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I would never be able to forget her blood on my hands.
Her words.
Her pain.
Her death.
I got out of my chair a few times, pacing her room. I tried to shake off my demons that afflicted my mind. It raced with ongoing thoughts, with guilt, and the shame from all the shit I put the people I loved the most through.
The more I thought about it, the less it made sense to me. All the memories faded when I heard footsteps coming down the hall. Then all of a sudden, the man I least expected entered her room from out of nowhere.
I jerked back, taking him in.
“She’s prettier in person.” He nodded to her sleeping form on the hospital bed.
“What are you doing here, William?”
“I came to see the damsel in distress.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, confused by the turn of events.
“We need to talk. Let’s go up on the roof and let Sleeping Beauty rest.”
Once we were alone on the rooftop, I asked, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“What’s with the tone?”
“You’ve never shown up on any of my missions, so I’ll ask again. What the fuck are you doing here?”
He scoffed out a chuckle. “I just wanted to see how my best killer was doing. Is that a crime?”
My eyebrows pinched together. “How did you even know we were here?”
“I have eyes everywhere, Jace.”
“You’ve never had eyes on me.”
“Cove is different from any other target you’ve had in the past.”
“You don’t know a fucking thing, William.”
“I know you’ve gone soft for her.”
“Again, you don’t know a fucking thing.”
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have saved her life. Especially since your time is almost up with her and you have yet to figure out who’s after you. It’s been almost eleven years since Hope. The clock is ticking. You remember that day, don’t you?”
With him standing there in front of me, my mind flew back to another place and time, and I had no control over it.
It was raining as I stood over Hope’s freshly buried grave. Her funeral was that afternoon, and I couldn’t leave her side. Memories of my mother’s burial played out as if it were happening again.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Hope. I don’t know what else I can say to you to grant you peace, but I pray that you’re with Tony. That the three of you are together again, and I was just the stepping stone to get you to him. I hope you’re finally a family, the one you both always wanted.”
Bending down, I grabbed some dirt and poured it on her grave.
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
I didn’t even hear him approach as an unfamiliar voice asked, “You want revenge?”
I peered up, locking eyes with a man I’d never seen before.
“Because I can give you that and so much more.”
All in one breath, I replied, “I’m listening.”
“I’m in the presence of the best sniper in the world. Your reputation precedes you.”
“What’s it to you?”
“I know who you are, Jace Beckham. Navy SEAL Elite Forces, military ID number 417-85-0212 EF. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
I zeroed in on him. “What do you want?”
“You on my team.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means, I can open a whole new world for you that nobody has to know about and in return, you can get what you really want and can’t say out loud.”
“And what’s that?”
With one word, he gave me the future I desperately yearned for.
“Revenge.”
“How?”
“You come work for me. I have contacts, intel, connections you could only dream of.”
“Work for what?”
He smiled. “As a contract killer.”
No good could come of this, but I didn’t care.
I was broken.
Battered.
Beat the fuck down.
He was right. All I wanted was vengeance on who killed Hope and her unborn child. I wouldn’t be able to rest until I found her shooter. I desperately needed to know why her…
Why me?
Who did I fuck over?
I made so many enemies during my career that I couldn’t fathom who would want me to pay for the ongoing sins I committed.
My life had turned into one big devastation.
The truth was, whoever was her sniper attacker, they didn’t want me dead.
No.
All they wanted was…
My wrath.
Thirty
Jace
There was always that one moment in life when you had a second of clarity. When all you could see was the truth hidden in plain sight. I’d tried to find Hope’s killer for the past ten years, only to come up empty.
Why now?
Why today?
Why Cove?
It wasn’t until William coaxed, “It’s ironic, don’t you think?”
“What’s that?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Bunny and sweet pea were both shot in the same place.”
BOOM.
My life turned into complete transparency, bracing myself for what was to come out this encounter. I tried to keep calm, but I could barely fucking stand.
I saw all his darkest secrets.
All the pain he inflicted.
My hand fisted at my sides. “How did you know Tony’s nickname for Hope, William?”
