Novelty

NOVELTY A STALKER NOVEL THE DOLLHOUSE WORLD ALBANY WALKER Copyright © 2023 by Albany Walker All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental. Albany Walker Cover Photographer Michelle Lancaster Cover Edit MerryBookRound Editing done by Elemental Editing and Proofreading Proofreading done by Bookish Dreams Editing Created with Vellum ALSO BY ALBANY WALKER New Series Coming Soon Corrupt Credence Made in Malice Available Now Tasting Madness Series Seeing Sound Touching Oblivion Feeling Forever Completed Monsters Series Friends With the Monsters Some Kind of Monster Completed series Havenfall Harbor Havenfall Harbor Book One Havenfall Harbor Book Two Completed Series Infinity Chronicles Infinity Chronicles Book One Infinity Chronicles Book Two Infinity Chronicles Book three Infinity Chronicles Book Four Completed Series Magical Bureau of Investigation Homecoming Homicide Creeping it Real Perfectly Wicked Dollhouse World can be read as standalone novels Amusement Diversion Novelty Standalone novels Beautiful Deceit Becoming His Stone Will Obsidian Angels MC CONTENTS Content Warning Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Epilogue About the Author Also by Albany Walker CONTENT WARNING Dear Reader, Novelty is a MF contemporary standalone novel created in the Dollhouse World. This novel is a work of fiction and contains content for mature audiences only. Due sexual abuse, death, mental health topics, self harm, violence, explicit language, graphic depictions of sex, alcohol abuse, and other triggers this book may not be subtable for all readers. CHAPTER 1 MAXINE Forget about the coppery smell, the slick feel of your sweaty palms under the leather gloves, and, most importantly, forget about the dead eyes staring back up at you. Remember them when they were burning holes into your flesh with his filthy glances and suggestive leers. Remember his soft hands, because he never knew real work, as they bit into your skin. That is the man you killed. Don’t feel sorry for him. He never felt sorry for you when he made you bleed or hurt you so deeply, the wounds were invisible. I wipe my brow with the sleeve of my shirt. It’s too big and the material is scratchy, but it mops up the moisture. After readjusting my crouch, I shove my arms under him and drag his heavy body a few more inches. It’s times like these when I wish I had a friend. I see people sharing memes about who they would call to help hide a body on social media. They make it seem fun, like a bonding experience, but it’s not. It sucks. I don’t even like myself much after I have to dispose of one corpse. “A few more feet,” I grumble, talking to myself. I’m alone in the house I scouted for months, pouring over every detail of the property to ensure I knew the place inside and out. There’s ten more feet before the garage, then another fifteen to get him into his truck. I don’t need to worry about being caught red-handed. No one will be looking for him, and his wife and children are away for the week on one of their many vacations—vacations, in my opinion, that they earned for putting up with this asshole. I wonder if they will silently thank me when they won’t have to pretend that he was a great father and a loving husband. They should. What makes the timing even more perfect is the fact that he shut down his own security system for me—a precaution he took to make sure he didn’t get caught doing what he loves, which is hurting girls—and it just so happened to work out beautifully for me. I’m not dumb enough to rely solely on him though. I did my own sweep and took my own precautions, but he made it easy for me. I thought about trying to make his death look like a suicide, so I could let everyone find him in his home away from home, and maybe even discover all the atrocities he’s gotten away with here, but the moment I saw his ugly face, dark beady eyes, and a jaw many would still call chiseled, I put a bullet in his forehead. I’m not even certain he had time to recognize me, which sucks because I wanted him to know who killed him, and now I have a mess to sort out. Good thing the only people who know to connect him with this house are either already dead or on my list. His feet thump down the two steps that lead into the spotless garage. The floor is cleaner than most of the tables I grew up eating on. I drop his shoulders and stand up straight, mopping more sweat from my forehead while I suck in deep gulps of air. My heart is thundering harder now than it did when I sneaked into his house and watch him prowl around earlier this evening. I’m not too worried about my DNA being found on him. I’ve never been arrested, and the fact that I have no family to trace any familial DNA back to works in my favor too. I look at the black SUV parked another five feet away. Getting him inside isn’t going to be easy, but if killing people were simple, then