Showing results for "Joe Arden" in Crime Fiction

According to the FBI, I was considered a serial murderer after three kills. What do they call me after fifty-two? They call me the Silencer. One final bullet would have been all it took to stop me from taking another soul, and I would have been doing Meridian City a service by pulling that trigger. An angel crying for help stopped me, and that night, I took three lives for her. Then three turned into eight. Then eight turned into twenty. Twenty turned into twenty-one. Twenty-one turned into twenty-three.

A knife that cut too deep, a slash that still burns, failures piled high and flammable. I held my losses at bay with knives, with guns, my hands, my bike, my brothers, my iron will. But not my heart. No, my heart was the flame that would light the match, ignite the blaze. I am the enforcer - the killer when called upon, the ruthless hound on demand, the one who cleans the mess left behind. I am the protector - I can make you bleed, smash you to pieces. But she smashed all my excuses, and I shattered hers.

Hunter I wasn't looking for his kind of trouble. It found me anyway. Tall. Dark. Addictive. He unravels me with his ferocity. Melts me with his touch. It's impossible not to become consumed by him. Until I find out who he really is. He has a hidden agenda far beyond his craving for me. Something menacing and sinister. I need to run. From him. From the danger. But running from the hunter means I've now become the prey.

I am who I am, and I won’t apologize for it. I don’t know how to be...normal. I have my reasons. I've been through hell. I've touched the flames themselves, and I've danced with the devil. Intimately. Damnation torched my soul until it was black. I am who I am, and I won’t apologize for it. I don’t know how to be...normal. I have my reasons. I've been through hell. I've touched the flames themselves, and I've danced with the devil. Intimately. Damnation torched my soul until it was black.

My hand shakes when I read the note. Everyone is here. I think. There are so many people. So many painted faces. How am I supposed to know who is missing? I knew this party was a bad idea. Now, one of my own is in trouble and as the Prez of the MC, I should know not to play a game. But we are on a timer and someone is using us as pawns. It’s up to us to save one of our own.

I used to live in darkness, and a comet soared through my night sky. So I made a wish. Blood is my sanction. Pain is my salvation. Fear is what I instill. Especially for my Comet. The warm barrel of a gun against my head? It won’t stop me from protecting what is mine. Even if it means spilling more blood. My love for her has been tested and I’m furious. Seconds has turned to minutes. Minutes has turned to hours. And suddenly months have gone by without a change. Trying to make Daphne remember is getting us nowhere. It’s time to accept our fate. This is the new us.

Secrets—you know my family is founded on them. Lies—my marriage hinges on one. I kept the past buried like a coward. Now, I feel the constraints of my choices like they’re a chokehold. I know that it’s time to tell my wife the truth. It’s time to deal with the consequences of my actions. Aoife deserves to be my judge, jury, and executioner. If she burns down the house with me in it, well, that’s on me and my filthy secrets….