Faith (A Dark Romance Novel) (18 page)

Chapter 24

Proverbs 31 Killer – One Week Ago

My eyes spotted the man sitting way too close to my daughter as I began wrapping up my sermon. I’d been allowing her to sit towards the back because she claimed she couldn’t handle being put on display due to her sister’s disappearance. I was hardly a fool, I knew it was bullshit, but for the sake of appearing like a sympathetic father to the parishioners, I allowed it.

Rebecca appeared very cosy with the stranger. I could tell even from this distance that he was a smooth player. Well I had news for him. If he thought he was going to score with my daughter he was sorely mistaken.

Ending the sermon, I stepped down from the stage and my wife rushed to my side. Together we made the perfect couple, the ideal Christian family. I had to present the image of being the perfect father, husband and pillar of the community in order to go about my hobbies unnoticed. No one ever suspects their pastor, the man they looked up to and from whom they seek guidance, to be a man with dark desires raging within.

  While pasting a smile on my face and making small talk with the people who approached, I kept an eye on the man she was next to. He looked familiar, not on a personal level, but the man’s face looked familiar. My eyes narrowed as I examined him from afar, searching my brain and attempting to connect the dots, and then it became clear – so goddamed clear it felt like I’d been struck by a tractor trailer.

I’d examined the surveillance footage from the bar with intense scrutiny and that man was in it. Now, that’s not to say it couldn’t be a coincidence. Perhaps the man happened to be there and happened to want to extend his prayers to my family. But I doubted it. A little buzzer was going off in the back of my head telling me something was up, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

Excusing myself from my wife’s side, leaving her to humour the parishioners, I made my way down the aisle towards the man and Rebecca, forcing a smile onto my lips. They both stood as I approached and extended a hand to the stranger. “Hello, I’m Pastor William. I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before. Your first visit with us?”

The stranger returned my smile, giving a curt nod and accepting my outstretched hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. This is a beautiful church.”

“Thank you. Our family just took over here a few months ago. And you are?” If this man was who I suspected he may be, my daughter’s kidnapper, then the chances of getting his real name would be slim to none.

He didn’t blink, he didn’t even hesitate. He was good. “Lance Winters.”

My smile fading, I placed a look of disdain on my face. “I see. Unfortunately, our move here hasn’t been the kindest to us. Our oldest daughter has been missing for over a month now.”

The man mimicked my expression. “I’m so… I’m at a loss, to be honest. If there’s anything I can do. I’d heard and felt compelled to come here and offer myself in any way possible.”

“Just keep her in mind.” Reaching into my inner jacket pocket, I produced a wallet-sized picture of Emily. “This is Emily. If you have any information on her whereabouts, you’ll let me know.” Watching him closely as he accepted the picture, I saw a flick of recognition. It was fleeting, but it was there. Had it been anyone else, they would have missed it, but not me.

“Of course.”

I looked over at my daughter, the daughter who was so much like me it was both scary and exhilarating. Unlike her sister, who was disappointingly emotionally weak, much like her mother, Rebecca was a sweet, cunning, beautiful predator-in-training. “Sweetheart, could you fetch your mother for me?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She gave the stranger a flirtatious smile and left.

Leaning in to the man whom I was becoming more and more convinced was either responsible for or associated with the disappearance of my daughter, I put my hand on his shoulder, leaning in to him, my stare locking on to his. This man might be younger and have the upper hand in knowing where my daughter was, but I had years on him. I’d spent over two decades fulfilling every sick fantasy that popped into my mind while giving off the impression of the role-model citizen. The cocky son-of-a-bitch who dared come into my church had no idea who he was dealing with.

“You know, Mr. Winters, I have faith I’ll find her and I’ll find the man who took her. I may be a man of God, but
no one
takes from me. The man who took my daughter had better watch himself.” My hand tightened on his shoulder. “I
will
find him.”

Our gazes remained locked. He refused to back down; he was challenging me, taunting me. How dare that piece of shit challenge me?

“Hello, I don’t recall seeing you here before.” Upon hearing my wife’s voice coming up from behind me, I released him and straightened, pulling my wife to my side.

Mary extended her hand to Mr. Winters and he accepted it. “I’m new. I admit, I was drawn to the church because of your missing daughter. It’s a tragedy. You’ve been in my prayers since I heard. I pray for her safe return every night.”

She sniffed, pulling a tissue from her black leather handbag. “Thank you.” My wife had been taking Emily’s disappearance hard. I certainly didn’t envy how she so easily felt sorrow – although I did pity her for it.

“So you live nearby?” Rececca asked.

He gave Rebecca another flirty smile, no doubt to spite me. “Not far.”

I stepped in front of my daughter, partially blocking her from the man’s view. “Yes, Mr. Winters, I make it a point to spend time with every member of this parish, I’d love to drop by sometime.”

