Page 604 of Dark Love

Max smiles. “It’s the best thing in the world. And the hardest thing you will ever do. My daughter never leaves the neighborhood alone. She has a huge family to protect her. I have every tool and all the money in the world, but I worry about her every second of the day. It only gets worse the older they get.”

“Noted.” Maybe I should ask Dahlia to only have boys.

“I’m happy for you two.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you know about her mom?”

Too much and not enough. “She scares me.”

“Eugenia Fleur would scare any sane man. But I’d kill to play poker with her. I tried to get in a game with her once, but she hasn’t sat at a table in years.”

“We played a couple of days ago.”

“Really? What was it like?”

“Like she saw into my soul and knew everything about me. But otherwise pretty great.”

He starts typing again. “Did she like you? Or was she concerned about your reputation?”

“She’s where Dahlia got the lack of concern for appearances, I think.” Dahlia sees the heart of people, and for that, I’m forever grateful.

“Can you arrange a game?”

“You find out who hurt her daughter, and I’ll see what I can do.” Eugenia would do anything for her kids.

“Well then, consider it done. I’m just checking the origin of the file. Older images are surprisingly easy to find.”

“He had it.” I was right. I know it. Monty had a part in this somehow.

“More than that. It was originally taken on a phone registered to him.”

The picture on the wall switches into a screen. “One of the versions on his computer is larger than the others. I’d bet it’s the original, and he edited it.”

A younger Monty pops up on the screen with a pretty blond girl.

“How long ago did you give her the pill?” Monty asks.

“About fifteen minutes ago. Everyone else got one of my mother’s sleeping pills.”

The girl’s grin disgusts me. “Turn it off. I can’t watch them hurt her.” I turn away. Dahlia blamed herself for something this filth did. I want to kill them both.

“There’s more.”

More. “What do you mean by more?” Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

“Monty has quite the love for videos and children.”

He’s going to die today. How will Dahlia’s family handle it?

“We can take care of this problem if you would like.”

“Thank you for the offer.” There’s no way I’m not killing the man that did this to Dahlia.

“It isn’t that simple anymore.”

“Huh?” Killing has never been simple, but I’ve done it enough times that it isn’t all that complex.

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