29. Chapter 29 – Lincoln
Chapter 29 – Lincoln
I could have wiped out Tyson’s entire digital footprint remotely. It would have taken zero time at all to infiltrate, expunge, and then destroy everything from the comfort of my home office.
But it wouldn’t have fed the monster inside of me demanding blood for what was done.
That justice was going to be served painfully by hand.
“So explain to me again why I’m suddenly appropriate for baby-sitting duty?” Tamen groaned from the couch in my office as I grabbed the last of my things and put it in my bag. “You didn’t even want me here a week ago.”
“I still don’t want you here.” I deadpanned, “But if you insist on taking up space, you can earn your room and board while you’re here.”
“Ah,” He dragged the tip of a knife under his fingernail. “Blood labor is how I earn anything these days, brother. Not babysitting.”
“Well, if anything happens to Peyton while I’m gone, you’ll be paying in blood.” I put my bag on my shoulder and faced him head on. “ Behave.”
He grinned sadistically. “I never promise suitability. But I promise she won’t be harmed while you’re gone.”
“Good.” I walked out, and he followed me into the hallway.
“When are you planning on coming clean to her?” Tamen asked, and I rolled my eyes. He had no specifics about what was going on between Peyton and I. But he could tell she wasn’t involved with me , romantically. He has spent the entire first two days watching our interactions in the house and could see the divide there.
“When the truth no longer matters.” I kept walking. Had Peyton not been in her guest house, I wouldn’t have been so open with our conversation.
Successfully reaching the garage door without any further interference from him, I believed I had made it out unscathed. But his voice called out one last thing right before I stepped through the opening.
“He was wrong, you know.” I glanced over my shoulder, trying to figure out what he was talking about, and stopped when I saw the seriousness in my jackass brother’s eyes. “Dad.” He said and my blood raged into an inferno with just the utterance of our father’s existence inside of my home. “You were never weak or forgettable. He was the weak man who couldn’t own up to his mistakes when he got caught with two families.”“It doesn’t matter.” I shut it down before his words could fester.
“It does matter, Linc. Because if it didn’t, you wouldn’t be hiding your true self from Peyton.” He tilted his head to the side, “You wouldn’t use secrets and darkness to get her to love you.”
“I’m not.” I bit out bitterly, “I’m using blood and vengeance to do that.” Leaving as I had intended, I got into a black Aston Martin that Tamen had gifted me years ago on my birthday and burned rubber on my way down the driveway .
His words were too close to home, and I needed the ache they caused in my chest to go away. And I’d get that calm peacefulness by avenging Peyton’s nightmare.
She once dreamed of monsters and things that went bump in the night, like they were a bad thing. But her monster was going to right every wrong done to her.
No one could heal my pain, so I’d heal hers and live in her happiness second hand.
I walked across the dark parking lot, taking my place in the shadows where I belonged and waited.
And watched.
The apartment that Peyton and Tyson shared was on the third floor of a mid-range building on the outskirts of the city. The apartment had a lack of security, and their living room windows were conveniently connected to a fire escape.
It was too easy, really.
Ripe pickings, if you will.
I just had to time it right.
Not that Tyson would be any bit of a fight against me, I was just hoping to avoid drawing a crowd. Because if there was a crowd, I’d have to work fast.
And I wanted to take my fucking time with the limp dick prick.
Before I could move from my spot in the shadows, I sensed movement to my right, though there was no disturbance to the shrubs I was standing in. It was too dark to make out the way the dark somehow got darker, but I knew what that meant.
“Maddox.”
A sinister grin broke through the darkness and I rolled my eyes as his dark creepy silhouette took his place next to mine.
“Who are we hunting, Linc?”
Fucking psychopaths.
“Leave.”
“Aw come on,” He pushed his shoulder into mine and looked at the building. “It must be good if Tamen risked his life to contact me.”
Tamen and Maddox had a feud deep enough to bleed them both dry before they wised up and saved themselves. It was more than likely going to cause their actual deaths someday. I knew exactly what kind of sour taste it must have left in Tamen’s mouth to reach out to my only other ally.
“I don’t need any help.” While gazing at my target window, I noticed the light inside turn off. Tyson was milking a serious set of wounds to his face, which apparently made him decide to stay in tonight and go to bed early.
That was perfect. It would give me more time to draw out his torture before daylight crested the skyline.
“This isn’t about help, Linc.” He turned to look at me and I glanced over at his face. “I know the Ghost doesn’t need my help.” Maddox looked back up at the building, keyed into where I was looking at Tyson’s window. “But a little company never hurt.”
“I work alone.” I picked up my bag from the ground and walked out of the tree line .
His silent footsteps followed. I knew if I looked behind me, he’d be impossible to see in the shadows. The man didn’t exist unless he wanted you to know he did. “I remember a time when you would have been so excited for a chance to work collaboratively that you would have foamed at the mouth. Which means this one must be special.”
“Yeah, it’s fucking special.” I broke the cheap lock on the fire escape ladder and pulled it down. How fucking unsafe was Peyton while she lived here if I could get the ladder down that led to her window that easily. Not anymore. She’d never come back to the place. “Which is why I’m doing it by myself.”
“Fine.” He followed me up the ladder silently. I was always in awe of how he moved without a trace. Especially for a man as big as we were, even I couldn’t move that quietly. “I’ll just watch the show. Maybe they have snacks.”
“You’re a fucking nutcase.” I barked, climbing to the third floor.
“Duh.” He chuckled. “Normal is boring.”
I scoffed but stayed silent as I made it to the landing outside the apartment I was after. Maddox edged up next to me and watched as I tested one window; it opened without any effort. I shook my head, even more frustrated that Peyton had lived with such a lack of security around her, and then silently crawled in.
“It’s no fun if you don’t have to work for it.” Maddox whispered, sliding it closed behind us as I looked around.
Peyton’s scent hit me like a brick wall the second I stood tall. She was everywhere.
Yet Tyson didn’t deserve to live in her aroma, even if she was physically with me. Something I’d rectify by the time I left.
I took the edge of my gloved finger and pushed a lamp on the end table until it fell to the floor, crashing into a million pieces .
“Original.” Maddox rolled his eyes as he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The fucker was always hungry.
“Peyton?” Tyson’s nasally voice called out from the bedroom as he clicked his light on. “Is that you?”
He came rushing out into the living room like he was about to rush her when I stuck my foot out and tripped him, sprawling him out onto the floor.
He caught the sight of Maddox first raiding his fridge, and then rolled over, gasping in fear as I stood over him. I dropped my bag onto the floor, letting the clanking of its implements rattle around and fray his little bitch boy nerves further. “What if I told you that you would never see Peyton, ever again?”