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I’m sure I know who killed her, but I don’t want to open my mouth and say so until I’m absolutely positive.

“Where was she murdered?” I ask, my voice subdued.

“In her bedroom. Which disturbingly became your Nana’s bedroom.” She pauses for a beat before muttering, “And now yours, I’m sure.”

She’s not wrong. I took over Nana’s old bedroom, and though it’s been fully renovated, I still kept the chest at the end of the bed and the full-length ornate mirror propped in the corner of the room. Things that were passed down from Gigi.

The bed is no more, having bought my own. But the same four walls that housed a horrific murder are the same four walls I sleep in at night.

It’s chilling—a little creepy. But to Mom’s dismay, it’s not enough to get me to move out. Or even change rooms. If that makes me a freak, then I would only fit in with the family.

Gigi fell in love with her stalker. The very man who must’ve killed her eventually.

And now, I have one of my very own. The only silver lining is that I would never be so stupid to fall in love with him.

Mom stands, a signal that she’s leaving. Her heels click, clack off the checkered tile as she slowly walks towards the entrance.

She gives me one last look.

“I hope you make the right decision and leave this place, Addie. It’s… dangerous here.”

Her staccato footsteps fade as the door softly closes behind her. I watch her car disappear down the mile-long driveway, leaving me all alone in this big, cursed house.

Suddenly, my stalker’s last words are much more ominous now.

I’ll be seeing you soon, little mouse.

Chapter 6

The Shadow

T he crackle from the small device indicates my directions are about to come in. I shake out my fists, restlessness binding my nerves into tight knots.

“Five bodies in the main area, all of them armed. Three more on their six and four on their twelve.”

I crack my neck, enjoying the feeling of my bones popping. Tension releases and my shoulders relax.

Twelve men won’t be too hard to take down, but I’m going to have to be quick and stealthy. It was easier to pick off the guards surrounding the decrepit warehouse.

The sun has long since fallen, providing ample coverage. It took two seconds to find a spot hidden in the shadows, giving me the perfect angle for a sniper shot.

Their mistake was relying on their limited eyesight for intruders. My ability to hide in the shadows is what ultimately got them killed.

Should’ve had night vision goggles like me.

Maybe then I would’ve had a bit of entertainment.

I lick my lips, anticipation sharp on my tongue.

“Be careful, Z,” says my righthand man, Jay. His hacking skills are nearly as good as mine—and only because I was his teacher.

I created an entire organization built solely around ending human trafficking. I started out as a hacker exposing the truths of our corrupt government. And then, as I became more aware of their true nature—the depravity of their sickness, it turned into personally snuffing out every single one of these sick bastards, starting from the bottom up.

Terminate all the worker bees, and the queen is left vulnerable and weak.

But I couldn’t be both a hacker and a mercenary, and what I really enjoy doing is being the one to put the bullet in their heads myself.

So, I created my org, Z, from the ground up, recruiting a team of hackers to help the mercenaries with their job—get into the rings, kill them all, and get the victims out safely. I stationed my mercenaries in high-rate trafficking areas and assigned them their own team of hackers. Now, Z has become so big that there are teams in every state, and several outside of the country as well.