The Heart of a Killer

No one said coming home would be easy. But for Dante Renaldi, it’s murder.

Before the Special Forces hero has even unpacked his bags from twelve years of active duty, he’s embroiled in murder—corpses bearing the brutal trademark he’s seen only once before—on the worst night of his life.

The last time Detective Anna Pallino saw Dante Renaldi, they were in love. Now, he’s part of the connection to a string of fresh homicides and a horrible assault that Anna only survived thanks to him.

More than anything, Anna wants to trust Dante. But as the bodies and the coincidences stack up, Anna will have to decide, and fast: Is the man she owes her life to the very same one who wants her dead?

Praise for the novels of Jaci Burton

“Sexy, smart, edge-of-the-seat romance… Jaci Burton always delivers a great read.”

—New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian

“In the hands of the talented Burton, the characters leap off the page and the romance sparkles as the sex sizzles.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Perfect Play, Top pick!

“Hot, sexy, romantic suspense at its best!”

—New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh on Riding on Instinct

“Burton continues to display a deft hand as she combines emotional drama with plenty of sizzling sex and dangerous action.”

—RT Book Reviews on Taken by Sin

“Burton brings the heat, jazzing her otherworldly suspense plot with numerous passionate interludes, without letting the explosive good vs. evil saga flag. Hot sex, fierce battles and an impending sequel make this title worth hunting down.”

—Publishers Weekly on Hunting the Demon

The Heart of a Killer

Jaci Burton

www.mirabooks.co.uk

For Charlie, a man whose support is limitless, whose patience is endless and whose love keeps me going every day.

Thank you for helping me live this dream.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Acknowledgments

Prologue

St. Louis, Missouri

Twelve Years Ago

Five minutes till closing time. Anna Pallino scrubbed down the counters at the ice-cream shop while keeping her eye on the clock. They’d be walking in any minute, hoping for free ice cream while she closed up. They always showed. They were predictable. She loved that about them. Her guys. The brothers, though not by blood.

She bent down to put away the cones, when she heard the bell tinkle above the door. She smiled as she stood.

Yup. Always predictable. There they were—Dante, Gabe, Roman and Jeff.

Her heart tripped a beat when she settled her gaze on Dante. He was hers. Her boyfriend, the first guy she’d ever fallen in love with. Tall, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, everything she’d ever dreamed of in a boyfriend.

He grinned and swung into his seat at the counter.

“Rocky Road, please, Miss Pallino.”

She gave him a stern look. “I’m sorry, sir, but we’re closing.”

He rose, leaned over the counter and batted those dark, sinfully too-long lashes at her. “Aw, come on, baby. Not even for me and my guys?”

She laughed, went around the counter and locked the door, closed the blinds and turned the sign to Closed. “So what kind of mayhem did you guys get into tonight?”

“Best behavior, Anna,” Gabe said, leaning his elbow against the counter.

If Anna hadn’t fallen madly in love with Dante, she would have with Gabe. What girl wouldn’t, with his jet-black hair and mesmerizing sea-green eyes. He was broader than Dante and nearly as tall. He and Dante were the same age, and at nearly eighteen, they were the oldest of all the guys.

But she’d fallen hard for Dante, and after that she’d never even thought about another guy. And with her being just sixteen, Anna was jazzed about having an older boyfriend. She was the envy of all her friends. Though her father wasn’t totally thrilled about her choice of boyfriends. But Dante was always on his best behavior around her dad. And with Dante living at George and Ellen Clemons’s house, there wasn’t much her dad could say. It was a good foster home and they were a stern but loving family who’d raised a lot of great kids. Even her dad thought so. He was thawing on Dante.

“Yeah, Ellen would have our asses if we got into any trouble,” Dante added.

“Isn’t that the truth?” Jeff nodded. “We have to behave or Momma will kick our butts.”

“She isn’t our mother,” Roman said, his head down, his expression sullen. “She and George are our foster parents.”

