to meet Victoria’s. She saw the uncertainty there a split second before he turned the box around where she could see what it held.
A small blue sneaker was the only item in the box.
She didn’t have to touch it or inspect it in any way. She recognized it immediately. She knew everyone in the room was waiting for her to say something...but she couldn’t speak. She could only stand there, as the tears spilled down her cheeks, and stare at the small shoe her son had been wearing the day he disappeared.
Chapter 17
He drove back to the house in Oak Park well after dark. He’d waited until Victoria Colby had left her office, her protector, Lucas Camp, and his two men close by, and then he’d followed her home.
It hadn’t been necessary for him to see her face as she opened the package. He saw all he needed to in her pained, stoic profile while she pretended to go about her daily routine as she left the office. He was satisfied.
They knew he was watching, but they did nothing. He’d wondered at that in the beginning but he understood now. They had what they considered an ace in the hole. And Victoria Colby would want to see how this game played out. She wanted the truth. She wanted Leberman.
As, he imagined, did Lucas Camp.
He laughed softly as he considered what lay before them. Victoria Colby couldn’t possibly imagine the horrors in store for her before the blessed relief of death would come. He almost hated to allow it to end that way.
He backed into the driveway that flanked the house he used for the time being. He hated coming back here, but it was a necessary part of the strategy. Though he enjoyed the buildup, the crescendo of death would be lessened immensely, in his opinion, by this grandstanding.
But it was not his decision to make.
As he did each time he returned, he searched the grounds, considered the windows and doors for any subtle change in the way he’d left them.
He knew immediately that he had a visitor.
A careful one.
Like smoke, soundless and camouflaged by the darkness, he stole into the house. His visitor waited in the darkness of the inner hall, like a cancer lying dormant before it struck its unsuspecting victim. Being in this house again with him gnawed at Seth’s gut like the sharp hunger pains he’d once known in that dark place he’d called home.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
He didn’t want him here. Had no desire to speak with him or to see him.
Leberman flipped on the overhead light switch, leveling the playing field since he could not see so well in the dark. He blinked to adjust his vision.
“You made the delivery?” he demanded without preamble.
“Yes.” Seth squashed the sensation of fear that, even now...after all these years, tried to surface. He reminded himself that he was not afraid of anything—most especially this son of a bitch.
Leberman nodded. “Good. And the rest is on schedule?”
“I don’t want you here.” He clenched his jaw hard to hold back the emotion he refused to allow. Control was essential.
Leberman met his gaze, those beady eyes showing no fear. The tables had turned in recent years. He was a fool not to fear him. “I know you don’t want me here. You despise me now.” He circled him slowly, inspecting him as he had hundreds of times before. Seth resisted the instinct to stiffen. “I know exactly how you feel about me,” Leberman continued. He moved back in front of him. “But that changes nothing. You owe me this. You will see it through.”
Seth didn’t respond. Leberman knew he would not fail. As he said, he owed this to him. And then they would be even...finished.
Leberman leaned closer and sniffed. “You’ve been with a woman. I smell her perfume.”
He didn’t bother to respond to that comment, either, though a tendril of uneasiness slid through him. He banished it with the same indifference he displayed for his unwanted guest now. Theirs was not a relationship based on friendship or fondness of any sort. They had only one thing in common. Sheer hatred for the Colby name.
“Did you fuck her?” Leberman inclined his head thoughtfully. “I think not. Perhaps that’s the reason for your foul mood.” He smiled grotesquely. “She must have seen you for what you are. Pure evil...a beast. Did you let her live in spite of her rebuff?” He sniffed again. “You’re not getting soft are you?”
Seth locked down all emotion and moved a step closer to the bastard, his fingers fisting tightly to resist the urge to wrap around that scrawny throat. Only with him did he still struggle with the human weakness of baser emotions. “Unless you came here to provide additional instructions, we have nothing to discuss.”
Leberman peered up at him, studied his face, seemingly oblivious to the hatred radiating in his direction. “I trained you so well. You don’t show the first hint of emotion. Anger now and again, perhaps, but nothing more.”
This was a waste of time. “Say what you came to say and go.”
“Pain, death, none of it touches you, does it?” Leberman persisted. He smiled. “You are magnificent.” He shook his head slowly from side to side. “You have no idea how proud I am. Every moment I’ve waited will have been well worth it.” He sighed mightily. “You’re prepared for tomorrow?”
The question was unnecessary. “Of course.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to this step more than you can know.”
Seth said nothing.
A beat of silence passed. When Leberman would have gone, Seth reluctantly issued a warning of a different sort, “They’re watching me closely now. I don’t think I was followed, but it’s a possibility.” Though he didn’t really care if Leberman was caught or not, it would ruin his own plans at this stage.
Leberman cocked his head. “Really? I’m surprised you let them that close.” His eyes narrowed. “That’s not like you. It’s her, isn’t it?”
“I’ll create a diversion so you can go undetected,” he offered and walked away, leaving the bastard to think what he would and not bothering to answer his question. He didn’t give a damn what surprised him.
If Lucas’s men were out there, as he suspected, all he had to do was set a course for Victoria Colby’s private residence, and they would follow.
He glanced back at Leberman once more and warned, “Don’t come back.”
“Just so you know, I will be watching tomorrow,” Leberman told him, an underlying threat in his tone. “I’ll be very careful to stay out of sight, but I will be watching.”
Seth just wanted him out of his sight. If he chose to watch tomorrow it was of no consequence to him as long as he stayed out of the way and away from him. The death of Lucas Camp only served one purpose as far as Seth was concerned.
To torture Victoria Colby.
