Page 13 of Killer Attraction

ME: Sure. Just tell me when, and I’m all yours.

I let out a sigh as I rounded the street corner to catch up to Clint Davenport, my next unlucky victim. Thinking about Aiden had me distracted, and I couldn’t afford a distraction when I was stalking my prey. That was how mistakes were made and people got caught.

And I had no intention of ever getting caught.

Especially when I had my little bird to think about.

AIDEN: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Nieces and/or nephews?

ME: No, I’m an only child. No real family left, since my parents are gone.

Of course, I couldn’t tell him that my parents had been too afraid to have any other kids after they realized I wasn’t like other children. I never did find out if it was because they were afraid they’d be like me or if they were afraid I’d hurt them.

Either way, it was probably the right call on their part.

AIDEN: Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry. What happened?

Forget that. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.

ME: It’s fine. They were in a car accident. Hit by a drunk driver when I was 24.

AIDEN: Did they catch the guy?

ME: No, the police were never able to catch him.

What I didn’t tell him was that the police would never be able to find him because I had found him first. I may not have many feelings, or feel things the way other people do, but a part of me still cared that they were my parents and that some asshole had taken them from me.

ME: Tell me about your family.

I didn’t want him asking too many questions about my family. It wasn’t that I wanted to hide who I was but it wasn’t something I wanted to get into. Considering I’d given Aiden my real name at the wedding, he could have easily looked me up. I was surprised he didn’t, but it was obvious or else he would have had completely different questions for me. Part of me wanted to ask why but I also didn’t think I should press my luck.

From a block away, I watched as Clint slipped through the doorway into his house. I waited back a few minutes before I wandered to the vacant house across the street and snuck into the backyard to minimize my risk of being seen. It had been condemned months ago, so I snatched it up when it went up for auction. Eventually, it would be one of my renovation projects, but for the time being, it was the perfect place to set up surveillance on Clint, who, as luck would have it, lived down the block.

Most of the house remained as-is from the purchase, except I had a generator hooked up to supply power to the wall of monitors I had set up in one of the upstairs bedrooms I turned into an office.

AIDEN: So… what do you do? You’ve been dressed all nice and fancy both times I saw you, even at the club. So it’s got my imagination in overdrive trying to figure it out.

I let out a sigh. Answering questions about myself was as hard as figuring out what to ask other people about themselves. But I didn’t want to lie to him even though I knew I couldn’t tell him the truth.

At least, not the whole truth.

ME: I’m a land developer. I buy cheap properties that no one else wants, and I renovate them or do what I need to in order to change their zoning, and then I sell them for a lot of money.

Pretty boring, actually. But the money is good and I get to travel when I feel like in order to check out properties.

AIDEN: *whistles* Wasn’t quite what I had in mind. But it sounds impressive.

Having multiple shell corporations to buy up land came in handy. I had various safe houses set up around the city and even outside the city limits. They were off the books—as all my properties were because nothing would ever be traced back to me—and usually had either a room or two, or the basement, outfitted for habitation in case I needed somewhere to lie low.

Then there were places like the one near Clint, where they were monitoring stations. Some of those even came in handy for the kill. The best part was then they’d shuffle through the hands of my other corporations before they finally landed with my legal business and then be slated for remodel. It was a surefire way to keep my hands clean, relatively speaking, and make sure all the evidence was destroyed and cleaned up.

I glanced up at the monitors in time to spot Clint hastily exiting his house.

Shit.

ME: I need to go to a meeting now, little bird. But I will call you when I get home, okay?

AIDEN: Sure. I need to get back to work, too. Talk to you later.

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