“Oh, can it, Roman.” Dante shoved an elbow into Roman’s ribs. “They’re the best parents we’ve ever had in all our shitty lives and you know it. Why don’t you give up the poor-lost-boy act?”

“Yeah,” Jeff said. “We’re together. We don’t get in trouble. We eat three squares and they’re nice to us. They’re good parents.”

Roman shrugged. “I guess.”

“No ‘I guess’ about it,” Gabe said. “You’re just pissed off because you lost the race over here.” Gabe nudged him. Roman nudged back, and soon the two of them were tangled in arms and elbows and laughing, which made Anna exhale as the tension receded.

She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to grow up without parents, shuffled from foster home to foster home. She’d known them since her freshman year, when she’d met Dante and the rest of the guys. They were like brothers to her. Well, all except Dante. Definitely not a brother to her. “How about some ice cream?”

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Jeff grinned and leaned over the case, scoping out the flavors.

They told her what they wanted and she served it up. While they ate she finished putting everything away, then bagged up the trash. “I’m going to take this out back while you eat. Then we can go watch movies at my house. My dad rented a couple of horror movies for us.”

“I’ll take that out back for you.” Dante stood and started to come behind the counter.

“Nope.” She held out her hand. “It will only take a sec. Finish your ice cream. I want to get out of here.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Your job is to watch over the horde. Make sure they don’t drip or break anything or I’ll have to start cleanup all over again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a wink.

Anna laughed, grabbed the trash and headed out the back door of the shop into the alley. The Dumpster was a short walk over.

The ice-cream shop was set in a series of tall buildings, mainly offices that housed banks and corporations. The shop stayed open late anyway because of the movie theater across the street. Kids always stopped by after the last show. But that meant there were no restaurants or retail and the alley was deserted at night. Creepy as hell for all the kids who worked at the shop, but Anna enjoyed the quiet. Her tennis shoes squicked on the wet ground, the sound echoing off the walls of the buildings.

It was so hot tonight. It had rained earlier and she dodged puddles and discarded soda cans and miscellaneous trash as she made her way down the dark alley. Humidity sucked the breath from her and she was wet with sweat by the time she got to the Dumpster.

She lifted the lid, holding her breath as she hoisted the trash into the container, then hurriedly dropped the lid. Ugh. She hated this part. It smelled so bad in there, like something died. She always imagined something decaying in there, like an animal or even a body. The drawback of having a police-detective father and listening to horror stories at the dinner table about where he’d found the latest victim. Yeah, this alley would be a perfect dumping spot, too. Isolated, no one around at night to witness what went down.

And now she’d creeped herself out. Great.

Shuddering, she turned to head back to the shop, when an arm snaked around her waist and jerked her backward.

Her scream went unheard as his hand clamped tight to her mouth. She squirmed, trying to get away, but his other arm was a band around her, pinning her arms tight to her sides. She kicked out, but he dragged her behind the Dumpster, then fell with her, immediately turning to drop on top of her.

Rocks jabbed into her back as she hit the ground, the breath knocked from her. He was so heavy. His hand was still over her mouth.

No. No!

Her heart pounded so fast she felt the slamming against her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Nausea surged in her throat. She was going to throw up. The ground was wet from the rain earlier tonight. It stunk behind the Dumpster. What did he want? He was rolling on top of her, pinning her with his body.

She needed to scream, to let Dante know where she was, but the man’s hand still clamped tight over her mouth.

“Don’t scream, bitch, or I’ll kill you,” he whispered against her ear.

She felt something sharp against her throat. A knife.

Oh, God. Oh, God. She froze, tried to still her shaking body, not wanting to do anything that would make him stab her.

Was she going to die?

His breath was bad, just as bad as the garbage in the Dumpster. She felt something hard between her legs as he moved against her.

Please, help me. Somebody help me.

