Chapter 1
Xander
My blood boiledin my veins as I watched Ethan go through the door leading to the back exit of the warehouse.
Even as he left he had the same air of authority he showed when he chewed me out for casting my duties aside.
I didn’t like being called out on anything. Even when I was clearly in the wrong.
It rubbed me the wrong way and left me fuming.
Fuming and furious because I didn’t have a plan.
I thought I could split my focus on the mission and protecting Jia but seeing her earlier and knowing her father planned to kill me if she kept seeing me through me out of sync.
Ethan was one of those people who could hold their own as a leader, but damn did that guy ever piss me off, and at the worst fucking times too.
“Hey bro, you okay?” Wes asked.
I’d almost forgot he was here. It was just us left in the room but I’d had one of those moments when everything just zoomed in on me and I felt like I was alone. Like I’d been swallowed up into a black hole and I was alone.
I turned my attention to Wes.
He could see how worked up I was. As my best friend heknewhow worked up I would be just from looking at me.
Honestly, the restraint I’d had to show over the last few weeks with everyone was getting to me, getting to that stage where I could pop.
Pop, like the cork on a wine bottle and go ape shit on everyone. It was like being an inch away from insanity.
“Wes, I don’t know if there’s any point answering that question,” I answered, gritting my teeth.
Wes sighed and shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. “Talk to me bro.”
“God.” I ran a hand through my ruffled hair.
Where did I begin?
“Everything and everyone is getting to me.” That was the short succinct answer.
Being told I had to remember my mission, I couldn’t allow anyone to stand in my way, and I’d have to kill did not help.
That was what Ethan said. He gave me the reminder, but he was also telling me I might have to kill Jia. As if I could.
Jia…
The woman I’d wanted to protect. Jia, the mafia king’s daughter who’d unlocked the door to my heart that had been closed for business for the last five years.
Jia who I’d left at my apartment, sleeping in my bed.
She’d come to me in her distress. It was the first time she’d ever come to me and it was to say goodbye.
Goodbye, and to end this affair we’d had.
Affair was the best label I could place on it because except for when I outright kissed her in public and didn’t give a flying fuck, we were supposed to be a secret.
Me the secret agent seeing the mafia king’s daughter.
Me disturbing the hornet’s nest, rocking the foundation, waiting for it to come and get me.
