House of Steel Read Online Free PDF

segment,
she knew she could never find the words to tell him or anyone what
had happened. She had gotten her period two days later.
    The young Delaney had attempted to suppress
the deep wounds, abandoning painting and any sexual encounters with
men for five years. Church, on the other hand, was abandoned
indefinitely.

 
    6
     
    DAY 2: Friday, December 19 – 9:00 a.m.
     
    The gray sedan backed out of the long,
winding driveway and onto the road. V watched as her employer left
his seven thousand square foot mansion. She had never caught a look
inside the stuccoed fortress. It was disgustingly beautiful, she
was sure. V would have enough time - and space - to finish her
preparation. She gave one final gaze to the house before she swung
her own gray sedan in reverse. She had never been good enough for
him, and she had stopped trying, without him knowing, a long time
ago.
    V laid her foot on the accelerator, watching
the three-story house disappear in the rearview mirror. The past
few years had been particularly agonizing, waiting and preparing
for the right moment to seek her revenge. Her knuckles, the
physical proof of that time, were raw and swollen between the
joints as they gripped the wheel. The boxing instructor had
vehemently denied V’s demands to fight without gloves the first
three weeks. But she was unyielding, punching the bags until her
knuckles spit blood. He liked her tenacity, so he let her stay,
never letting his eye off her during her biweekly visits. She was
smart about the time in the ring, ensuring that her employer never
knew about them. The yoga studio next door was her alibi in order
for her subsequently lean and toned body not to draw questions. She
was a quick study. Agile - powerful force in a tiny package as long
as she controlled the rage. With over a thousand sessions, she felt
ready, but her employer had made it difficult with the thugs that
periodically visited the house in the middle of the night. He was
the master of illusions; a monster that reared its ugly head only
occasionally. So she waited.
    She sped back to her apartment to finish the
research she had started. It wouldn’t be long before Gunnar made a
move, but she needed to be one step ahead of him. Always. She
hadn’t been the first time they’d met. V needed to know more about
Theron Olson, and she needed to finish packing her bag that was
already stashed with cash and her .9 millimeter.

 
    7
     
    DAY 2: Friday, December 19 –10:00 a.m.
     
    Delaney gripped the wheel tighter, her long
fingers white, as a pickup truck flew passed her, kicking a flurry
of powder onto her windshield. I knew there was a reason why the
streets were quiet when I left – a blizzard. Her small car had
served her well at college for the past ten years in the cramped
space of downtown Madison, but the flat, empty terrain of the
freeway made a wind tunnel of blowing snow and torrential gusts.
The winds tugged and whipped the tiny car as snow piled onto the
road. She leaned forward to look closer at the road. When she had
accepted the job at Leighton, her father had tried to convince
Delaney to buy a SUV for the “trips back home.” She had smiled at
him, knowing her father had wanted her to stay in Milwaukee, but
urged him she would be fine in her Civic. She had purchased the car
on her own; she was going to hang on to it as long as she could. Michael Jones was right again. Yet another time that her
father’s annoying habit of being right had presented itself.
    Delaney surveyed the road ahead of her. The
visibility had diminished to mere feet as the snow pummeled her
windshield. Glancing at the clock, she debated taking the next exit
ramp to wait out the storm. Plenty of time before the rehearsal
dinner at six. She had wanted to spend the afternoon with her
mother, though. Delaney shifted her hand to the volume on her
radio, stifling the low hum of the music. It needed to be silent.
As her eyes moved back to the road, bright red illuminated in