Chapter 2

Kylie's POV

"Is this some sort of prank? Do I look like a killer?" I hissed in irritation and relief as it occurred to me that my ex might have sent it to rankle me.

In annoyance, I tore up the letter and threw it into the wastebasket.

With any thoughts of sleep effectively ruined, I decided to pick up an extra night shift at Johny's, the restaurant I've worked at since my divorce.

The pay was small, but the leftover scraps I get, feed Charmaine and me, so it's worth it.

I bundled up my sleepy daughter in her thickest coat, and together we went down to the restaurant.

***

We both arrived at the restaurant, and I put Charmaine to sleep in the staff room while I got ready and began my shift.

"You brought our baby girl to work today," Kate, one of the other waitresses, smiled at me.

Every day I brought Charmaine into work, and every day she said the same thing. Like I had somewhere else to drop my baby girl while I worked through the night.

It irritated me, but I had learned to deal with her comments, so I fake smiled back and nodded my head in response while muttering obscenities under my breath.

“Kate, pissing you off?” Greta asked me as she passed me an apron to tie around my waist.

Greta is one of my other co-workers and, honestly, the only sane person I can relate to around here.

“No more than usual,” I replied with an appreciative smile as I picked up my notepad and proceeded to lose myself in the turmoil of the job for the next several hours.

As usual, my shift was stressful, and by the time it was over, every crevice in my body ached, but I was satisfied knowing Charmaine and I had food for the next few days.

While I worked, I noticed a well-dressed Man in a suit staring intensely at me. He looked familiar but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him before, so I just ignored him and continued working.

But it wasn’t easy and I found myself staring at him, from time to time.

When I got called to serve a table next to him, I took the opportunity to allow my eyes linger on him.

The moment I got close enough to get a whiff of his perfume, I remembered where I had met him.

He had been among the crowd, on the street earlier when I beat up those boys.

A part of me was afraid that he was some kind of undercover cop or a stalker but then again, Jonny’s was a pretty popular overnight restaurant so I put him out of my mind and finished my shift.

I yawned in tiredness as I dropped the wet tag on the counter and turned to an equally sleepy Greta.

“Amy will be here for her shift soon. I’m gonna take out the trash and end home with Charmaine,”

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold on till she comes,” Greta replied to me with a smile.

The woman was an angel. With a lighter feeling in my chest, I thanked her and hurried out the back of the restaurant.

It was the early hours of the morning and our customers had dwindled. Sure we had the odd person come in for 3am takeout but the restaurant was mostly empty.

I had just thrown the trash bags in the dumpster when I noticed the figure leaning against the dark alley wall and smoking a cigarette.

The man. He was that same man who had been in the crowd watching me.

Genuine panic struck in me as I considered the option that he was indeed stalking me.

My eyes flitted about me, looking for any object I could use for self defence.

"Relax, Miss Kazimir. I can assure you, I have no intention of touching you," the man called out to me as a barely visible smirk formed on his lips.

My heart rate calmed down as I surveyed him suspiciously.

“How do you know my name? If you wanted to ask me out, you could have just spoken to me normally instead of showing up here like some crazy ass stalker,” I hissed in irritation as I crossed my arms and stared him down.

"I’m not asking you out Kylie. I sent you a letter and now I want your response,” He replied as he flicked his cigarette to the floor and put it out with the heel of his shoe.

“What letter? And you still haven’t told me who you are ,”I hissed in irritation.

"My name is Antonio Martinez. And I sent you an exclusive invite to the assassin’s guild," He replied as he shoved his hands in his pocket and walked up to me.

I shook my head silently in disbelief.

“Red black letter?” He said confused as he perused my face to see if I had an inkling of what he was talking about.

“No? Didn’t you get it?” He asked as slight frustration and impatience crept into his voice.

“I got it! Stay away from me you crazy man!” I hissed as I removed my hairpin from my hair and made to stab him with it.

I gasped in shock as his hand covered my wrist and bent it so the hairpin fell down and he had me flush against him with the cool steel of a blade against my throat.

"I wouldn't play such a rough game if I were you," Antonio said amused at my failed attempt to attack him. Or so he thought.

A smirk crept on my lips as I allowed the blade I had nicked from the pocket of his suit to press slightly into his family jewels.

“Are you sure? You might kill me but it’ll take me less than a second to cut off your penis. You decide. My life or your dick?” I asked smugly.

I briefed felt him tightened around me in shock and the next moment he stepped back from me with an impressed look on his face.

“Don’t ever try that again if you want to live,” he whispered as he flicked a business card and threw it at me.

I caught the card in surprise and outrage at his words.

“Call me when you’re ready to leave this dump and actually live. The pay is great and your invitation won’t last forever,” he said smugly as he slinked back into the shadows and promptly disappeared.

My heart thundered in my chest at my near death experience and as much as I wanted to trash the card, I stuffed it between my bra at the last moment.

“Kylie! KYLIE! KY!,” I heard Greta scream from inside the restaurant and I rushed inside in alarm

“Where the hell have you been!” She hissed in panic as she dashed into the staff room.

“What’s the problem?” I asked in fear as I ran in faster her and saw my daughter shaking on the floor.

Dread seized my limbs as a cry tore from my throat.

“Charmaine! What’s wrong with her!?” I asked Kate who had tears streaming down her face and was trying to hold my daughter.

“I I don’t know…I just came in and she’s having a seizure a and I,” She stuttered in response.

“Call 911,” I yelled in terror as I tore Charmaine from her arms and tried to wrap my arms around my little girl.

Her body temperature was through the roof and I sat in the floor crying and holding her while she shook and my co workers called the ambulance.

A few minutes later and I was at the back of the ambulance with her and we were enroute to the emergency unit.

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, Charmaine was rushed to the ICU, where so many wires were attached to her body and the doctor diagnosed her with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

I sat in the waiting chair in shock as my world fell to pieces around me.

Just yesterday morning, I had been stressing about paying her daycare fees and our light bill but now I have to cough thousands of dollars for her treatments

The world moved around me colourless as I stared back unseeing.

Who could I call? What could I do?

With trembling fingers, I unlocked my phone and put a call through to Ryan. He might have be a shitty ex but he was still Charmaine’s father.

“Brrrr Brrrr Brrrr. The person you’re calling is not responding, please leave a voicemail after the click,”

Tears fell from my eyes in frustration as I called and called and called again.

He didn’t take my call and in my heart, I knew it was intentional.

I couldn’t ask Mom or Mika. Even if they wanted to help me, they would never have been able to afford the bills.

I swiped at my tears angrily as a raging headache took over my skull and something seemed to pierce my skin underneath my shirt.

I groaned in frustration as I dug my fingers inside my bra to find the offending object.

Wasn’t it bad enough that my life was falling apart?

The assassin business card! That was what was in my bra!

With the commotion of the last few hours, I had completely forgotten I had it.

I fished out the card in my bra with every intention of flinging the nasty thing as far away from me as it could get when Antonio’s words resounded in my brain.

“The pay is good,”

A shaky laugh left my lips as I dared to believe.

I had been seeking a job anyway. So what if the job was assassinating assholes?

I’ve always loved a little violence and craziness in my life.

Besides, the job was a fucking lifeline and I would be a fool not to take it.

With a silent prayer playing in my mind and the fingers of my left hand crossed, I laid the card on my lap and dialled the number.

“Hello?” I breathed into the phone.

"So have you made your decision? Will you be joining the Assassin’s guild?” Antonio’s silky smooth voice purred from the other end of the phone.

“Yes. Yes, I’m ready to become an Assassin,”