“I’m between places at the moment. Otherwise…” He stepped forward and extended his hand to me, giving me a smug smile, taunting me, like he knew everything. “It’s been good meeting you. I’ll be in touch.”

He was on to me just as I was on to him. How much did he know? Nothing, I decided. How could he? Every kill was perfect. My wife had no idea. Hell the FBI has been chasing me for over twenty years and had yet to catch me. I was giving the man before me more respect than he deserved thinking he may have discovered my little secret. I accepted his hand. “Please do that. This is a big parish, but we’re more like a family here. Please come back soon. I’d love to get to know you better.”

I watched his back as he walked away, until he was out of sight. I hadn’t even noticed my wife’s questioning gaze fixated on me until I turned. She opened her mouth to speak, but thought twice, snapping it closed again. She knew better than to question me when I was in a mood, and this intruder had certainly put me in a mood, which pissed me off more.

Nobody rattles me and he’d managed to. Some punk kidnapper. I had no desire to kill someone so soon after my last kill, but it might need to be done. And I can’t say I was repulsed by the idea. Normally I had a routine, and killing a man was rare for me, but I certainly wasn’t repulsed by the idea.

Giving my wife’s hand a pat where it was placed delicately on my forearm, I flashed her a smile, then leaned down and placed a tender kiss on the top of the head. “Would you please give my apologies to our parishioners? Something’s come up that I need to attend to.”

Not waiting for an answer, I parted from my wife and made my way to the back of the church and to my office. Once in my office, I closed the door and sat behind my desk, turning on the ancient computer. As soon as the internet connected I typed in the name he’d given me, not expecting a result.

To my shock, pages of hits popped up. It might be a coincidence. Just because pages popped up it didn’t mean I’d found my man. I began reading. Lance Winters did in fact exist, or had existed. Son of Senator Walter Winters, who’d died in an explosion. Lance had gone missing over six months ago, leaving a sizable inheritance in limbo. The police had no leads.

I found a picture of Lance Winters. It wasn’t the man who’d shown up earlier. I wasn’t surprised; I’d expected as much. But why give the name Lance Winters?

The beauty of the internet is that if you’re diligent you can find out literally anything – even the mystery of Lance Winters and his father. So I dug. After an hour, a light tap came on my office door.

Letting out a growl of frustration, I sat back in my chair and eyed the door. “Come in.”

“Honey.” Mary poked her head into the office and hesitated. When I motioned for her to enter she came in all the way. “Everyone is gone. Are you going to be much longer?”

I glanced down at the computer screen. Pages upon pages of information awaited me. I was tempted to leave it for the day so I could give the situation some thought, but no, I couldn’t. This had to be taken care of. If my hunch was correct, the identity of the man would lead me to Emily.

Pushing down my anger, I smiled up at my wife. “I’d love to, but I have a fair amount of work to do here. How about you and Rebecca go home and I’ll follow when I’m done?”

“Are you sure? If you’re going to be a while I can come back with lunch.”

“No, I’m fine.”

She smiled. “All right. I love you.”

“Love you too. Now go.” I kept the smile on my face, but God did I hate all that lovey-dovey shit. I’d endured it for twenty years. Oh well, small price to pay for the perfect cover. Besides, Mary was the perfect Christian woman – her world revolved around making me happy, she obeyed without question and she worshipped the ground I walked on. It was hard to find an obedient, self-sacrificing, pure woman like that nowadays.

That was why I did my part to rid the world of the whores. Not only did I get the relief from the kill, but also I was sending a message – my signature. The message couldn’t be more clear; if you indulge in the sins of the flesh before marriage, if you behave in a way unbecoming of a pure Christian woman, then there are consequences. I am that consequence.

Once she was gone and the door closed firmly behind her, I went back to my investigation. Hours went by, but the information I uncovered was mind-blowing. The Senator Walter Winters was allegedly at the head of an international human sex-trafficking organization. That drew me to the assumption that, considering his son’s disappearance, his son was also in on it.

So why would this kidnapper give me the name Lance Winters? My mind whirled with the possibilities. But it didn’t take a genius to know the answer. He knew him.

Had this stranger, the man who had taken what was mine, worked with him? For him? Or were they enemies?

But there was one thing even more grating to me than the fact that they might have my daughter and be planning on selling her into slavery. That bastard had taunted me with it. He’d come into MY CHURCH and taunted me as if I were some fool. As if I’d never clue in. He’d pay. I swear to God, I’d find the man who had the balls to insult me and take my time torturing him until his begging for mercy no longer amused me.

