by Stella Hart
“No, of course not. But I didn’t kill them!” I said. “Whoever the real Blackthorne Butcher was ten years ago… it’s him. He’s back. It’s what I’ve been saying all along!”
Nate let out a short, irritated sigh. “The cops have already established that the current killer is a copycat of the old one.”
“How?” I asked, practically spitting the word out.
“The old killer was left-handed, and they’ve determined that the new one is right-handed. So there’s no way it’s the same person,” Nate explained.
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. There’s the original killer that the Golden Circle covered for, and now there’s a different one. A copycat. You.”
“No.” I clenched my jaw. “It’s not me!”
“Have you forgotten about the evidence I have?” he asked, tilting his chin. “Or do you have a good explanation for all of that now?”
Shoulders slumping, I sat back down, glaring at him. “No.”
“Didn’t think so.” He smiled thinly. “It’s also quite a coincidence that the murders stopped when I took you. I wonder why?”
I could feel my blood pressure rising with every second that passed. “Just wait,” I said. “You’ll see that you’re wrong as soon as another body shows up.”
“I seriously doubt that’ll happen.”
Seething, I pictured my hands wrapping around Nate’s throat. “Why did you tell me about my father if you aren’t even going to let me go?” I asked, wishing I could choke the life out of him. “Was that your plan all along? To make me feel like I finally had something good so you could rip it away and make me feel like fucking shit?”
“No. I’m going to take you to see him.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“You might be totally fucking crazy, but it’s only because of what was done to him ten years ago,” he said. “If none of that ever happened, you’d never have felt the need to carry out these revenge killings, or whatever the fuck they’re supposed to be. So I’ll let you see him. I think you deserve that much, and I think he deserves it too, after all these years without his family.”
“Thank you,” I said stiffly, refusing to meet his eyes. Fucking asshole, I silently added.
“Here’s the deal,” he said, grabbing my chin to force me to look up at him again. “When I take you to see him, you can’t tell him anything, and you need to pretend we’re friends. If you lose your shit and tell him what I’ve done to you over the last few weeks, I’ll tell him the truth about you, and I’ll show him that video of you returning to your dorm covered in blood the same night those bodies showed up in the quad. It’ll kill him to see that.”
“I know,” I muttered, dearly wishing I could produce an explanation for that night. Try as I might, I still didn’t remember a thing. I had no idea why I left my dorm, where I went, or what I was doing.
“So you understand?” Nate arched a brow. “You’ll cooperate?”
“Yes. Let me see him.”
In silence, he led me out of the bunker and into the freezing night. We headed north into the woods beyond the clearing, trudging loudly over dead leaves, twigs, and mossy stones. When I spotted a large metal hatch on the ground ahead of us, I felt something zip down my spine. It wasn’t from the cold—it was a sudden shot of elation that made my heart pound and my cheeks flush with heat.
This was really happening. I was going to see my father again.
Nate stooped to twist something on the hatch, and then he lifted it up. “Come on,” he said, holding out a hand.
I gingerly took it and let him lead me down the stone steps into the passage below. He stopped halfway down and grabbed a key off a hook that hung above the light switch. “I saw this earlier, and I’m guessing it’s the key to your dad’s restraints,” he explained. “I told him I’d undo them so you two could have a proper reunion. It would be shitty to have chains getting in the way.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. It never failed to shock me when Nate was thoughtful and kind, though I suspected it was entirely for my father’s benefit.
My heart hammered with anticipation as we continued down the passage. Through the narrow entryway up ahead, I could see a middle-aged man sitting on the edge of a bunk. His hair was long, messy, and dark, and a thick beard and mustache covered the lower half of his face. All of it was streaked with gray.
I swallowed a lump in my throat, trying not to think of all the time I’d missed with my father. I had to keep it together; had to stop myself from screaming and sobbing at the sheer injustice of it all. It wasn’t easy to push those feelings aside, though, especially when I saw the gray in his hair.
All these years, he’d been forced to grow old alone in a cramped bunker while his family believed he was dead and the rest of the world thought he was a mass murderer. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how soul-shatteringly lonely it had been for him.
When we finally stepped into the main space, Nate strode over to the edge of the bunk and knelt by the chains.
My father turned his head and smiled. “Alexis,” he said, rising to his feet as Nate fiddled with the lock on the shackle around his left ankle. “You’re finally here.”
I shuffled forward and stared at his lined face in pure shock. Then my stomach lurched as if a vicious cramp had wrenched through me. Now that I was finally seeing him up close, everything was different.
“I’m sorry, darling,” he said softly, lifting a palm. “I know it must be a shock to see me like this. The last few years haven’t been easy.”
He shook his head slightly as he spoke, and some of his long, scruffy hair fell in his face, hanging over his bright blue eyes.
My chest felt like it was splitting in half, and I struggled to draw my next breath. “Nate,” I choked out, left hand fluttering at my throat.
He looked up from the floor as the key twisted in the lock with a soft click. “What?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know what he told you, but…” I shook my head and took a faltering step backward. “This man is not my father.”
To be continued…
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Cruel Riches
Devil’s Riches
Ruthless Riches
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Dark Dynasty series
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WILD ELITE
HEARTLESS PRINCE
VICIOUS KING
TWISTED EMPIRE
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The free prequel (Wild Elite) is a short novella. All other books in the series are full-length novels with cliffhangers. The story ends with a satisfying HEA.
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Ruthless Rulers series
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WICKED ROYALS
RUTHLESS PRINCE
SINFUL PALACE
BROKEN PRINCESS
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The free prequel (Wicked Royals) is a short novella. All other books in the series are full-length novels with cliffhangers. The story ends with a satisfying HEA.
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Royal Falls Elite series (cowritten with Kristin B)
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TWISTED ELITE
SAVAGE PRINCE
SHATTERED KINGDOM
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The free prequel (Twisted Elite) is a short novella. The following books in the series are full-length novels. The story ends with a satisfying HEA.
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Heartbreaker series
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Cold Hearts
Bleeding Hearts
Broken Hearts
Black Hearts
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The free prequel (Cold Hearts) is a short novella. All other books in the series are full-length novels with cliffhangers. The story ends with a satisfying HEA.
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Stella Hart, Cruel Riches: A Dark Captive Romance (Cruel Kingdom Book 1)
