Page 130 of Sinner

She’d been so young, so beautiful, and so sweet.

“Fuck,” I hissed. The last two weeks had dredged up too much of the past. I wasn’t prepared to go down memory lane any longer than necessary.

I’d always known I’d been born with violence running through my veins, yet Amy’s murder had driven me into the world of retribution. I’d been unable to protect her or destroy the person responsible. That had changed me from a deeply disturbed young man to a monster. Maybe I needed the reminder.

As sweat rolled down both sides of my face, I took a deep breath, holding the air deep within my lungs as I pressed the bar of weights up to my full arm extension. I’d enduring almost a full hour of working out, but it wasn’t nearly enough to contain the heightened level of testosterone in my body.

I was agitated, still harboring certainty there were unseen forces out to destroy the company. Yet there was no evidence to that fact.

While Elizabeth was ceremoniously going through every employee to ascertain the person responsible for the leak, I still had my doubts the individual involved would ever be found. That didn’t bode well for my mood.

As I positioned the two-hundred-pound bar onto the stand, I thought about Jessica. She’d become my obsession. Was it healthy? Well, hell no, but I’d never worried about what was good or bad for me before. The sentiment simply didn’t exist in my world. What I continued to find interesting was that Jessica was the only person to truly understand why the darkness inspired me.

I hopped off the bench, immediately grabbing the towel I’d tossed on another apparatus. My body was covered in sweat, but at least my muscles were taut. I snatched the bottle of water, ripping off the cap and tossing it aside. As I chugged, my needs rushed to the surface.

Staying away from her wasn’t an option. I needed her and I would have her.

Again and again.

The thought always brought a smile to my face. I blotted perspiration from my face, ready to head to the showers when I heard my doorbell. No one just stopped by.

A sweep of anger rolled through me as I headed for the door. It was entirely possible one of my brothers had dropped by. I certainly wasn’t in the mood for company. When I opened the door, I was taken aback by the roughed-up man standing on my doorstep.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snarled. Visions of blood and gore invaded the forefront of my mind. Sadly, some inner voice was reminding me I couldn’t touch him. Not yet anyway.

Dorn.

“Please. Please. You gotta help me.”

“Why the fuck should I help you?” I laughed in his face. He’d been used as a punching bag at some point, although the blood on his face had already dried.

“Just let me in. I can explain. Please.” He looked over his shoulder as if he’d been followed.

Reluctantly, I let him in. “What do you want, Dorn? As you might imagine, your company is not welcome.”

He took several deep breaths as he placed his hand over his heart. “Yeah, well, I’m the only man who can help you solve the riddle.”

“What riddle are you referring to?” I folded my arms and glared at him as he scanned the foyer, paying close attention to the various works of art on the walls.

“I was fucking arrested. Did you have anything to do with that?”

Nothing about this was funny yet I burst into laughter. My cunning Jessica had some mad skills. “Do you really expect me to be sorry about that after what I witnessed you doing?”

The man was antsy, shifting from one foot to the other, constantly looking over his shoulder. “I know what you think of me, but I didn’t want to hurt Ms. Waldrop. I wasn’t going to do anything else. It was just meant to scare her. Then you showed up.”

I took a deep breath, fisting my hand. “How much were you paid?”

“Ten thousand. Like I said, it seemed harmless.”

“Who fucking hired you?”

“The same asshole who paid me to write the fucking article. I had no idea what a shitstorm it would stir up.” I’ll be damned if the man wasn’t acting as if he had less of a conscience than I did. “Hey, man. Don’t you want to know who hired me to ruin you and your brothers?”

My pulse hitched a beat. “Go on.”

“Not until you pay me. I gotta get out of town before they find me. They did this after I did your bidding and retracted the article.” He stuck out his hand.

I snagged his wrist, bending to the point he howled in pain.

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