Chapter 25

Emily

I was just going to make something simple tonight, a pizza with garlic bread. I also had to run down to the wine cellar and pick something out, although I had no idea the difference between the wines. Tanner didn’t seem to care, so neither did I. We seriously needed to get to a grocery store. I wondered if there’d be a day when I’d be allowed out to do those things. I really wished he trusted me enough to know I’d come back. Maybe one day…

We’d made a deal and I had no intention of going back on that deal and I was starting to come to terms with the realization that it wasn’t just because we had a deal, but I was beginning to feel something for him. I shouldn’t be feeling affection towards him, it was insane, but it was there. With him being injured and his mood mellowing, I was finally being given rare glimpses of a person with a soul. I sighed. Or maybe it was just the drugs keeping him loopy and I was being a foolish little girl again, trying to convince myself there was a possibility of a fairy tale ending after all.  

I was just putting the twelve-inch pizza into the oven when I felt two strong arms wrapping around my waist and lips caressing the side of my neck. With a soft moan, I leaned back into him then turned my head and caught his lips with mine. His kiss was tender but brief. I was becoming accustomed to his tender kisses the past couple of days. He seemed to be trying, really trying. God, I hoped it didn’t end.

“Pizza tonight, I see.”

“Why are you up?” I spun in his arms and slipped my hands around his neck, lacing my fingers. He was bare-chested, with a pair of jogging pants sitting low on his hips. Most of his back was covered in bandages. It was a damned good thing he kept an excessive amount of first aid supplies on hand; I didn’t want to take a trip down the road that leads to the reasons why he had more medical supplies on hand then a small medical clinic – so I didn’t. 

He smiled, a sexy, easygoing smile. There wasn’t even a hint of the monster he could be in his dark eyes. Why couldn’t he be like this all the time? God, I prayed every night that some miracle would happen and he would be. “I’m not an invalid Emily.”

“I’m just concerned. That’s all.”

“Be careful what you say, Emily. You might start giving me the impression that you care.” His smile widened and he brushed his lips against mine again.

It felt so good to be held tenderly by him and have him smile down at me as if we were a young couple in love. I could get used to it, which was why I pulled away from him. I needed to be hard, otherwise when things changed back to normal it would be ten times harder. “Please don’t do this.”

His brow creased into a frown, but he pulled me back into his arms and brushed his lips along the side of my neck again, nipping at my earlobe. The warmth of his breath on my neck sent a shiver of desire through me. “Do what?” he whispered into my ear.

“Tease me like that.”

“I don’t understand.” I attempted to pull from him again, but he backed me up, pinning me against the counter. Even injured he could easily overpower me.

“Be nice to me just to turn around tomorrow or the next day and be cruel. I’d rather you be cruel the whole time; at least then I know where I stand.”

He remained silent for a moment, his eyes taking on a faraway look. For a moment I thought he’d gone off into a drug-induced trance or was having a hallucination. Whatever he’d been taking was strong and had on several occasions done both to him over the past few days. When his gaze refocused on me, his face remained expressionless. I hated that I couldn’t read him much of the time; it would sure make life easier if I could. Unfortunately, I only saw what he allowed me to see.

“Emily, I’m trying,” he finally stated.

Cocking my head to the side, I couldn’t hide the look of confusion on my face. “Excuse me?”

“I’m trying to find a way to be what you need. I’ve given it a lot of thought and I really want to try. I’ve spent years indulging in whatever urges I’ve had, but I’ve never actually had a connection with someone. I’m not even sure how to be in a real relationship, but I want to try. I don’t know how successful I’ll be, but I will give it my best effort.”

How was I supposed to respond to that? Did I actually allow myself to hope he was being genuine? But he hadn’t given me any reason not to believe him. He may be a lot of things, but he’d always been good to his word. Aside from the night he’d abducted me, he’d never lied or misled me.

“What if you can’t?” I couldn’t help but ask. Why am I testing it? I should let it be and hope whatever he had in mind stuck.

“I’ve never failed at anything in my life. I don’t intend on failing now.”

“But—”

“We’ll find a way.” Sliding a hand to the back of my neck, Tanner grasped my neck and held me still as he lowered his lips to mine, claiming mine roughly as he pressed up against me. The ridge of his rapidly thickening erection pressed against my stomach and my body immediately responded, need flaring out within me.

While I’d slept next to him each night, he’d been so drugged up that he hadn’t so much as hinted towards being with me in any way. I moaned, parting my lips to his insistent tongue as I ground my hips against him. I was rewarded by a low growl-like groan from him. Hearing a man like him groan for me made me feel powerful. There was a time when he’d first taken me that I hadn’t thought I’d ever feel powerful; I’d been trained to submit all of my life, so this made the feeling all the more exhilarating. It was ironic that the one man who was keeping me prisoner was the only one who made me feel empowered.

“Three days without feeling you,” he whispered. “Way too long.”

With reluctance, I pushed him back. “It’s going to have to be a bit longer. That pizza will be done any minute and we’re running low on supplies.”

