Page 186 of Kiss the Villain

But I wanted to see Harper and tell her it was over now. She could rest in peace.

If there’s a Heaven, she better get access.

I cursed myself for not killing him earlier, actually. When Harper was ten.

Killing a man in cold blood made me feel nothing, but I was still left with a bloody crime scene. So I called Grandpa.

I needed a lawyer, and I didn’t want to wake Dad up.

Grandpa came straight away and found me sitting in the corner staring at the blood on the knife. He immediately understood the situation. He didn’t scold or even blame me. He just made a few calls and said he’d bury the whole thing.

Even before I told him Harper’s story.

He took me home, to his house, made me shower, and gave me a bowl of strawberries that I finished in record time.

I was hungry, or maybe empty, ravenous, gluttonous.

Since then, strawberries have become my comfort food, what I eat instead of fantasizing about blood. I told Grandpa about Harper and what David had done and that I didn’t regret it.

Not one bit.

My only regret was not doing it sooner.

I don’t even feel guilty that I’m the reason a man was erased from the face of the earth.

Grandpa just sat across from me and listened, his eyes flashing with both understanding and faint sadness.

“Why didn’t you turn me in, Grandpa?” I asked.

“Because you’re my grandson.”

“That’s all?”

“I don’t need another reason.”

“Will you tell Dad?”

“No, he’s not as fluid as me. He’ll have you diagnosed like Kill, and we all know what a shitshow that’ll be.”

“Oh. You already knew?”

“That both my grandsons are special?” He smiled and nodded.

“Is it good to be special?”

He ruffled my hair. “Of course. You’re strong and unlike any of these fools roaming the earth. My daughter was like you and I lost her. So I’m not losing any of you again. I’ll protect you from a world that doesn’t understand you.”

“Even if I kill people and feel nothing?”

“If they deserve to die, I don’t see why not.” He stood up and clutched my shoulders. “But you need to rein it in, son. Don’t get attached to the point of obsessing and then fixate about killing. I think that’s your trigger, so avoid getting too attached at all costs. You can never get caught, Gareth. None of them will understand.”

“Why not?”

“Because people like you are treated like animals. They’re abused and poked with needles. They’re probed and violated and eventually put on death row. Promise me you’ll never get caught, son.”

“I promise.”

Obviously, I failed my grandpa.

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