Page 5 of Wicked Revenge

The Kingsmen will get what's coming to them soon enough. They will pay for their crimes in blood, by my hand, but they will fear for their lives first. They won’t see me until I want them to, and I will be the last thing they ever see.

I drag my mind out of the past and back to the man when I hear a slap ring out, quickly followed by a yelp. He is still jackhammering his disgusting, half-soft cock down the blonde's throat. I know he can’t get off unless he hurts her. The sick bastard needs to hear her beg him to stop, to claw at him. He needs her to fight. It doesn't take long for him to slap her face enough for her to give him exactly what he wants.

He snatches her head back and slaps her face one more time before grabbing onto his cock and spraying his release all over her face. He drops her to the cold hard ground with a look of disgust on his face as he stuffs his cock back into his pants. I know what's coming next. I guess he hasn’t changed at all.

He grabs her by the hair, brings her tear and cum-soaked face to his, and spits. It takes everything in me to remain where I am, hidden in the shadows.

“Look at you. You’re nothing but a disgusting whore, begging for scraps of attention.” His cruel tone is so familiar to me as he sneers at the girl on her knees, spitting in her face again, “Go get yourself cleaned up so the next Kingsman to put you on your knees can at least pretend you're worthy of their time.”

He drops his grip on her hair, and she scrambles to her feet and runs down the dark alley, right past me. She couldn’t see me even if she was looking right at me, her tear-soaked face passing by me in a blur.

I wait until she disappears before looking back to the Kingsman. He leans against the wall of the tavern, smoking a cigarette with his eyes closed.

He has no idea that the peace of mind he has right now will be his last. He’ll feel nothing but fear until I decide his time is up.

He pushes off of the wall before heading back inside Twisted, the door closing behind him. I don’t follow. I make my way back towards the road leading out of town. By tomorrow morning, he’ll know he’s living on borrowed time, and his time is about to run out.

Chapter 3

There is beauty in hunting a predator and making them your prey.

Stalking them until they look over their shoulders for a change. Making them fear their own shadow before they even know who you are.

This world will be a better place with a few less Kingsmen, violating and defiling innocents like it’s their goddamn right.

Wicked men like them always think they are the predators, not someone else’s prey.

This morning, I made my way to town on Nightshade. I parked her in the shadows of the forest and hid her behind the dense foliage, then walked the short distance into the town square.

Lunchtime around the square means heavy foot traffic, and I don't want to draw attention to myself yet. I stick to the shadows, watching and observing my fourth mark. It seems it's business as usual for him, as though I didn’t slaughter three of his Kingsmen in the last few weeks.

I’ve been here a few hours now, following him around town, watching as he asserts his power to the business owners around town. It seems his role is to collect payments from the locals in exchange for the Kingsmen’s protection.

It's a crock of shit.

They only need protection from him. Maybe they don’t see that now, or they don’t think there is another way, but they will soon.

I will show them what it means to be protected. Aspen showed me with her actions what it means to protect your people and the community. I might have been locked away for three years and in hiding for two, but these are my people.

I still remember my best friend Ella and her parents who own the Twisted Tavern. Mr. Henry sold me fresh fruit and homemade jams from his little stand in the town square.

Beatrice and her sons from the hardware store helped Grams and I fix things around the cottage because they knew we didn’t have any help.

Jenna, the art teacher at the school, would come over and bring me extra supplies and would take me into the woods to show me how to capture living nature on paper.

So many good people in this town, and they are all under the control of the fucking Monster.

I guess I was just a naive little girl, because before I was taken, I didn’t see the danger lurking in Shadow Forest until it was too late.

Grams always told me to carry a weapon on me, but I wish she would have warned me better and explained what was happening in our town. If I knew, I think I could have saved her. I would never have been taken, and I wouldn't be standing in the shadows, watching my mark beat Mr. Henry for not paying his protection debt.

Fighting against the urge to end this wicked motherfucker before his time, I close my eyes for just a few seconds and exhale silently. Just a little more time and it will be over for him. I have to be smart about this. Striking too soon will only lead me back to captivity.

I will never go back there.

Tears sting my eyes when I open them back up to see Mr. Henry starting to gather his destroyed fruit from the street with blood dripping down his face.

He was just beaten in broad daylight in the town square, and no one batted an eye or stepped in. I look around at the people on the sidewalks, their gazes cast down while the Kingsman walks past them into Twisted.

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