Sebastian looked down on the still smoldering ruins of his home. It was all gone. Destroyed. Decimated. Everything that Hill Reed had worked for, everything Sebastian had ever loved, was gone.

He couldn’t even get close enough to pay his respects or say goodbye. Police barricades surrounded the estate, and at least a dozen guards stood around the perimeter of the once great mansion.

“Can you get any closer?”

“Not without attracting attention, Mr. Dark.”

Sebastian nodded his understanding. He’d had to rent a helicopter and pilot to fly him over the estate. To everyone on the ground, he would just look like a curiosity seeker or perhaps a television news station gaining a different perspective of the famed structure. But in truth, he was almost as devastated as Hill House itself. His home. His property. His legacy. All gone.

She was responsible for all of it. She had never appreciated what Hill Reed had done for her. She had left, breaking Hill’s heart. If that wasn’t enough, she had murdered him in cold blood years later. And now she had destroyed everything he had worked so hard to obtain.

She had survived the fire. He had watched her fall, but had had to get out before he could confirm her death. He’d hidden behind some bushes and watched Justice, along with two other men, go into the burning building and bring her out. The bitch should have died!

He should have made sure he’d killed her when he’d had the chance. With one bullet to the head, he could have stopped all of this from happening. Instead, he had allowed her to get to him, to ensnare him. Looking back on it, he realized she had employed the same tactics Reed had used. Unlike Reed, who had employed those words only for guidance and disciplinary love, she had used them to bring him down. What a sacrilege!

If it was the last thing he did, he would make sure Irelyn Raine paid for all her sins.

Then he would regroup and rebuild. He consoled himself that Hill House had gotten old and had been at the point of needing major repair work. The house might be gone, but Hill Reed’s legacy would live on. He would make sure of that.

He hadn’t started anything yet, but he would soon. First, he would rid himself and the world of two major pains in the ass. Once Irelyn Raine and Grey Justice were finally dead, then he’d get back to re-creating the life he was meant to have. The one that his father wanted for him.

Sebastian Dark was not finished by a long shot.

* * *

Grey stood in the darkness and waited for the verdict. He had made his petition to the council. His arguments were sound, his reasoning flawless. That didn’t mean he would receive approval.

It would have been helpful to see their faces, to at least see that he was getting through to them. But this had been their way from the beginning. He knew most of these people, could picture them in his mind, but when in front of the council, one never saw their faces. It was, to him, a ridiculously archaic tradition but since he was asking for their help, he would play it the way they preferred.

“You look like both your parents.”

Though he sounded much older than Grey remembered, he recognized the distinctive voice of Malcolm Cooke.

Grey acknowledged the statement with a nod. “I take that as a high compliment.”

“It’s too bad you didn’t take after them in other ways.”

“You believe I’m all that different?”

“You should have stayed here, carried on their legacy.”

“Their legacy was gaining justice for victims. That’s exactly what I do.”

“Possibly, but not in the place of your birth. You could be here at this table, helping lead this group instead of coming here, as an outsider, requesting our help.”

He was being baited. His reasons for leaving England were no secret to the council. They had tried to overreach their boundaries. Had wanted to use Irelyn without any concern or care for what she had endured. His first priority had been to protect her. That hadn’t changed.

“The girl you wanted to use, to punish, has done your work for you,” Grey said. “She killed Hill Reed, gaining justice for the deaths of my parents. She also destroyed Hill House, something you also never managed to do.”

“Your arrogance is not appreciated.”

“I speak the truth.”

“The truth as you see it.”

“And how do you see it?”

“That’s enough.” The new voice belonged to Aaron Finley and was so weak sounding it was almost unrecognizable. The Justice Seekers council consisted of five members, but only two of the original members, Cooke and Finley, remained. Both were elderly, but their philosophies on how justice should be attained were markedly different.

The quivering voice of the oldest council member continued. “Your parents were the finest of our group. We owe them a debt of gratitude, and I for one believe that should extend to their son.

“While it’s true that Irelyn Raine contributed to their deaths, she has atoned for her mistakes. I, therefore, vote that we grant the petitioner’s request.”

Grey held his breath, waiting for the others to weigh in with their votes. He would find and destroy Dark either way, but the additional support might mean the difference between finding him next week and finding him in a year. He wanted this over and done with.

He breathed a little easier as, one by one, each council member gave his or her opinion of why they approved the request. The last holdout was no surprise. Cooke had been the one who had insisted all those years ago that Irelyn should be punished. He was also the grand high council and could, if he wanted, overrule the rest of the group.

“I am still not convinced that it’s our place to intervene.”

Holding his temper, Grey calmly explained, “You have a vested interest in destroying Sebastian Dark. While he doesn’t have the following that Hill Reed obtained, he is wealthy enough to eventually gain that status. Killing him will, in large measure, destroy the legacy of Reed and the evil he perpetuated.”

Again, there was silence. Finally, as if he was doing this for magnanimous reasons only, Cooke said, “Justice has and always will be at the core of our existence, but preventing further injustice is just as noble. Therefore, the petition is approved.”

Grey nodded his appreciation and backed away. Irelyn Raine had destroyed both the man who killed his parents and the house he created. And now, his parents’ legacy would destroy the man who tried to kill Irelyn. Life and justice had come full circle.

He would return to Irelyn assured that a vast network of people searched every corner of the universe. Also, when the time came, he would have the assistance of the deadliest of the deadly.

Sebastian Dark didn’t know that a contract had been taken out on his life and that Grey Justice would carry that contract out to the end.

Dark’s days were numbered.