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“Trace the money. That will work. Fiona wasn’t a mastermind,” Angus butts in, his head bobbing up and down.
“So let’s follow the money and put an end to this,” I finish.
***
The Next Day…
It’s been twenty-four hours since we discovered that the employee was murdered for his keycard, and we are no closer to finding the hitman. I’m losing my cool. As I sit in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, I try to figure out what to do next. I don’t know how to explain it, but I need to make sure Ava is safe. The image of her lying on the hotel floor, bleeding to death, keeps replaying in my head. I’m overwhelmed by inexplicable rage. It’s the same rage I felt the night Viktor almost died because of Fiona. She brought chaos the moment she entered our lives.
Fiona was nothing but trouble from the very beginning. The minute I introduced Viktor to Fiona, she was all over him. At the time, I didn’t care since Fiona wasn’t my type, but now all I feel is guilt. Everything Viktor has faced is because of me. I still remember the way Fiona acted when she met Viktor. I should have known better. I’ve always been good at reading people’s intentions, but my reading of her was way off.
I feel so stupid. She had an agenda from the moment we met. It was never about me. Viktor was her target, and I was just the pawn.
I shake the memory and focus again on the pages on my kitchen counter. Fiona withdrew twenty thousand dollars from her personal bank account the day before the shooting. She hired the hitman.
Contrary to what people believe, there aren’t many hitmen who charge as high as twenty thousand dollars and are good at hiding their tracks. Well, unless they are part of the Manarch Clan. This narrows the list to three men currently living in the city. One of the hitmen was out of town the day of the shooting, and another is too old to be up on scaffolding, which leaves the one last man, Gabe. He’s new in town and stupid.
No one in their right mind would have taken the contract to kill Ava.
After a minute, I put my coffee cup down and make my way to my safe, where I remove my gun and silencer. I grab my keys and the piece of paper with Gabe’s address from the kitchen counter, then head outside. I was surprised by how easily I got the address once I knew his name. Gabe isn’t as careful at hiding his tracks as he thought.
As I stroll to my car, I think about calling Angus but opt not to. I’ve got this. The Manarch blood courses through my veins. Gabe fucked with the wrong family. He will pay for his crime the Manarch way. I have to kill him. Besides, Angus might take too long, and I don’t want to give Gabe a chance to skip town.
I slip into my car, thinking about how I want things to go down. I’m not familiar with the area he lives in, but it doesn’t matter. I plan to find out if he’s there and put a bullet between his eyebrows.
Fifteen minutes later, I pull up out front of the address. Mercifully, the street is quiet. I screw the silencer onto my gun once I park. A few seconds later, I get out of the car and head into the building. By the looks of it, there aren’t many apartments. Gabe’s apartment is on the first floor toward the back. Smart if you have to make a run for it. But that won’t save him today. There will be no running.
When I stand near his front door, I hear the television playing. I don’t bother knocking. Instead, I kick the door open. No point waiting for him to open the door. I know he’s in the apartment. I can feel it.
“Who the fuck are you?” He greets like he was waiting for someone.Did he see me coming?
I point my gun at him as I speak, “Doesn’t matter. You tried to kill the wrong person.”
Gabe sits on the couch facing me, his expression confused. “Again, who the fuck are you?”
“You were hired by Fiona to kill my sister-in-law, Ava.”
He barks out a brittle cough. “I don’t know a Fiona.”
“Interesting, considering she paid you twenty thousand dollars to murder Ava a week ago.”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he stares at me. There’s a flash in his eyes that reveals why Viktor doesn’t approve of me being on the street and doing things like this. Gabe pulls out a gun from between the cushions. The instant I see it, I shoot, but I’m a second too late. Gabe shoots too.
I fire two more rounds, killing him. After a second, I glance down at my lower right side. Blood is spreading across my shirt. Quickly, I feel weak. I need to leave before someone realizes our gunfire wasn’t a car backfiring.
It takes all my strength to get to my car, but I manage—just. I hold the side of my stomach to slow the bleeding, but it’s getting more difficult to stay conscious by the second. I’m sweating cold and running out of time.
Barely coherent, I take out my cell and dial the most recent number.
“Where the fuck are you? I’ve been calling,” Viktor snaps out two rings later.
“I’m sorry, Viktor. I need you, brother.” My voice is nothing more than a pained whisper.
“Oliver?” Dead cold fear overtakes his voice when he screams my name again. “Oliver!”
“I need…” Is the last thing I manage to say before everything goes dark.
ChapterEight
