Page 15 of Spiteful Heart

“No,” he growled out. “We are perfectly fine dealing with bodies on our own… even if it is your fault.” He sounded so furious with me, so angry, and yet his expression was simply one of—you guessed it—annoyance. Newton was a complicated man, and because of that, I didn’t trust him.

“All I want is to find this serial killer and give him a taste of my own steel,” I whispered, stepping closer to him. Just because he was taller than me didn’t mean he was the only one who could be intimidating. Even without my mask, I had a way about me, I’d been told. “The last thing I wanted to do was turn the killer’s eye to you and your establishment… but I came here for a reason last time. This club isn’t far from where the first body was found. I think, Newton, the killer is close to your club. I’ll be watching it closely from now on.” Foreboding, a warning, one he better heed.

Newton didn’t say anything else to me, but his glare hardened as he stared down at me. I gave him a smile and blew him a kiss, and then I walked right out of that club with renewed agency. My purpose was once again clear: find the killer before he kills again.

I got in the backseat of the car and said to Maddox, “Let’s go back to your place. I want to be there when Sylvester gets back. We need to figure out a plan.”

As Viper drove us to the Luciano estate, Maddox said, “What did we even find out? All we know for sure is that the killer killed her there.” His hands flexed to fists on his knees. The man was getting antsy like me, wanting to put a rest to this hunting game for good.

“We know she was brought there and killed there. We know he supposedly took out the cameras—”

“He did,” Mike interrupted. “When you all were up there talking to whoever, I asked to see the security office. The footage cuts out from every angle at the same time. They tried to reboot the entire system and it still didn’t do anything. None of the cameras are working right anymore.” I think that was the most words he’d ever strung together, at least in my presence.

I leaned forward, jostling the big guy’s shoulder. “Look at you, good sir.” He shook me off, which made me giggle. As I leaned back, meeting a glare from Maddox—still jealous, apparently—I went on, “She was brought there, the cameras were all out, and whoever it was knew it would be empty. They didn’t break in, which means they must’ve gotten their hands on a key—and if a key goes missing, I can’t imagine Newton isn’t smart enough to change the locks.”

“How was Newton?” Viper asked, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “I don’t know him well, but he seemed off today.”

“Finding a scene like that in a place you own will fucking do that to you,” Maddox pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong. Even if Newton was innocent, which I didn’t know whether or not he was yet, he had every right to be pissed at me for bringing the spotlight onto him and his club.

But the spotlight had already been there.

“He was drinking a lot,” I said. “Out of all of the times I’ve seen him, I’ve never seen him down that much alcohol in one sitting. He was stressed, or…” I paused, the possibility too big to ignore. “Or he was putting on a show for us. I asked him some hard questions, and he got pissed, told me if he killed someone, he wouldn’t put them on display, that I was the last person he’d want knowing his dirty secrets.”

“I can see that,” Viper said.

“But what if it wasn’t Newton himself who did it? What if it’s one of his people? They’re loyal to him, just like Roman and Carter are loyal to you guys. What if he had them do it, knowing I’d be suspicious but also knowing I knew he was smart enough not to incriminate his business with a body?”

Maddox stared at me, his dark gaze nearly black in the shadows of the car, even though it was early afternoon. “You think Newton could’ve set this all up? Why? Why would he do that?”

“Because he can,” I pointed out. “Because he’s got the perfect defense! He didn’t get where he is today by being a stupid businessman. He’s smart with money. Everyone who knows him knows that. He’d never jeopardize any of his businesses by leaving evidence that it was him—and that’s the perfect defense.”

Beside me, Maddox shook his head. “I don’t know if I buy that theory.”

“I can see it,” Viper spoke. “But I don’t think it’s because he can. I think it’s the same reason why our killer is going after girls and doing what he’s doing to them.”

“Power,” I muttered. If there was one man in this city more power-hungry than anyone else, it was Newton. Hell, I was surprised he wasn’t running for mayor—but maybe he was holding off a few years, waiting to get his ducks all lined up, before throwing in his candidacy. You know, making sure he had enough blackmail to get everyone’s support.

“I still don’t see it,” Maddox said.

Grinding my teeth, I looked at the back of Big Mike’s head. His longer hair was pulled back in a low pony, like it usually was. I leaned forward, pushing my head into the middle of the front half of the car, staring at him. “What do you think, big guy? Do you think it’s Newton and his goons?”

“I think we need to see what Sylvester thinks” was his answer.

Way to not take a side, dude.

Sighing, I leaned back and pursed my lips. The car ride grew quiet, and I’d bet anything I got each of them wondering if it was indeed Newton. If, all this time, the guy we’d been searching for was right in front of our faces. Wouldn’t that just be the kicker? I’d pull my fucking hair out if it was, because I could’ve ended this a long time ago.

The killer knew how we worked, knew our turfs. He knew what warehouse we used, knew to leave the bodies where, nine times out of ten, we could get to them first, before the police. He knew the inner workings of the Luciano family and he knew I was the Night Slayer.

Newton had connections aplenty; his businesses were booming. He had taken advantage of the chaos that had ensued during the slaughter of the remaining DeLucas. He knew more things about me than most did. Perhaps he didn’t like seeing me rise from a singer to the queen of an inherited criminal empire. Maybe he was jealous it wasn’t something he could do himself, and that’s why he wanted to take me down—and make me miserable the whole way down.

It made sense, if it was Newton. I wasn’t certain it was him, but it would make sense. A killer who knew me, someone who wanted to play games with me and watch me suffer. Newton was a businessman; he was good at telling people things they wanted to hear, feeding them lies, and charming when he needed to be.

It definitely could be Newton.

Or it could be someone close to him, someone who could snoop and eavesdrop on everything Newton did, learning everything he knew. It could be one of those big guards, or it could be one of the guards simply doing whatever Newton told him to.

God. All these possibilities… I hated not knowing the answer. One way or another, the truth would come out, and I had the feeling it was going to get bloodier before it wrapped up.

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