REVENGE, DIAPER and SNACKS - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

ALEC’s POV
“She's lying,” I muttered, gripping the leather steering wheel until it creaked beneath my hands.
“Bitch!” I hissed, fighting against the primal urge within me. I willed the darkness in my mind to retract, but they remained defiantly extended, a cruel reminder of my hunger, which was intensifying with every passing moment. My muscles cramped, a taut reminder of my desperate need. The hatred, the longing to kill again ate me alive. I wanted her so much that it hurts.
Whore!
But she was a smart one. I'll give her that.
The kids were cute. Sweet, even. But Catherine—whatever her real name was—had too many shadows in her eyes for a typical struggling mom. I could almost feel her hatred towards me. Like I owed her the fucking Eifel Tower,
No. No, something was off.
The way she handled herself during the accident. The way she talked to the cops—casual but calculated. Her movements were sharp, trained. Like a warrior, not frantic like most mothers would be.
And tonight, when I offered to carry the little one, she refused—politely, but with precision. Like she didn’t want my prints anywhere near her kids.
Like she knew something I didn’t.
I watched her walk away from the rearview mirror, holding that child like a warrior goddess. The streetlights bathed her in gold, but I wasn’t looking at beauty. I was looking at danger wrapped in a floral print dress and pink mom jeans.
Damn it! I want her so bad. She entertained me, and the need to sated the darkness in me echoed my very being. And I didn’t want to stop. She was something I wanted. It was intoxicating, like a child tasting candy for the first time and unable to let go of the sweetness. Her smart ass, plum breast, defined curves thrummed through me, filling the hollowness inside, and I hungered for more; I craved it like a drug.
My grip on my sanity tightened as my need to dig deeper.
A part of me still remembered Leon. My brother. My blood. My monster. I killed him because the darkness said so. The darkness wanted his blood. And I did it and boy it was wonderful, grand even! That feeling of greatness feeds my sanity.
Leon….Leon. Brother. He used to say things like “You either hunt or get hunted, baby brother.”
And now, the hunter was gone.
Or was he?
I looked at my phone. Mick had texted twice. No name. Just a number, a photo, and the words:
"Catherine knows how to count cards. Cleaned almost £1.3 million in two nights. But she didn't take a single penny. She gave it all away. Want me to follow?"
I stared at the photo of Catherine. Or whatever she called herself.
She was laughing in the frame—head tilted, eyes glittering like knives. Two other women beside her. Champagne flutes. Glamorous dresses.
But it was her expression that twisted something in my gut.
That wasn't the face of a desperate woman blowing lottery winnings.
That was a shark circling in silk.
I tapped a voice memo. “Don’t follow her yet. Watch from a distance. Find everything. Who she talks to. What she buys. Every bank transaction.”
I paused. Then added:
“And Mick… don't underestimate her.”
That same night, Alec swore to have her…but he would never underestimate her, because just like Leon, she was a force not to be reckoned with.
They were almost identical. He couldn't read her at all. And just like that, just like what happened in the past. It still kills him…He was the prey, always the prey.
Alec was fifteen when he first learned what it meant to be invisible.
It wasn’t like in the books, where invisibility granted power, mystery, or escape. No. Alec’s version of it was raw, humiliating, soul-cutting nothingness. He was the wallpaper. The shadow behind the golden boy. The second Darrow.
And Leon—oh, Leon—he had everything.
The girls fawned over him, their eyes lighting up like firecrackers just hearing his laugh. He was loud, confident, fast-talking, even faster with his fists. He wore his school blazer like a king wore a cape. When he walked into a room, the air shifted. Even teachers looked at him like he was a fire they couldn’t put out.
Alec? He was the quiet one. The one teachers forgot during the roll call. The one whose name they misspelled on certificates. He was smart—smarter than Leon, in fact—but it didn’t matter. Brains didn’t win crowds. Brains didn’t get her attention.
Samantha.
She was the spark that lit the fuse of his hatred.
She was kind. Warm. Not too skinny, she had curves in the right place that could rival an angel. She once told Alec his science presentation was “brilliant.” For three days, he floated. He believed she saw him.
Until he saw her sneak out of Leon’s room one night.
Her blouse was inside out. Her hair was a mess. She was laughing.
Alec was in the hallway. Watching. Listening. Dying.
He stood there in the dark for hours, hands clenched so hard his nails left moons in his palms. His brother didn’t even like Samantha. She was just another name. Another notch. Another disposable soul for Leon to toy with and forget.
That was the moment.
The birth of the rot inside him. The darkness that whispered every night. The anger, the hunger and the need to just kill someone not because he liked it but because he craved for it.
From then on, Alec didn’t just want to be seen.
He wanted to see Leon fall.