Page 23 of Sinner

Sadly, he was starting to blubber. It was time to finish another decent deed for the week. Using a gun was too good for the liar and thief.

I pulled out the knife, kicking him in the stomach and driving him to the floor. Placing one boot on his chest, I leaned over, taking my sweet time in doing so. “You’ve been sentenced to crimes against humanity. Your punishment?” I allowed the question to linger for him to completely understand.

“No!”

“Death.”

It was easy to gut a man when you knew what you were doing. However, I never used the same tactics or methods of enacting revenge. This time, I cut him with a specific design in mind.

While he gurgled blood, the light fading from his eyes, I stood back and admired my work.

The X was perfect. It could mean X marks the spot or X-rated. The idiots who found him would need to make that decision. I backed away, pulling out a cloth I always brought to the scene, wiping the blade before returning it to the sheath.

Standing back, I glanced around his fancy house with a smile on my face. With a slight adjustment to the picture I was leaving for evidence, I was satisfied.

Now, onto my next task and one I’d enjoy more than bothering to crush an insect.

Time to enjoy basking in the light of what would be the finest contestant the Obsidian Society had ever seen.

“I’m coming for you, Sophie. Be careful what you wish for.”

My laugh echoed in the room as I walked to the front door.

CHAPTER 8

Jessica

“Why don’t you take off for the night?”

I glanced up from my screen to my boss, giving him a waning smile. “Just a few minutes longer.”

Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes. There were bags under them as there likely were under mine. But the reason for my condition wasn’t about working long hours as much as it was about the heightened level of anxiety and lack of sleep.

When I had fallen asleep, I’d seen the monster’s face. Well, his mask anyway. I’d woken up in a sweat the last three nights, never able to get back to sleep. Every dream had been sexual, every one darker and kinkier than the night before. I’d gone against my promise to Ashley, playing games until morning light in hopes of finding the sick fuck who’d crashed into my life.

While some of the players I’d encountered were dark and a bit odd, none had made overt gestures or asked any questions of a personal nature. The sexual games were not overtly perverted,but they did allude to acts of sin that normal people might find offensive.

And I craved them.

Even more frustrating was that I’d seen no indication the masked man from the forest had been online. Was he purposely hiding from me or intentionally keeping my anxiety high? I had no idea what to look for. Often the most depraved people were those who seemed perfectly normal by day but turned into monsters at night.

Or are you just losing it?

“You work too hard, Jessica. I appreciate the dedication, but there’s more to life than inventing the next award-winning game.”

“So my best friends keep telling me.”

“You should listen to them.” He laughed and we both heard a ping on his phone. By habit, he pulled it into his hands. With three small kids and a beautiful wife, he was the dedicated family man and someone I admired.

Which was also why I cringed every time I thought about sending in my resume to Blackwell. Yes, I had my reasons and ones I’d never divulge to anyone, but I already felt as if I was betraying Sam and his entire team.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, his eyes still locked on the screen.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Joel Merrick. He was found murdered in his house yesterday. He hadn’t shown up for work in a couple days, which wasn’t like him.”

“Oh, no. Do they have any idea what happened?”

---