Page 23 of Pretty Little Assassin

And it’s working.

Valentina keeps the stiletto on and plants the narrow point against the centre of my chest. Instead of grabbing her leg, trapping it, and flipping her onto the floor, I admire the shoe, the leg, and the woman.

“Tell me what you know about my stepfather’s rise within the Primacy.”

“Commanding, for an omega in my home.”

Her cheeks blush instantly as if someone dropped a match in their centers.

I close my hand around the heel, hold it against my chest for one beat, then let go. She removes the stiletto and pulls her boot back on without breaking eye contact.

“Did I fluster you?” I know I did.

“No. I don’t get flustered.”

“Denial doesn’t suit you. Not as well as the stiletto, anyway,” I tease.

“Can we please get back to the fucking matter at hand before I rub my cat in your eyes until you go blind?”

The threat makes my eyes itch involuntarily.

The organizations controlling our world rely on the same hierarchy, although they profit from opposite sides of it.

The VEIL, outwardly a high-end matchmaking service for the elite, provides beautiful, educated companions for a price. It operates in plain sight, arranging dates for galas and Jezebels for everything, so they can work behind their façade without being questioned—much.

The Verification, Extraction, Intelligence, and Logistics operation—a.k.a. VEIL.

A network of spies, influencers, and assassins who eliminate threats to omegas. Abusers, traffickers, and corrupt officials who look the other way when horrific crimes are committed wind up being on the kill list at the other end of VEIL’s contracts.

That’s where VEIL and the Primacy differ.

VEIL has one mission: to protect the innocent.

The Primacy couldn’t give a fuck.

The Primacy protects its interests. The Primacy has never required such moral justification. We sell outcomes.

I have accepted contracts across polished tables from politicians, traffickers, criminal lords, and old-money families. They place a file in front of me, name the desired result, and pay enough that nobody asks whether the target deserves it.

Founded by old-money alphas who believe in their biological right to rule, the Primacy eliminates threats to the highest bidder. Corrupt government officials, criminal underworld lords, alphas of extreme wealth. They all get their chance to purchase power.

An elite council of alphas governs the Primacy, and for the most part, they operate behind a wall of legitimate businesses. Security firms, private military contractors, and tech companies that monitor digital communications. But only one person's decisions matter: the Director. Valentina’s stepfather has purchased his freedom and taken that seat for himself, and he has already used it to place contracts on both of us and declare war on the VEIL.

That is why my kill contract came through anonymously. He cannot be seen ordering the death of a Primacy operative—the council would take his head for it before mine cooled. So he pays through a back channel and lets someone else hold the knife.

There is a piece of it I have not been able to put down.

He bought two contracts that cancel each other out. He paid me to kill her. He paid her to kill me. Then, within the hour, he sent seven men to the warehouse to do both jobs himself.

A man protecting a plan does not do that.

So he is not protecting a plan. He is running a cascade, and every branch of it pays. If I take her, the girl who put him away dies by the hand of the man she was sent to kill. If she takes me, he is owed nothing and has a dead Primacy operative he never has to explain. If his seven men take us both in a warehouse, that is acceptable too. There is no arm of it where he loses.

His tenure will be brief. The Wraith doesn’t take kindly to attempts at maneuvering beyond straightforward assassination.

“Your stepfather built connections in prison,” I say. “According to my sources, he purchased his release and spent the time since securing a systematic takeover of the council.”

“That doesn’t add up.” She sits on the edge of the bed. “I knew he was a powerful prick, but I didn’t think he could take over the Primacy. I thought putting the bastard behind bars would be enough.”