The guys weren’t far away. Did she leave the back door to the shop open? She couldn’t remember. If only she could scream they might hear her. She was sweating and cold, shivering so hard. Something underneath her was scratching her. She struggled to push him off so she could catch a breath, but he was stronger than she was.

Please get off me. I just want to breathe. I can’t breathe!

They’d come help her. They’d get here in time. If only she could scream. She had to get out of this. This couldn’t be happening to her.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Buttons scattered across the alley as he jerked her blouse open, revealing her little pink bra. She’d worn the blouse for Dante, her favorite blouse. Pink and white checks with tiny heart buttons. She’d even chosen white shorts to match. She was lying on the filthy ground now in her white shorts, felt the moisture from the ground seeping through, knew they’d be ruined. She was ruined. Tears pricked her eyes, the burn making her blink. She didn’t know whether to keep her eyes open, to try to see what he looked like, or keep them shut so she wouldn’t recognize him, so he might let her live.

What was it her dad had always tried to teach her? She couldn’t remember. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be inside the shop with the guys. The guys were in there. They’d help her.

He grabbed her breast, squeezed it hard. It hurt. Oh, it hurt. He moved the knife down along her throat to her chest.

“You’re mine, bitch. Always mine.”

He cut through her bra. She was shaking so hard now that chills racked her body. He bent down and licked her nipple.

Bile rose in her throat and she turned her head away. She wouldn’t watch. She couldn’t.

But now she remembered what her dad said. Fight. Don’t give in.

This was different. No way was she going to die. She’d do anything not to die.

Then he cut her. Oh, God, he was cutting her. It burned like her skin was on fire. She felt the warm trickle of blood down her chest. Nothing had ever hurt this bad. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

And then she knew. He was going to kill her.

Her dad was right. She had to fight. If she was going to die, she wasn’t going to go lying here and letting him do what he wanted to her.

She opened her eyes, stared at him, memorized his face. She wanted him to know she saw him. Then she bit down on his hand and he jerked it away. Taking that brief second, she opened her mouth and screamed. He slapped her so hard she couldn’t think through the dizziness.

He clamped his hand over her mouth again, his other hand jerking at her shorts.

Please, please, somebody help me!

“Anna’s taking a long time with the trash.” Dante got up and went behind the counter toward the back door.

“You know she gets mad when you go back there,” Jeff said.

“I don’t care. I should have taken the trash out for her. I don’t like her out there by herself.”

“You just wanna go out there so you can kiss her,” Roman said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m ready to go watch movies.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dante said as he opened the back door, and heard the scream.

He pushed off the door and ran like hell, not even bothering to see if the others followed. He ran so hard his legs burned, his whole body shaking in fear.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a guy scrambling to his feet near the Dumpster. And he saw feet—tennis shoes. Anna’s.

Shit. Shit. He skidded to a stop at the Dumpster.

Anna was on the ground, her clothes undone. It was pitch-black out there, but he could see her, pale and shivering and bleeding.

Goddammit.

“Grab him!” He motioned to Gabe and the others as they whizzed by him.

Dante had dropped to his knees in front of Anna. She was bleeding at her chest. Her blouse was torn, her face swollen. Tears welled in his eyes and emotion he’d never felt before filled him. He wanted to grab her and cry. He hadn’t cried since his parents…

Hold it together for Anna.

“You okay?”

She nodded, jerking the tattered edges of her blouse together.

“How bad are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket. “Let me see.”

She squeezed her hands tight over her chest.

“Anna, baby, let me see how bad it is.”

She lifted tear-filled eyes to his and it shredded a hole in his heart, especially when she dropped her hands and her blouse fell away. The guy had cut her bra in half. Dante swallowed and patted at the spot where the bastard had cut her, just above her left breast. There, he’d carved the shape of a heart.

Goddamn. Son of a bitch. Motherfucker.

