Page 26 of Madness

“She’ll break soon enough.” I smiled as I pictured her sobbing in front of me. Naked.

“You’re sick, Mad.” Leif clapped me on the back before he walked away.

I watched him drive off as I approached my car. I climbed into the backseat, shutting the door behind me. I tried to push away the incessant need to maim and kill, but the call was too loud tonight. I wouldn’t visit the little dove. I was too out of control. I’d kill her. Instead, I had a different prey in mind.

“Did you find him?” I asked Tristan as we pulled away from my father’s house.

Restlessness made my skin itchy. I was ready to inflict pain. To take a life.

“He’s a prominent attorney. Has a fancy apartment downtown.”

Kincaid’s ex. Chad Albracht the third. I told her I could find him. His life had prospered while she was barely surviving. He’d kicked her when she was already down.

I might be a demon, but I rarely wielded my power on those who were already beaten my life. Partly because the world would take care of them soon enough. And partly because there was no satisfaction in destroying the weak. It was much more fun to take down the powerful. To watch their perfect lives crumble around them.

I would appreciate taking this man down. The man who’d made the little dove believe her desires were wrong. Who had others attack her. Abuse her. One with his nose so far in the air he’d forgotten how easily it could all be taken away.

He’d forgotten there was always someone more powerful. Someone stronger. He hurt the weak because he didn’t have what it took to come for someone like me. I would be his undoing. His demon. Hopefully, it would bury her fears.

“Go.” I told Tristan.

It was time to let the demon out.

15

Kincaid

Rain poured down, seeping into my thin jacket as I tried to dodge the puddles already forming on the ground. A car was another luxury and expense I couldn’t afford, so I was forced to walk to work each night. The rain wasn’t the worst of it. Last year I’d had to walk in over a foot of snow. By the time I’d arrived, I thought my toes were going to break off with how cold they were. They weren’t doing great right now in my beat-up, holey sneakers, but it wasn’t as bad as then.

I only had another block to go. Suddenly a car sped past too close to the curb. The wheel clipped a giant puddle, and a wave of dirty water soaked my legs and feet. I hissed as the cold water clung to my thin tights. Goosebumps broke out along my skin as a bone-deep chill shook my body.

I paused and tipped my head to the sky as a rush of tears threatened to pour from my eyes. I pressed my lips together as I tried to hold them in. It was one of those days when life wanted to show me my place. The landlord had come by earlier to inform me the rent was rising. My rain boots had finally given out, the sole separating from the boot. I’d found an old locket of my mom’s, one I knew I would have to sell if I wanted to eat. Getting soaked by a passing car was the last straw of a spectacularly shitty day. And I still had a shift to get through.

The weight was pressing down on me again. Clawing at my chest, making it hard to breathe. Squeezing my organs with worry. The worry I couldn’t survive like this much longer. Something had to give, or I would. The need to end it all poked at my brain, telling me it would be easier. That I didn’t have to live like this. I didn’t have to live at all.

Whoever said money didn’t make you happy obviously had money. They’d never had to starve. Never had to choose to live in a safe place or a cheap place. Never had to watch as the treatment your dying mother needed was denied because of lack of insurance. Money might not make you happy, but it certainly made life bearable.

I tasted bile as I swallowed down my self-pity. I leaned forward and brushed some of the dirt from my legs, but it was a wasted effort. I took two steps to cross the alley when a car pulled in front of me, blocking my way. I didn’t know much about cars, but I knew this one was expensive. Sleek and black with tinted windows. It seemed like even the water didn’t dare cling to it.

My heart knocked against my ribs because I had a feeling that I knew who was in the car. The back window rolled down, confirming my fears.

Maddox’s handsome face stared back at me. His piercing blue eyes cut through me like he could read my thoughts. His full lips were pulled into a small smirk like he was enjoying my embarrassment.

Damn, why did he have to be so good looking? Why couldn’t he be a troll? Maybe then it would be easier to walk away from him.

But I had to walk away. I couldn’t get caught in his trap again. The longer I stayed, the harder it was to find my way out.

“Get in the car, Kincaid.” His deep voice carried over the sound of the rain pelting the ground.

I licked my lips as I shook my head. I didn’t want to get in that car. Except I did. It looked warm, and my bones were literally rattling against each other with the cold. I knew the warmth was an illusion. It wouldn’t be warm; it would be fire. I would be willingly jumping into the flames with a demon.

“Get in the car, little dove, before I force you inside.” He showed me his sadistic smile. “You know how much I love to force you.”

I choked on my saliva as he watched me like a predator. The driver’s door opened, and the tattooed bodyguard stepped into the rain, opening the back door for me. Like the car, the water wouldn’t dare to touch him.

Fear skirted down my spine as I crossed the distance and climbed into the backseat. The door immediately shut behind me, closing me in with a monster.

“Now you’re harassing me outside of work.” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hang onto my shaky confidence.