compose myself.
“Your brother was a fucking bastard.’’
Kyle gritted his teeth. “I’m aware. He would’ve gone to prison.’’
A humorless laugh came from me. “In that godforsaken city where your family’s word is the law? I doubt it. He had it coming.’’
He didn’t have a response.
Of fucking course.
The thought of this pathetic excuse of a man trying to seek justice for another piece of shit made my blood boil. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to go off the rails and show him just why the fuck they called me The Terror of the Night.
I would’ve done it in a heartbeat if Storm wasn't here.
But she was.
And she was mentally preparing herself.
I needed to push Kyle a little more.
He needed to make the first move and do it quickly. Storm had no patience, and by now, she was already recollecting herself and would make an appearance soon.
So, I approached him even more, closing the distance between us.
“What’s it going to be? Are you going to avenge that pathetic boy’s death by staring at me? Or do you not have the balls to pull the trigger?”
His voice grew louder. “Don’t underestimate me. You think you’re that smart because you escaped from prison?”
“No,’’ I drawled out. “I think I’m that smart because I managed to escape from a maximum-security prison and then play tag with the law enforcement for over three years. And now, I’ve successfully lured a little bitch into my lair.’’
That seemed to do the trick.
His hand trembled briefly before he finally fired the first shot.
Quickly, I stepped aside, and he missed my heart.
Instead, he hit my forearm and the bullet pierced through my skin. It landed on the wall behind me, after creating a hole in my body.
I didn’t have the time to think about the ache and the blood dripping down my arm, and fired a shot at him.
The bullet hit his hand and he dropped the gun. As it fell to the floor with a loud thud, I had no more time to waste.
Within a second, I was in front of him, as he bent down to pick the weapon back up. I didn’t allow it and hit his nose with my knee. A cracking sound filled the room as his blood stained my pants, but I couldn’t stop there.
The next kick came between his legs, just enough to make him slump to the floor in pain. He screamed out like a little bitch, and I couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction.
While he was disoriented, I grabbed the rope I’d prepared beforehand and tied him up. He was squirming, cussing me out and yelling, though it was futile. Each scream ended with me hitting him.
By now, he was missing a tooth, his nose was crooked, and his lips were split.
“You motherfucker,’’ he hissed. “You don’t think I came here without a plan?”
“Not unless you’re a complete moron. But that’s useless. No one is coming to save you, Kyle.’’
“That’s what you think.’’
I shrugged. “Even if they do show up, by that time, you’ll be long dead.’’
“One day, someone will kill you. Prison is too light of a sentence for you.’’
“The only person capable of taking my life is the same person you tried to use as bait to get me. And as you can see, it didn’t work. It won’t work until she decides my life is no longer worthy.’’