AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Goddamn it. What the fuck had possessed me to drive to Eastcreek and sit outside the Montgomery mansion this morning, I had no fucking idea. I had Charlie’s present wrapped up on the passenger’s seat. By all accounts, I should’ve spent the entire day with her.
But I didn’t. Instead, I drove a few hours to spend some time loitering on the street outside of their impressive abode. I couldn’t see anyone inside; the mansion was too far off the road, so I couldn’t see into any windows, but I could imagine what was going inside that house easily.
I wanted to kill them. I wanted to storm up there, break in, and kill them all. The man in charge, Alistair, and his psychotic nephew-slash-ward, Gareth. I’d save the girl for last, because that’s what she deserved for killing my cousin. If that sheriff was there, I’d kill him, too. Every last one of them until the Montgomery name was dead. The state could take their fucking fortune.
What had brought about the urge to visit Eastcreek and stare at Montgomery Manor? I didn’t know. I’d told Charlie that I’d moved on from my unfinished business for her, and I meant it, so why the fuck was I here?
Maybe a small part of me wished I would’ve finished everything in Eastcreek before stumbling upon Charlie, because, even though I’d agreed to move on, it didn’t really feel like the book was closed. A dark part of me, the part of me that craved the hunt, would always dream about killing the Montgomery family.
As much as I wanted to march into that house and paint the walls in red, I didn’t. I kept those impulses in check—Charlie would be proud of me for that—and I drove away.
Leaving Eastcreek today, it felt different. I wasn’t on the run this time. I was choosing to leave. Maybe that’s what I’d needed to do all along: choose it for myself. Make the metaphorical offer to give up revenge literal.
Could a serial killer change his stripes? I didn’t know the answer to that, but for Charlie, I’d do whatever I could. Losing her wasn’t an option. If that meant I had to be someone else, if it meant I had to keep those killer impulses in check for the rest of my life, then that’s what I’d do.
Charlie had texted me throughout the day. I didn’t tell her where I was going. I couldn’t. I texted her that I was on my way and I’d be there soon, and I thought that was that… until I got a call from her.
When I went to answer it, she must’ve hung up—which I thought was strange, but then my phone buzzed with texts, and when I read their contents, I immediately called her.
She picked up, and it was hard to hear her over what sounded like running water, but I could tell she was frantic, her voice shaking as she said my name, “Brett.”
I gripped the phone so hard I could snap it in two. My other hand held onto the wheel to steady myself. “What’s going on? What do you mean it’s Tyler? What’s Tyler?” I went to Eastcreek, not to kill, just to watch and say goodbye, and of course something happened. I should’ve known.
“Brett.” This time, when she said my name, it dawned on me.
“Fuck. Your stalker? I’m fifteen minutes away. Can you leave and go to my house?” Tyler, her sister’s fiancé, was her stalker? I didn’t want to believe it, mostly because, I hated to admit, I’d never looked twice at him.
And why would I? He was with her sister, had been with her for years, way before this stalker business started.
“It’s my birthday party. I can’t just leave.”
I sighed when she said that, mostly because she was right. If she left, her parents would never let her live it down, and they’d hate me even more. The best thing right now was probably to not make a scene.
And then we’d go from there.
Charlie finished, “Got to go.” She hung up after that, abrupt.
I would’ve floored the damn car if I didn’t care about getting pulled over. Having a ticket was fine, but my ID was fake, and a cop might be able to tell. And then, of course, they’d look at me even harder, and what if they realized my name wasn’t Ian Smith and they recognized me from the news a few months back?
No. I couldn’t speed. I’d get to the Mulanie house as quickly as I could. Hopefully Charlie was smart and didn’t go anywhere by herself. If she stayed with her sister, with her parents, she’d be fine.
Tyler was her stalker. Fuck me. I’d really thought that Dave was the stalker in question. As it turned out, I was wrong an awful lot when it came to her goddamned stalker.
In the end, being wrong wouldn’t matter. I would kill Tyler just like I’d killed Dave and Zak.
Things would be a little more complicated now, since he was Claire’s fiancé and an integral part of her life. I also didn’t know much about him, so I’d have to do some stalking. Stalking the stalker. How the tables had turned.
It was a tense fifteen-minute drive until I pulled into the Mulanie’s driveway. I parked right behind Claire and Tyler’s vehicle, getting out only after I grabbed Charlie’s present. I tucked the present in between my arm and my body, heading around the house, to the side gate. Voices rose through the air, telling me everyone was outside.
I opened the gate and walked through, finding Charlie sitting beside her mom at the table. The moment she saw me, she perked up—though she didn’t smile.
Her dad sat next to Tyler, who in turn sat beside Claire. When Charlie spotted me, everyone’s heads whipped in my direction, and her mom got up to greet me, giving me a short hug before ushering me to the table so I could sit beside Charlie.
“Happy birthday, Charlie,” I said, sitting with only one leg beneath the picnic table. The other was outside, so I was angled in toward Charlie. I set the present down before her, noticing an unwrapped box on the table.
“Thank you,” Charlie whispered as her mom muttered something about getting me something to drink. Her dad only nodded in my direction before getting up and wandering over to the grill to start cooking.
“Late, huh?” Tyler spoke, giving me an easy grin. His mask might be better than mine. “We were starting to place bets whether or not you’d show—”
