Page 31 of Forever Filthy

“I know who you are,” I find myself blurting out.

His features grow taut. “And who exactly is that?” God, the growl in his voice is fucking alluring, he wouldn’t even need to kidnap his victims he would just need to speak and they would follow him like the call of a siren.

“I’ve seen the pictures.”

“And I’m sure there are many images of you on the internet but none of them really show who you truly are, do they?” His reply stumps me. “Did you come all this way to judge me and tell me what youthinkyou know or was there another reason?”

I uncross my arms and let them dangle uselessly at my sides as I search his eyes. When I don’t see any ill intent, I slowly make my way toward the table and slowly lower into the vacant chair, never once taking my eyes off him. His eyes, God, they hold so much fucking pain and it robs me of breath. How can a convicted murderer have such a painfilled look in his eyes?

“Did you do it?” I ask.

“Do what?” His face is impassive and it makes me incredibly hard to fucking read.

“Did you kill Kelly Valerian?” I grit out through clenched teeth. His brows draw in and form a deep V. His eyes skate between my own trying to read me but he won’t see shit.

“Isn’t she the step mother of the bastard who murdered my sister?”

“Yes.”

Alexander scoffs and shakes his head as he leans back in his chair, well as far as his restraints will let him. “You’ve read all the articles online and clearly seen the news. How many bodies did they find?”

I gape at him. “They found over thirty!” I shout.

“Exactly!” he snaps back, causing me to shrink back slightly. “And were any of those fucking bodies women?”

I open my mouth but snap it closed. I try to recall everything I have read and seen in his file. My eyes widen and my jaw unhinges when the answer hits me. “You never touched a woman.”

He flicks his hands in aduhgesture. “You may think I'm an animal but even I have a code, and hurting women and children isn’t something I do. I punish the guilty, not the innocent.” I sit here and let his words sink in slowly. He has never hurt a woman which means, my key suspect—my only suspect—isn’t a suspect at all. “Why did you send me that letter, Vivian?”

I shake my head to clear my thoughts and focus back on him. “Huh?”

“You told me who killed my sister, why?”

I dart my tongue to moisten my lips, unlike Ez, Arch or Hayze he doesn’t follow the movement just keeps his eyes on mine. “Because he deserves to pay for what he did to her. She wasn’t the only one he hurt—” I clamp my mouth closed when his eyes darken and his fists clenched on top of the table. His nostrils flare and his breathing turns shallow as he tries to control his anger. My body takes on a mind of its own, I reach out withoutthought and place my hand atop of his. Instantly he stops shaking and his eyes slowly return to their normal color. When I attempt to remove my hand, he twists his own quickly and traps my hand in his. My eyes widen in panic and my breathing now mirrors his from a second ago. Fear has me gripped in its clutches.

“I will never hurt you, Vivian, you have my word.” Call me fucking crazy but I believe him. When he smiles it’s small and doesn’t reach his eyes but I slowly begin to relax and stop fighting to get my hand free. I let him hold it. His hands are calloused and rough and it feels strange having my hand held by a serial killer. I know the guys have donethingsbut I have never seen what they have done with my own eyes like I have with Alex.

Alex?

Since when did we get comfortable enough to start giving each other pet names?

“Nexus hurt more girls, your sister was just the one who sadly didn’t get away.” His breath stutters for a moment. “I’m so sorry for what he did to her. None of us had any idea until last year what a real fucking piece of shit he is.”

“He was never on my radar when I began my search, my sister never hung out with rich preppy boys. Elanor wasn’t like most sixteen-year-old girls, she was weird and loved books.” The smile that stretches across his face is filled with love and pain. “She would get so angry when I would annoy her while she was reading. I still remember the last book she didn’t get a chance to finish reading.”

“What was it?” I ask quietly.

“Beautiful Liarby Jerry Pratt or something like that. It was a mafia book about a girl and three guys. Ellie loved those types of books and it used to drive me insane when she would tell me that she would never just end up with one guy, she wanted threelike the girls in her books.” I feel my cheeks begin to heat, much like his sister. I too have read my fair share of reverse harem books and I envied those girls in the stories. I was never brave enough to ever dream about the three guys I wanted most to ever love me and find a way to make a relationship between the four of us work but somehow… they found a way. “What Ellie failed to see was that my two best friends wanted to be two guys in her harem.”

I gasp and my jaw unhinges. “Your best friends?” He nods. “And you didn’t murder them?”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “Vatican and Pope would have given their life for her and loved her like no other. They would have cherished my sister and treated her like a queen. It would have been an honor for me to watch them love her.”

“Wow,” I breathe out.

“I assume your brother didn’t take it well when his best friends confessed to loving you?”

My brows hit my hairline. “How do you know that?”

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