Savage Beast by Evelyn Glass

He’s a savage beast – and he’s here to drag me back, kicking and screaming.
VAL
It’s been almost two months since I took my baby daughter and ran for the hills.
We had to get away from my abusive ex.
He’d given me enough black eyes and sleepless nights to last a lifetime.
And my little girl deserves a better father than a devil like him.

For a little bit, it seems like we’d made it out safe.
I might be stripping to pay the bills.
But it’s worth it if that’s what it takes to feed my daughter, to keep a roof over our heads.
And there’s something liberating about getting on that stage.

Up there, with my legs around a pole and pounding music in my ears, I can be anybody.
I can be anonymous.
Powerful.
Free.

And then it all comes crashing down.

It started with a simple request for a dance.
But when I saw who was asking, my blood froze in my veins.

The outlaw biker waiting in the champagne room was like something out of a romance novel:
Rugged, tatted, leather-bound, unbelievably huge.
I gave him what he wanted.

And that might just be the last thing I ever do.

MERCER
She looked more innocent than I expected.

It’s easy to rationalize killing most of my victims – it’s kind of necessary when you’re a biker hitman like me.
The scum on my hit list are usually criminals of some kind: low life thugs, dirty drug dealers – you get the idea.
They deserve what’s coming to them.

But Val was different.
There was something in her eyes – something fragile. Special. Worth protecting.
And when I find out she has a baby girl at home…
The job gets that much harder.

But my employer tells me I don’t have a choice.
Get it done, he says. Put her down and move on with your life.

So I go through the steps.
I find her at the club where she dances.
Take her to a room in the back.
Tell her I know who she is – who she really is.

Her jaw drops.
I can see her eyeing the door.
Getting ready to run.

And then I tell her the ugly, bloody truth:
I’m the man who’s been sent to kill her.