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The man walked toward Viper, and she didn’t know what she was expecting. Maybe a fight, something that was scary. She didn’t expect Viper to reach out, grab the man’s neck, and in one twist, snap it.
Her heart raced.
Her attacker was on the floor with his head at an odd angle. “Now this is curious.” Viper began to rummage through the guy’s pockets, and when he found the wallet, tossed it at her. “Who is he?”
She stared at him. “I’m not touching that.”
“Tell me who he is or I’ll hurt you a hell of a lot more than this bastard ever did, and from the look of your face, he hit you a few times.” Viper glared at her. “Now, who is he?”
Grabbing the wallet, she opened it up, and stared at the name. “It says William Donald.”
He stepped back, and grabbed his cell phone. She stared at him, and then at the door. She was in pain, hurting in places she didn’t think it was possible. Could she make it out in time?
Chapter Two
This wasn’t what Viper expected to find. Some asshole was moving in on his hit. Well, he was. Now he’d have to deal with cleaning up two dead bodies. Killer of Kings definitely had some explaining to do.
“Who the fuck is William Donald?”
Boss made an exasperated sound into the phone. “He’s a free agent. Why?”
“A few minutes ago he was trying to kill my mark. I thought this was exclusive,” said Viper. He glared at the girl when he saw her eyeing the door.
“You know I’d never pull that kind of underhanded shit. The stepfather must have hired him.”
“He hired you. Why would he take out two contracts?” It didn’t make sense. The old bastard was as greedy as they came. Maurice said he’d killed his own wife to inherit her fortune. So why pay two hitmen to knock off the stepdaughter?
“Yeah, that’s one question I intend to find out. If Bernard Sutherland thinks he can hire a cheap hit to get out of paying the five million he owes me, he’s got another thing coming,” said Boss, his voice taking on a sinister edge. “I’ll be in touch. I assume William is no longer with us?”
“You have to ask? Hurry up and get your house together. I don’t want to be here longer than I need to be.” He turned off his cell and shoved it in the pocket of his leather jacket. Now he had to tend to little Miss Pepper. He couldn’t kill her yet, not until he got confirmation he’d be paid in full for the job. So until he got word from Boss, he’d have to lay low with the target.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Pepper whispered, still stomach-down on the floor, propped up on her elbows.
He ignored her.
Viper stood over the dead body, pleased with his kill. Guns and knives were fast and simple, but he hated cleaning up the blood. A broken neck was much easier to deal with. He shrugged off his jacket and hooked it over the back of a chair. Then he bent over and lugged the dead weight of the body up over his shoulder before standing. William was heavier than he looked.
He planned to store the body in the bathtub for now, but he didn’t want Pepper out of his sight for a second. She was a feisty one, and he had no doubt she’d make a break for the door once he left the room. After the long trip to the seaside town, he wasn’t in the mood to go chasing after her.
“Open the bathroom door for me,” he said. When she froze in place, he added, “This guy isn’t light.”
She slowly got up to her feet, never taking her eyes off him. When she flinched, he knew she was injured, but she quickly hid her discomfort. She certainly didn’t look like the pic Boss had sent him. Pepper was no little girl. She was all woman now, with curves that stole his focus—not an easy accomplishment.
He followed behind her. The hotel suite was only one small room, and it smelled mustier than it looked. He already felt claustrophobic.
Pepper wore a long blue sun dress and a thin white sweater buttoned up over it. She was much smaller than he was, but most women were. As she pushed open the bathroom door, he couldn’t help but check out her ass. She was shaped like an hourglass, but she certainly wasn’t one to showcase her body. The only exposed skin was on her wrists and ankles. Pepper was the essence of innocence, but it wasn’t his place to care one way or the other.
It pissed him off when he started to feel—anything—because he’d been taught to remain emotionally vacant under even the harshest of conditions. As much as he despised the fuckers who’d trained him as a child, their lessons were deeply ingrained in the man he was today. He’d been called a cold-hearted bastard too many times to count, but he’d never been offered sympathy, so why should he offer it to anyone else?
He unceremoniously dropped the body into the tub with a hollow thud, and then pulled the shower curtain shut. Viper would deal with removal later. Right now, he needed to secure the hotel room and get his shit together. He hadn’t planned on complications. His hits usually played out like clockwork, in and out, no time to reflect. Now he had to hole up with this girl until he got word from Killer of Kings.
After pulling the bathroom door shut tight, he pointed to the sofa. She followed directions well, taking a seat as told. “Be smart and stay put.”
He locked the front door and peered out the window before tugging the heavy curtains together. A cascade of dust rained to his boots. He scanned the ceiling for any surveillance equipment, but there was nothing, not that he expected anything high tech in this shithole. Viper paced the impossibly small room, feeling like a caged tiger. He remembered the confinement exercises he was forced to endure as a young boy, and the memories both wounded him and soothed him at once. He was one twisted fuck.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked.
He stopped half-stride, and faced her. By now, his victims usually lacked a heartbeat, so he wasn’t comfortable chatting with a living one. The number one rule that had been drilled into him, one he continued to value, was never to get close to his victims. Not only did it make a killer weak, it gave them a vulnerability for others to exploit.
