AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anytime,” I quip as Maximo and I prepare the guns and ammo for the demo.
We decided earlier that I’d demo the guns, since he knows more about the specifications. I put on shooting goggles and earmuffs, taking my place behind the line. Multiple paper and mannequin targets are set up at the far end of the room.
Zeroing in on my targets, I barely hear Max’s voice or notice anyone else at the range. All I feel is the gun’s kickback ricocheting through my arm and Garrix’s eyes drilling a hole in the side of my head.
With each gun I demo, he watches me silently like a lone wolf, possibly searching for a weakness or enjoying the view. I hope I’m wrong because, with my stalker on the loose, I don’t need additional admirers.
After Fox wires the money to the appropriate account, Garrix walks us back to our car.
“We look forward to working with you,” my brother says as he shakes his hand.
Garrix takes my hand, squeezing as he shakes it. “Oh, I look forward to it, too. See you soon.”
On the drive home, I can’t help but think he wasn’t talking about the next weapons drop.
Garrix
One of my favorite things about being in The Brigade is having a fair amount of anonymity, even within the criminal underworld. Very few people know my face, and those that do pretend they don’t for their own safety; the average Joe doesn’t even know I exist. It affords me the needed anonymity to wear a Tom Ford three-piece suit while I stand outside Maddalena’s office building sipping my coffee and scrolling through my phone. Right now, I’m not a ruthless mercenary who’s assassinated dictators and stolen priceless artwork. I’m just your average hedge fund manager or hot shot lawyer who’s enjoying a quick break before I go back to work.
Over the past few days, she’s stuck to the same pattern. She and Gabriele come down around 12:30 and grab her lunch from the deli a few blocks over. The deli is so crowded that she usually stands outside for the few minutes he’s in there, and it’s the only time she’s alone during the day.
Yet another weak link in her security.
Fate is being an extra sly bitch today though, because Maddalena’s fuming when they emerge from the building at a quarter to one. Her eyes are narrowed at Gabriele, her sweet lips twisted into a grimace. She’s talking animatedly with her hands as he sneers at her. I read his lips, and he tells her to calm down and stop being a spoiled princess. That’s when she flips him the bird and walks in the opposite direction. He tries to follow her, but she gets lost in the crowd.
Fortunately for me, I’m not an incompetent moron, and I’m more than capable of finding her. I make sure to trail far enough behind her that she doesn’t sense my presence. After walking for a couple of blocks, she goes down a side street and finally runs out of steam, taking a deep breath as she surveys her surroundings.
“Maddalena.” I don’t bother acting surprised to see her. She knows what kind of man I am.
She whips around, her eyes momentarily widening when she sees me before she locks down her expression into one of cool indifference. I caught her off guard, but she won’t give up the fight so easily. That’s something I admire about my little killer—she’s got a steel will. It’ll be so much fun to bend.
“Garrix,” she replies curtly.
“What brings you out and about?”
“Grabbing some lunch.” She stands tall, unshaken, giving nothing away about her earlier anger.
“Same. I know a great sushi place a couple of blocks away if you’d like to grab some,” I suggest, going against every fiber of my being. I want to demand she come with me, then take her back to my place and fuck her senseless. I’d never let her go.
But that will probably start a war with the Italians.
“No thank you. I’m going to grab something quick before I go back to my office. It was nice seeing you, Garrix.”
Ouch. Her dismissal hits me in my cold, black heart.
“You sure I can’t tempt you with something else? Italian…Greek…Sandwiches…” I take a few steps toward her, and she falters a little bit.
“No. You really can’t,” she assures me before turning on her heels and walking in the direction she came in.
I grab her hand, pulling her until she falls into me and loses her balance slightly. She catches herself with a hand on my chest. Taking her chin between my thumb and finger, I tilt it up so I can look into her blue eyes. My other arm bands around her back, so she can’t move. To a passerby, we look like lovers tangled in a warm embrace, two people who can’t get close enough. But we both know what we are. I’m the hunter who caught a big, dangerous cat, and she’s a wild, unpredictable little thing who’ll scratch my eyes out if I so much as make one wrong move. Just like a kitten you’d find on a city street.
A match made in heaven? I think so.
“I’ll just have a taste of you to tide me over.”
At first, her lips are stiff beneath mine, but I coax them open and invade her mouth, taking every bit of it for myself, like the selfish, obsessed maniac that I am. She melts into me, taking everything I have to give. I can feel her resistance crumbling around her, because whether she accepts it or not, her body knows we belong together. Her entire body slots against mine, like two halves of a whole fusing together. Our tongues dance as we consume each other. Her fingers rake through my hair, then pull at the roots, sending a delicious bite of pain through my scalp.
I feel cold metal slide across my throat, then she breaks away from me with a smirk on her face.
