Vendetta Read Online Free Page A

him into a monster, a beast. It had taken Catherine’s love for him to see himself not as hopelessly damaged and beyond redemption, but as someone whose life had value.
    Someone who was worthy of love, worth risking everything for.
    I was dying inside, and she brought me back to life. J.T., too. All those years, all he was doing was treading water. Sooner or later, he would have drowned.
    He surveyed the streets and buildings of her neighborhood, as impenetrable to the naked human eye as the streets of Afghanistan on those terrible, violent nights of the war and its aftermath for him and the other beasts. Lights were coming on in Greenwich Village—candles, lanterns, flashlights. Errant, handheld light sources would be harder for him to avoid. He kept the collar of his pea coat up high and his cap down low. He did not move furtively, for that would attract attention, and the street he was walking down was empty. It was the middle of the night, when most people were indoors, and civilians were wisely barricading themselves in their homes. New Yorkers would be terrified tonight. So much misery had rained down on their heads: the destruction of the Twin Towers, Hurricane Sandy. It was not lost on him that he lived in a city every bit as resilient as he was. He would do everything he could to increase NYC’s odds of survival against anything that came at it—be it opportunistic criminals, a terrorist group, or a natural disaster.
    He heard approaching footsteps and kept his head down. One block up, a pair of large men turned the corner and approached. Vincent could smell the metallic tang of concealed weapons and stayed loose. He was not afraid, just ready.
    The men spotted him. He sensed their interest in a stranger, a potential target. He heard one murmur to the other, “Whatcha think?”
    “Naw,” said the other. “That guy’s too strong. He works out.”
    Wordlessly, they passed Vincent. He waited until there was some distance between him and the two men, and then wheeled around to follow them. They were on the prowl, and he wasn’t about to let them harm anyone.
    Behind him, glass crashed and someone shouted, more out of anger than fear. He heard more shattering glass, and then a siren, and a man’s voice shouting, “Police! Freeze!”
    Vincent maintained his position, glad that there was a police presence in Catherine’s neighborhood despite the fact that he would have to be more cautious as a result. With every news outlet in the city broadcasting his image as New York’s most wanted, he had decreased his covert visits to Cat’s apartment until he went half-crazy from missing her. He wondered if Gabe Lowan had possessed the nerve to attend the precinct party at Rosie’s tonight, or if he had respectfully kept his distance. Gabe’s misguided desire to “protect” Catherine from Vincent was the reason Vincent was being hunted down… again.
    And to think we trusted him after his beast side died
, Vincent thought in disgust. And Cat had done more than trust him…
    Adrenaline rushed through Vincent’s body and he forced his mind off the track it was taking before he beasted out. Caught in a romantic triangle, Cat had ultimately chosen him over Gabe. But for a while, she had shared her bed—if not her heart—with the ADA. There had actually been a time when Vincent himself had considered the other Muirfield refugee to be the better choice for Cat. But now Vincent finally had his beast side under control, tamed by his love for Catherine and his need to be a man whom she could love in return. To be someone whose existence and efforts made the world a better place, whether he remained a beast forever or could one day become fully human again.
    A car horn blared and dubstep thumped on a tricked-out set of speakers in a passing Chevy Camaro lowrider. A head hung out the opened car window and Vincent kept his own head bowed but his shoulders straight. He had no interest in appearing as some cowering target for a