Free SCARRED - Part 3 (The SCARRED Series - Book 3) by Kylie Walker

things got out of hand. I offered to defend him but...son of a bitch!”
    “Vince didn’t want you to know the truth.”
    “Which is?”
    “Jesse used a knife on her. She has a scar down her side and across her abdomen to prove it. That was far from his first attack on her, but he intended for it to be the last. He told her he was going to kill her that night and if her friend hadn’t called 911, he would have succeeded.”
    “Oh my God. Vince downplayed it so much...and the papers even reported it sort of like you “average” domestic violence case. That poor girl.”
    “Yes,” Derek said, “And Dad, you don’t even know the half of it. I need a really big favor.”
    “Sure, anything.”
    “I need you to keep an eye on Jesse and Vince. I need to know where Jesse is living, what he’s up to during the day and at night. Who he sees, where he goes...”
    His father was nodding. He finally said, “You think he’ll come after her.”
    “He told her that he would and she believes him. That’s good enough for me.”
    “Okay. I’ll find out where Jesse is and we’ll put someone on him. Dear God, it’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? I mean, I see this sort of thing every day in my work...but you don’t expect your best friend’s son to be...”
    “Satan’s spawn?” Derek finished.
    “Yeah, something like that,” his father said. “I just feel so bad for that poor girl.”
    “Me too, but you know what Dad?”
    “What’s that, son?”
    “Jesse thinks he’s going to show up and find that scared young woman he used to know. He’s got another thing coming, I think. If he finds her, he’s going to find a woman who is strong enough to fight him this time. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
    *******
    J essie sat in the dark, watching her. He’d spent the last week, doing the same thing every night. He found out that she took a walk along the jogging path. She lived in what New York real estate had dubbed a “walking” neighborhood. The people that chose to live here mostly did so because of the ample opportunities to be able to walk almost everywhere they wanted to go. When you added in the walking path it was a fitness addict’s paradise.
    They had a neighborhood patrol that patrolled the streets, but Jessie found a spot along the path near a school where the trees and the brush were so thick a man could probably pitch a tent and no one would notice. They weren’t quite smart enough to have a foot patrol. Jesse wondered if they would implement one after they found her. He smiled. The knowledge that it would be because of him was strangely thrilling. He dressed in black from head to toe and armed with his Bowie knife and a small black flashlight. He would sit amongst the trees and watch.
    He loved watching her glide by, all arms and legs and content in what she thought was her safe neighborhood. The fact that her surroundings seemed to relax her rather than put her on guard amused him. She was so trusting. A woman without a man to guide her and tell her how truly pathetic she was for flaunting herself out here in the open like she did, without even a thought of danger or her own, personal well-being.
    Some nights he could see the moon reflect off of her eyes like those of an animal in the headlights of a car just before it became road kill. The animal was too stupid to get out of the way. Just like Chantelle. The correlation amused him because when he was finished with her, road kill was what she would be reduced to. Tonight would be the night. He’d been patient, but the scene was set tonight. There was no one else out and the moon was partially hidden by the clouds and offered only a sliver of light...not enough to illuminate him when he took her. He waited, controlling the tempo of his breaths as he watched her come closer. She thought she was headed home and he hoped that she was enjoying the way the fresh air felt in her lungs because it was the last that she would ever breathe.
    The first