Rage blinded him. Dante heard his own breath sawing in and out, felt his blood pounding in his ears. He wanted to tear the guy apart. But right now he had to focus on Anna. He forced himself to smile down at her as he pressed the handkerchief to her chest. He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off his shoulders, leaving him in only his tank top.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be all right. Put this on.” He helped her slide her arms into his shirt, then buttoned every single button. “You stay right here and I’ll be back for you, okay?”

She looked up at him, her bottom lip trembling. Then she gave him a brief nod. She was alive. That’s all that mattered.

Dante stood and turned to where the guys had cornered the bastard who’d done this. He’d hurt Anna. Dante didn’t even want to think about what else he’d done to her.

Anger and rage and guilt boiled inside him. The guy stood there with a smart-ass smirk on his face like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“She okay?” Gabe asked as Dante stepped beside him.

Dante swallowed. “He hurt her. He cut her.” Dante put his hand on his chest where Anna’s wound was.

“Fuck,” Gabe whispered.

They all knew, would all feel the same fury that someone would hurt Anna.

Sweet Anna, who didn’t have a mean word for anyone, who would never hurt anyone.

The others stepped away as Dante came toward him. The guy jerked back as if he was going to run.

Oh, no, you don’t.

Dante tackled the guy before he could get away, flinging his body on top of him. It was insane after that. Instinct kicked in, all those years of street fights with fists and knives. Of survival, of doing whatever it took to stay alive, of defending those who couldn’t defend themselves.

Anna hadn’t been able to defend herself. This guy was twice her size.

Men didn’t hurt women.

The guy rolled and kicked Dante away, then sprang to his feet, pulling a knife. A bloody knife—Anna’s blood.

Anger so deep it boiled in his bones raged inside Dante. He saw the blood on the knife and thought of what Anna had gone through. No way was this dude getting out of the alley. The guy waved the knife at Dante, but he was no match for the four of them. They’d gotten into more fights together than Dante could count and they were damn good at working together.

Dante stared him down, holding his attention as Gabe moved behind the man and grabbed his arm, jerking the knife out of his hands.

Fury took hold, then. Dante pulled his arm back and let it swing full force at the guy’s face. He staggered as if he was high or something, but Dante didn’t care. His fist connected with the bastard’s nose and Dante felt the impact, satisfied by the crunching sound. The guy didn’t say a word, just pulled to his feet again, ready for more.

Yeah, he had to be tweaking or something to get up after the punch Dante gave him. Dante shoved him back down and the others jumped in, and then it was fists and feet and blood and the guy didn’t stand a chance.

He didn’t know when the dude had stopped moving, but at some point Dante was out of breath and his fists hurt. He backed off.

“Stop. He’s done for.” Dante moved away, pulled the others off.

They stood there looking down at the guy who looked nothing like he had when they’d first come on the scene. He was a bloody pulp of a mess. Dante kicked at him, but he didn’t move. He was out cold.

He went to Anna, bent over her.

“Anna.”

She stared at her attacker, didn’t look at Dante.

“Anna.” Dante touched her and she flinched. He reached for her shoulders. “It’s Dante. Look at me.”

She turned to him, then her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, God. Oh, Dante.” She fell into his arms and he lifted her, pulled her against him while she sobbed.

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her. “Come on, let’s take you inside.”

They took Anna back to the shop and sat her on one of the stools. Dante grabbed some paper towels and wet them so he could wipe her face.

“Is she okay?” Roman asked.

“Don’t know.” Dante focused on Anna.

She was crying hard now, shook her head, trying to talk even though he knew she had to be hysterical. “He grabbed me from behind, dragged me behind the Dumpster. He ripped my blouse and my bra.”

Dante sucked in a breath.

“He cut me, here,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt enough to show them all the heart-shaped cut.

“Jesus,” Gabe said. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Not if I do it first,” Roman said.

“You got there before he…” She bent her head down and wept, her fingers clutching Dante’s shirt together.

Shit. “Let me help you.” Dante rebuttoned the shirt, felt her body shaking, then looked up at Gabe. “Go grab that scum and bring him in here. We need to call the cops.”