He groaned but allowed himself to be pushed back. “What are you talking about? There’s a freezer full of food in the wine cellar.”

I crinkled up my nose at him and gave my head a shake, a flush colouring my cheeks.

“What? Didn’t you check?”

“I ummm.” I raked my hand through my hair, not sure how to respond as to why I hadn’t wanted to check. “I kinda thought that maybe I wouldn’t want to see…”

His concern faded and he laughed. “You think I have a body in there? Or maybe someone chopped up?”

“Well, you did kill that guy…” God, I was starting to feel stupid. Of course he didn’t have anyone in the freezer.

“Flynn took the body to dispose of it.” His smile faded, but I could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. “Or are you accusing me of being a wannabe Jeffrey Dahmer? You thought maybe when I’d ask do you want Asian tonight that perhaps I had a little, dead
Filipina
woman in bits in the freezer?” He laughed harder, doubling over, but abruptly stopped and groaned.

“Okay, it was stupid. I’m sorry.”

Shaking off the discomfort, his gaze turned heated again. Grabbing my waist, he lifted me up onto the countertop, although I didn’t miss the wince he made as he did it. Again, I felt bad. I’d done that to him; his wounds were so much worse than mine were. I still couldn’t believe I’d allowed myself to lose control like that and it wouldn’t quit bothering me.

My eyes locked onto his and a tremor of need rocked through me. “The only part of a woman I have any desire to eat, you’ve got covered by these damned jogging pants.” He fingered the waistband of my jogging pants – correction, his jogging pants – and I tensed. He looked back up at me, the amused twinkle back in his eyes. “And when exactly did I tell you that you could wear these?”

Relaxing, I returned his smile, deciding it was safe to return his banter. I could seriously get used to this change in attitude of his, although it hadn’t been a sudden change. When I gave the events of the past week or so some thoght, there had been distinct differences in him. He no longer scolded me for using his name and it had been a while since I’d been called slave, in that snarly voice of his. Even before he’d made a conscious effort to change, he’d begun to change.

“You didn’t.” I shrugged. “But it’s not like you could have stopped me.” On impulse I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed. Damn, he was easy-going right now. Had it not been for the fact his eyes peered into mine with full alertness I’d have thought he’d been getting into the happy pills.

“Oh yes, remind me of how useless I’ve been these last few days.”

Letting his good mood fuel my bravery, I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in to him, claiming his lips with my own. He stepped forward and gave in to my kiss. I halfway expected him to fist my hair and yank me back in anger like he’d done on previous occasions, but he didn’t. His tongue swept along my lower lip and then slid between my parted lips, dancing with mine. It felt so good, my fear and anxiety of him were quickly evaporating. Wrapping my legs around his waist, being careful to stay below the bandages. I pulled him tighter, the ridge of his hard cock pressing against my mound causing a throbbing to begin between my legs as my pussy grew warm with need.

“The pizza,” I gasped as his lips left mine to work their way down my neck.

Reaching past me, he turned off the oven. “There’s lots in the freezer.” Stepping back, he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the counter. “Come on. I’d carry you, but I doubt that would be pleasant for either of us.”

“You’ve only had an omelet to eat today.” My protest was half-hearted at best as I followed him through the house towards the bedroom. 

“I’ll be fine. I’ve spent days, enduring countless erections waiting to fuck you again. I’m done waiting.”

His words which might have offended me before meeting him, now had the opposite effect. My pussy clenched as the need between my legs ignited. Reaching the bedroom, he wasted no time leading me to the bed and stripping me bare.

“Mmm. Much better.” He leaned in and just as he was about to kiss me, he jerked back. Grabbing my upper thighs, he pulled my legs out from under me and tossed me onto the bed. I squealed as I toppled backwards and bounced a couple of times on the soft mattress, then watched as he pulled down his jogging pants and kicked them to the side. Turning to the side, he opened the night-side table drawer and began rummaging through it.

My eyes lowered to his shaft, already rock hard and ready for me. The need between my legs intensified. Spreading my legs wide and without even realizing what I was doing, I slid my hand between my legs, parting my moistening folds, and began to stroke my clit.

“You’re going to end up making me come like a damned teenager, without even touching you, doing that.”

My eyes lifted from his cock, to see him watching my hand as it worked my clit. I fought the urge to pull my hand away and close my legs. My gaze landed on the vibrator in one hand and tube of lube in the other. My hand stilled its teasing and my body tensed. “What are those for?”

He didn’t answer, but gave me a wicked smile as he placed the items on the bed next to me. He crawled onto the bed, settling between my legs, and captured my left nipple in his mouth. He nipped just hard enough to cause me to yelp and then moan as a surge of pleasure flowed down my spine.

“I think you know what they’re for,” he murmured, kissing his way to the other breast.

I suspected I knew and it both thrilled and scared me.