Pretty Little Wife(92)
“You mean go kill somewhere else.”
“Well, I enjoy hunting. Getting them out here, letting them run. Offering a sliver of hope then taking it away.” He whistled. “The panic is something else. I love the panic and the begging.”
The complete disregard and absence of any concern or feelings had a ball of anxiety forming in her stomach. “Did your mom know what was happening?”
“When she figured out the reason for the weekend games and all the hush-hush stuff, Dad set up one last hunt.” Jared waved his hand in the air, swinging that hammer close to her face. “Got the guys together. Made sure it would look like an accident.”
His mother. Hunted and murdered.
Lila’s stomach pitched and roiled. She swallowed back the bile, determined to hear every horrible word. “And the trust fund?”
“Rich people will pay a lot of money to do some crazy shit.” This time he tapped the hammer against his thigh. “So that took care of Mom, and when Dad started to lose it, when he started to babble about some secrets, which luckily sounded so brazen no one believed him, I handled it.”
What the hell? “You ran him down on the side of the road.”
“I handled it.” His voice grew angrier. “It’s what I do. I clean up the mess, including yours.”
“No.”
“We’re connected. I know you feel it. You talk about it all the time.”
Her focus faltered, but she kept going. Waiting until the exact right time. “Brent?”
“Yeah, I started the rumors about his involvement.” He laughed to himself. “Wait until the police find the kiddie porn on his computer.”
A psychopath. He outlined his sick crimes with the same emotion he used when he spoke to her about stocks. Clear and no-nonsense.
“Do you feel anything?” She had to know, though she doubted he would be honest.
“Do you?” He tapped the hammer faster against his leg. “You killed your husband and seem fine with that.”
“You’re sick.” She knew from Ryan’s books that she should appeal to his humanity, if he had any, but the words slipped out.
“I’m exactly like you.” He took that last step that put him right in front of her, only a few feet away. “Emotions other people feel—guilt, love, devotion—mean nothing to me. I’ve tried to have a relationship, do the dating thing. So fucking boring. I need more. Excitement. The race.”
“The girls from school were blondes.”
He frowned. “What?”
“Aaron liked young blondes. You hunted for brunettes.” The difference in the women became so clear to her now. “Aaron didn’t kill any of them.”
“I said this already. He was a failure in that department. I found the women. I lured them to look at something by my car or grabbed them at the gas station. In a parking lot.”
“Did they look like your mom?” Like her?
“Don’t psychoanalyze me. I picked women who asked for it.”
She thought about Karen and Yara and Julie. All young and going about their business until he destroyed them. “How?”
“They got my attention.”
He stood close enough for her to see the flatness in his eyes. She’d always been protective of him, viewing him as lonely and a little sad. Someone shaped by horrible circumstances and the early loss of a mother.
Now she saw him as an empty shell. Not to be pitied, but to be put down. Eradicated.
Fear flooded through her. Instead of hiding from it, she used it. Let it fill her with a dark energy. “What now, Jared?”
“That’s up to you.” His gaze traveled over her face, wild but not unhinged. “We can move away, pretend to be horrified by Aaron’s actions, and start over.”
Every part of her recoiled. “Me with you? Like, married?”
“Not like that.” He shook his head. “Haven’t you been listening? I have needs. Times I’d want to be away, at my special place. Hunting.” He smiled again. “You’ve said it a million times. We understand each other. We share a bond. Hell, it’s why I did all of this.”
The panic inside her rose with each word. His disconnection to reality whipped and battered her. “Did what?”
“Moved Aaron’s body. Planted evidence on Ryan and Brent.” He smiled. “Let you live after you killed my baby brother.”
“You’re demented if you think I’d go along with your killing spree.”
“I hoped you would. It would make things easier.”
“Never.” She brought her arm up and swung the blade.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
JARED CAUGHT THE KNIFE RIGHT BEFORE IT PLUNGED INTO HIS neck. Blood dripped from his fingers where they clenched around the sharp blade.
He made that awful tsk-tsking sound again. “Naughty girl.”
He tugged, and Lila felt her arm pop up at the shoulder. She blinked hard against the race of tears and pain. A harsh gasp filled her ears, and she realized it came from her. When she focused on him again, he was closing the knife and throwing it into the bedroom. She heard it crash against something but couldn’t see where. She was too busy focusing on the hammer he still held.
“You won’t kill me. We’ve known—”