Gabe nodded and motioned to the others. “Come on.”

Gabe and the others left Dante and Anna alone.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you go out there alone.”

“Not your fault.”

She could say that, but it didn’t matter. “We’ll call the cops and your dad. They’ll take care of this.” Because Dante had failed to.

Chin resting on her chest, she gave a short nod. “Okay.”

Gabe burst through the back door, out of breath. “Dante. I think he’s dead.”

Dante whipped around. “What?”

“He ain’t movin’,” Gabe said. “I tried to wake him up and he didn’t move. We tried to pull him to his feet, but he just went down again like…dead weight. When I went to feel for a pulse I got nothin’.”

“It’s true,” Jeff nodded, his face ghost-white. “He’s dead. Oh, man, he’s dead, Dante.”

Dante turned back to Anna, whose eyes widened. This wasn’t good. “I’ll go check it out.”

She scooted off the bar stool. “I’m going with you.”

“No. You stay here.”

She shook her head and gripped his hand. “Don’t leave me in here by myself. Please.”

He blew out a breath, torn between wanting her to stay put, calling the cops and wishing none of this had happened. He should have just taken the goddamn trash out for her. Then it wouldn’t have happened at all. “I’ll have one of the guys stay with you.”

“I’ll hang in here with you, Anna,” Gabe said, moving next to her.

She shook her head, that stubborn chin of hers lifting as she squeezed Dante’s hand. “No. I need to see him.”

He sighed. “Okay. Stay right next to me.”

They walked outside. He tried to keep her away from the guy, who was still lying there right where they’d left him. Roman and Jeff were standing over him. They stepped aside when he and Gabe got there.

Dante turned to Gabe. “Stay with Anna while I check this out.”

Anna resisted, but Dante turned to her. “This is as close as I’m letting you get to him. Understand?”

She nodded, still shaking.

Gabe pulled Anna to his side. Dante went over to the guy and nudged him in the side with his shoe.

“Get up, asshole.”

Nothing. He kicked him harder this time.

“Come on, get up.”

He kneeled and put his fingers on the man’s neck, searching for a pulse. He couldn’t find one there, or on his wrist. God, he was a bloody mess and Dante didn’t want to do it, but he leaned down and laid his hand over the guy’s chest.

The body was warm. He was still warm. But there was no heartbeat, no pulse.

Dante looked up at his brothers. “He’s dead.”

“Shit. Sonofamotherfuckingbitch.” Jeff tore at his hair and started pacing back and forth. “Now what do we do, Dante? We killed him.”

Dante stood. “We go back into the shop and we call the cops.”

“No.”

Dante turned to Anna. “What?”

Anna shook her head, tears streaking down her face. The hysteria had gone, replaced by a calm awareness of exactly what to do. “You have to get out of here. All of you. Now.”

Dante went to her, put his hands on her shoulders. “Anna We killed this guy. We were protecting you. Besides, he came at us with a knife. It’s kind of self-defense.”

“I know that and you know that. But you all have juvie records. You know how it’ll look. You still beat him up and now he’s dead. You all have to get out of here. I’ll call my dad and he’ll take care of this.”

Dante shook his head. “No. I can’t let you do that. I’m not leaving you.”

“He’s right, Anna,” Gabe said. “We can stand up for this.”

“No, we can’t,” Jeff said, his hands balling into fists as he paced. “I don’t want to go to Juvie again. We got a nice family and I wanna stay there.”

“Me, too,” Roman said, sniffing back tears. “Let Anna call her dad and make this go away.”

“What are we, a bunch of pussies?” Dante stared them all down. “We did this. We can handle it.”

She took them in with her gaze, and knew she’d do anything to make sure they stayed safe.

Anna pulled Dante to face her again. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. To any of you. You saved my life. God only knows what that…guy…would have done to me if you hadn’t showed up.”