Page 4 of Ice Cold Christmas

My dirty secret?

Hell, no, she was not. Far from it. She was the end game. Screw the business. Melody was his goal. She always had been, from the moment he’d met her. The woman had no idea that she was his obsession.

He drove to her place. Let himself in with the key she’d given him. He expected to find Melody waiting. Maybe naked. Oh, but a man could dream. Only…

She wasn’t there.

An hour passed.

She didn’t arrive.

He called her. She didn’t pick up. He just got her voicemail. Over and over.

Over.

And…

Over.

The text came to him at six a.m. After a frantic night of looking for her, Melody finally contacted him.

Don’t look for me. Her text message.

Not look? In what universe? He texted back, Where the hell are you?

But there was no response. No matter how many times he tried… No. Response.

Victor did not give up. He kept texting. Melody. Where are you? Fear and rage twisted inside of him. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when he was so very close to having her. To having everything he needed. He’d worked so hard. Things could not explode on him now. He’d been so careful. Always keeping his control. Hiding his darkest parts. Keeping his past secret. He’d tried to be perfect so that she would fall for him. So he could claim her.

When he stormed into her father’s house, when he demanded to know where the fuck Melody had gone…

Victor learned that her father had also received a text.

I want to try something new. See you soon. Don’t worry.

Seven days before Christmas. Melody Mage disappeared seven days before Christmas.

Victor called the cops. They came. Dutifully listened to him. But…there was no sign of foul play. A grown woman had decided to leave town for a bit. No big deal. Camera footage from the parking garage showed her entering her vehicle. Leaving alone. A street cam even picked her up, driving out of town.

The days passed. Christmas came. Went. Melody didn’t return. It was as if she’d vanished from the face of the earth.

Victor hired PIs to find her. They turned up BS leads that led nowhere.

Victor lost his fucking mind.

And by the time everyone else realized the truth…that something very, very bad had happened to Melody Mage, it was far too late.

She was gone.

Chapter One

One year later…

* * *

He wasn’t sure that he would be able to make it through the night without killing someone.

Victor Alexander held the wine glass in his hand, he stared at the glittering Christmas tree, and he heard the voices rising and falling around him. Laughter grated in his ears like nails on a chalkboard. Anger twisted in his gut as he thought about all of the ways that he could commit his murder. It would really be quite easy…