Looking at the group of men who stood around in a small circle, someone could think we were an advertisement in a magazine. I wasn't sure what we were selling precisely, but I had a feeling we would sell it well. The fact that we were all standing around with thumbs up our assess on where and how to start the briefing for taking down South Point told me just how much we'd all come to rely on the women in our lives to help with the thinking part of things. Of course, we would probably never tell them this, but as we looked at each other, we certainly all knew it. Foster let out a disgruntled sigh. "For fuck's sake, we know how to do our damn jobs. It's not like they do everything for us. I was a damn good operative before getting out and joining Penn because he needed me."Penn snorted. "Then get the fuck on, man. Regale us with your greatness. Point us in the right direction. But screw it up and you don't get to talk again."Foster zipped his lips, glared at Penn, crossed his
As if all the warmth of the sun had been ripped away, the room plunged into the arctic. At least it felt that way. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms as I fought not to grab onto Massi's shirt. If someone needed to kill Rafe, I would do it. Spare this man-this family-the horror of killing one of their own. I could hold that weight. Put it where I put all the other deaths. Deep inside where it didn't bother me. Remorse wasn't something I felt, at least not in terms of killing. It was simply an action. Like buying some coffee or helping an elderly person across the street. But it would break Massi. Any of them. No. If Rafe needed killing, I would be the one to steal the life from his eyes. Turo grabbed handfuls of Rafe's shirt, jerked him up to his toes. "Did you not learn your lesson this morning? Are you aching for more attention and you think this is the appropriate way to get it?"Rafe spat in his oldest brother's face. "Fuck off, Turo. You don't know shit.""Then
Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her. It was a chant in my head. I was so fucking scared. And angry. And relieved. And disgusted. And...everything else. But at Rafe, not Eden. But right now, with everything riding me hard, my one thought was not to squeeze her too hard. Not to hold her too tightly. I wanted to crawl inside her skin, wrap myself around her spirit. Warm myself in the fires of her soul. Watching her approach Rafe had been one of the worst moments of my life. I'd known something was wrong with him. Something off about his behavior in the last month or two. But I never expected him to let it lash out at anyone. That Eden had stepped in and given him his punishment to save me that pain...I was speechless. Her arms lifted as she curled me into the sheltering embrace of her body. She murmured nonsense words against my neck. Rubbed circles over my back. "By whom?" Momma asked after Rafe stopped cursing Eden. I tuned back into the room around me. I ne
I almost felt bad for Rafe. Almost. But the fact that he'd been hedging his bets and Amara's life was the prize... I shook my head. Even that small mercy was swept from my heart. He was nothing but an overgrown child in the body of a man. Petulant and privileged, he walked through this life as if it owed him something. Not that he had to earn it. Not that he had to train or work for it. But that it would be given to him out of some skewed sense of familial beneficence and entitlement. I shook my head as he struggled to his feet. Crossed my arms as he lurched from side to side with blood loss and a wounded thigh. When the color drained from his face, leaving him a ghost in his own skin, I rocked back on my heels.We all waited in heavy silence as he made his way out of the room. When the doors finally shut behind him, I heard Momma tell Nico to send a couple guards after him. Nico nodded. "With pleasure." He turned and jogged towards the door. He stuck his head out. His voice
My brother swaggered in as if he hadn't just been at the mercy of the small woman in my arms. The confidence that leaked through every pore made me grind my teeth together. How had I not seen this? This arrogance? The cocksurity that oozed from him like the stink of a skunk? I heard Momma's sucked in breath, and knew she was seeing Rafe as I was. We, all of us, had been too busy with our own lives to see the shitshow that Rafe had made of his. Well, those poor choices in the past were coming back to bite us all in the asses now. Getting Eden's attention, I signed to her, "Tell Momma I want family here witness. Rafe not shield like past." I watched her take in the signs. Her poor, exhausted mind worked to rearrange them into English.Eden's eyes widened as she watched me. I saw her bite her lip and nod. But she walked over to my mother despite her trepidation. Eden bent down, whispered in Momma's ear. Momma's gaze shot to me. She nodded. Looking across the room, she held up a
As the ambient light of the room began to darken, some of the kitchen staff started to bring in tables and chairs. They set them up against the far side of the room. Once the tables were in place, they started bringing out plates and bowls and servers and platters and everything else that looked more suited to a large buffet style restaurant. "Eat," Dante, the head house manager, said. With a quick smile and bow of his head to Momma and Papa, he and his staff slipped to the sides of the room. Momma stood up again. Clapped her hands. "Everyone, it is time to eat. Tech crew, you call out what you want, we will serve you." So saying, she walked over to Nik. Bent down so she could hear the younger woman. Momma smiled as she nodded and straightened. "I'll get it for you, figlia." She pressed a kiss to Nik's hair and moved down the line of tech team members. When she had a couple orders, she moved to the line. Handed plates to a couple of the security team. Told them what to put
After what seemed like the longest day in the history of forever, we finally got to spread out to our various cottages and go to sleep. Massi and I tucked Amara in for the night, back in her Nonna and Nonno's rooms. We fell into our bed. After the revelations of the afternoon and evening, I was almost blackout tired. I slid straight into sleep. And straight into my nightmares. Knowing I was dreaming didn't make it any easier. Didn't relieve any of the terror. If anything, it just seemed to prolong it. Racing along the roofline to the next section of houses, I smiled. The wind caught at my hair, whipping it out behind me in a fluttering curtain that tingled along my scalp. Excitement and adrenaline pumped through my veins. One last hit and I was done. Out from under Hugo and his thugs. A life of my own. A life without death or killing. As I reached the far end of the apartment complex, I heard the sharp thppt of a silenced weapon seconds before I felt the burning slice of th
Between the twelve of us, we piled into two SUVs and started up the coast. The moon was full and bright. A killing moon, if there ever was one. It was so bright, we wouldn't even need to use the NVGs we'd brought. We would just need to set up and get in place. I rested my head on the seat back. Closed my eyes. Just like I did for prep on any target takedown, I ran through everything one last time in my head. Every step, every action. Every possible reaction. When there were no surprises, the mission ran smoother. Not that I could account for every imaginable possibility, I did try to mitigate the most obvious and the somewhat possible. You couldn't be in my line of work and not learn a thing or two about contingencies. Every good death dealer had a system. This was mine. The low chatter of the men around me was a comforting background noise. While I'd learned to travel alone and do solitary work, I had to admit that having my brothers-both blood and bond-around me was nice. Mo