Read Dead By Nightfall for Free Online

a weapon of vengeance and punishment. He killed in the name of justice and had never asked forgiveness from the God who had forsaken him.
    â€œLeo, please let’s go with the others.” Cassie Wilder tugged on his sleeve, her touch jerking him abruptly from his memories. “Harlan knows the most decadent places in London where all sorts of wicked things go on.”
    â€œIf that’s what you would like to do.” Rafe slid his hand down her back to rest in the curve of her spine, playing his role as her attentive date. “Is the entire dinner party going?”
    â€œI don’t think so. Just a few of us.”
    The group mingled in the private room, several saying their good-byes with air kisses and insipid mock hugs, while others lingered, apparently eager to follow Harlan Benecroft to whatever den of iniquity he planned to visit.
    â€œYou two simply must join us.” Harlan came over and draped his hefty arm around Cassie’s shoulders. “I know this delicious, exclusive club where the entertainment is marvelously titillating.”
    â€œWe wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Cassie assured him as she snuggled against Rafe. “Leo is such a darling about doing whatever I want to do.”
    â€œA man must never give a woman everything she wants.” Yves Bouchard joined the conversation, a wide smile on his aging pretty boy face. “You must remember that a woman wants a man to be a man and never a doormat.”
    Rafe forced a phony, amused laugh. “I am always prepared to learn from an older and wiser man.”
    Bouchard searched Rafe’s face for any sign of sarcasm and apparently seeing none, he laughed as he slapped Rafe on the back. “I believe I’m going to like you, Kasan.”
    â€œThe limousine is waiting,” Harlan said. “Come, children, the night is young and full of promise.”
    Rafe kept his arm around Cassie’s waist as they joined Harlan’s small group of fun-seekers. On the deepest level of his being, two emotions stirred to life—revulsion and anticipation. The moment Bouchard’s hand touched him, Rafe had cringed, wanting nothing more than to kill the man on the spot. The last time Bouchard had touched him ... But anticipation outweighed the revulsion. After over a decade and a half of searching for the elusive billionaire, he had found him. It was only a matter of time until he sent the son of a bitch to meet his maker.
    Patience.
    Over the years, he had cultivated the invaluable qualities of perseverance, patience, and self-control.
    Rafe was one of six who entered the elevator with Harlan. Cassie and a bone-thin, middle-aged brunette were the only two women in the group. And the way the older woman kept eyeing Cassie, made Rafe suspect she was a lesbian. He knew for a fact that Cassandra Wilder swung both ways and proudly boasted to the press about her sexual exploits as a bisexual woman. Bouchard, though cordial with the others, seemed disinterested in the two women, in Rafe, and in the other three men.
    Once ensconced in Harlan’s limo, the group of seven settled back as their host popped a fresh bottle of champagne and filled their glasses to overflowing. Rafe sipped the sparkling wine while the others devoured theirs. He occasionally nuzzled Cassie’s neck and laid a possessive hand on her knee, all the while subtly observing the others.
    Twenty minutes later, the limo pulled up at the back of a dark warehouse near the Thames. A slightly inebriated Harlan exited first. His guests followed his lead like ducklings waddling behind their mama. After removing a key from his pocket and unlocking a heavy metal door, their host entered the building and led them down a dimly lit corridor to a service elevator. As the clanking elevator ascended, the sound of music and laughter drifted downward from the loft area.
    When they reached the top level, two naked, muscular black guards opened a set of double