Page 30 of Trained In Sin

"Exactly. And now she's left him for another man. If he thinks she might expose him…."

"He becomes exponentially more dangerous." The pieces click into place with horrible clarity. "This isn't about winning her back. This is about silencing a potential witness. "

"What do you want to do?"

"I want him eliminated." The words come out flat, final. "Tonight."

"Seb, we need to be careful here. This isn't just about your relationship with Ms. Jenkins anymore. If we handle this wrong, evidence could be destroyed, other victims might never get justice."

He's right, but every instinct I have is screaming at me to end the threat immediately. "What do you suggest?"

"Let me make some calls. I have contacts in law enforcement who specialize in these cases. We can ensure the evidence is preserved while still neutralizing the immediate threat to Ms. Jenkins."

"How long?"

"A few hours. Maybe less."

I check my watch. Nearly midnight. "Do it. But if Phillips makes any move toward this building, any move at all, I don't care about evidence preservation."

"Understood."

I'm about to hang up when Danny speaks again.

"Seb? There's something else. The timeline suggests Phillips started collecting this material about six months into his relationship with Ms. Jenkins. The escalation in his activities correlates directly with major milestones in their relationship."

The implication hits me like a sledgehammer. "You think being with her was triggering his behaviour? "

"I think having access to a normal relationship, to someone he could control and manipulate, was enabling him to indulge his darker urges without suspicion." Danny's voice is grim. "The pattern suggests that losing her isn't just about heartbreak, it's about losing his cover."

I end the call and lean against the wall, trying to process the magnitude of what we've discovered. Saphy didn't just break up with a possessive ex-boyfriend. She escaped from a monster.

And now that monster wants her back, not out of love, but out of desperation to maintain the facade that's allowed him to prey on children for years.

My phone buzzes with a text from Matthew. Phillips on the move. Heading toward building. Teams converging.

The protective rage that surges through me is immediate and absolute. I don't care about evidence, about proper procedures, about anything except keeping that sick fuck away from Saphy.

I'm moving before I consciously decide to, heading down the hallway that will take me to the street. If Phillips wants a confrontation, he's about to get one.

But as I reach the entrance, Matthew texts again. Stand down. Phillips has diverted. Appears to have spotted our surveillance.

Where is he now?

Unknown. He disappeared into the underground car park three blocks away. Teams are searching, but he knows the area well.

Fuck. Phillips is gone, somewhere in the city, planning God knows what. And upstairs, Saphy is waiting for me to return, trusting me to keep her safe from a threat she doesn't even fully understand yet .

I head back to her flat, my mind already working through the implications. Tonight changes everything. This isn't about a woman choosing between two men anymore. This is about protecting someone I care about from a predator who will stop at nothing to maintain his secrets.

And when I find Damon Phillips, not if, when, I'm going to make sure he never threatens another soul again.

The thought should disturb me. Should make me question the darkness I'm embracing.

Instead, it fills me with purpose.

Some monsters hide behind masks of respectability, using relationships and social connections to camouflage their true nature. They count on society's reluctance to believe that evil can look so ordinary, so harmless.

But they haven't counted on someone like me. Someone who understands that sometimes, to protect the innocent, you have to become something worse than the monsters you're hunting.

Phillips wants to play games? He's about to learn that he's chosen the wrong opponent.

And the wrong woman to threaten.

*

I knock on Saphys door and stand in clear view of the spy hole .

"Everything all right?" she asks as she lets me in, and I lock the door behind me.

"Everything's fine," I lie smoothly. "Just coordinating security."

She relaxes slightly, but I can see the questions in her eyes. How much should I tell her? How much can she handle?

For now, nothing. She's been through enough trauma for one day. But soon, very soon, she's going to have to know the truth about the man she shared her life with for three years.

And when that day comes, I'll be there to help her process the horror of it. To remind her that she's safe now. That she made the right choice in leaving him.

That she'll never have to face his darkness alone again.

Because whatever Damon Phillips is planning, whatever desperate moves he's considering, he's made one critical miscalculation.

He's threatening the one person in this world I would burn everything down to protect.

And I'm very, very good at burning things down.