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My chest shook at the realization, and I finally met his black eyes. They were empty. Soulless.
He didn’t speak a word. He simply stared down at me.
With a small nod, he ordered me to follow his steps into the alley and my legs shook as I stood. I couldn’t help but look to the empty street before turning back to the dark eyes that awaited my next move. Snow flurries landed in his jet-black hair, his clean-cut beard not hiding his locked jaw.
I never thought I would die just months from turning twenty-three, let alone walk knowingly deeper into the alley where I’d just witnessed a man being murdered. Yet each step I took sealed my fate.
My feet faltered as my head slid back one last time toward freedom. But the man turned his body, towering over mine, watching. His eyes seemed to be always watching, calculating. There was no escape. I should’ve fought, not given in. But my fear beat my will. Fear is powerful to the human mind, and I was its victim.
We’d all heard the whispers of the Mafia, how they cast their wrath on those who didn’t look for it, following their prey like a shadow.
“Looks like you found a mouse.”
My eyes flew to the killer who stepped away from the shadows and into the dim light, unafraid of showing his face. His eyes connected with mine, but they lowered as he looked over me, light illuminating the left side of his face. A thick scar ran through his left brow and down to the corner of his eye, the angry mark managing to intimidate me further. He was my nightmare, and I was afraid I would never wake up again.
His steps circled me, taunting, while the man who’d found me moved away.
The crunching sound of snow stopped behind me before the feel of leather gloves wrapping around my jaw kept my head from straying from the tattooed man in front of me. The body was flush against my back and his grip tightened, leaving me no room to move. My limbs shivered at the touch of cold metal from a sharp knife digging into my collarbone with warning.
The man in front of me raised his palm, giving nothing more than his order.
“No loose ends,” was whispered in my ear from behind, almost as a reminder for himself; a mantra.
The tattooed man shook his head faintly, and my eyes lowered to the body slumped before me. Soon, I’ll be joining him too.
“What’s your name?” My eyes popped back to the deep voice in front of me. But my words were trapped and I couldn’t help but steer my gaze away, back to the body. The flash of the casing from the lone bullet that took his life mocked me from the ground.
The knife slid up from my collarbone to the side of my neck with a silent demand to answer.
My ability to speak vanished, and all I managed was a small whimper that caused his impatience to grow. He dug the knife deeper, cutting through my skin until it drew blood. The sting jolted me from his hold, a simple reaction of pain.
He moved fluidly in the dark like a shadow.
Before I got the chance to raise my hands to communicate my mistake, the knife pierced the nape of my neck, slicing down its path, burning along the way.
With each pulse, warm blood ran down my neck and into the merciless winter, and my knees wobbled until they hit the ground. Kneeling.
“Fuck.”
I looked up as my hands tried to apply pressure, though my body was already weakened at the fast speed of the most vital liquid of life slipping through my fingers.
They both looked down at me. Tattoo let a grim expression pass through his features as I blinked up at him. When my gaze met the man who would take my life, I noticed their resemblance.
Nightmare grimaced at my bloody hands as they gripped my neck. “I just reacted.” He shook his head toward me, but his words were directed to the man who screamed power over him.
“Get him.” Tattoo ordered with a nod to the dead body while he watched me bleed out in front of him.
“What about her?” Nightmare asked the same moment the rest of my body slumped to the ground. My eyes fluttered, and the bullet casing shimmered into my sight.
“After you are done with him, check her pulse then leave her. She’s not tied to us. She’ll just be another life taken by the streets.” He walked away, and I caught his quick look back to me before I was dismissed.
Nightmare took a deep breath and picked up the body next to me without a struggle.
I was left to the bitter winter as the snow fell rapidly from the sky and a pool of blood spread to the casing — my blood.
I inched my hand through the deep-red stained snow until I grasped the cool metal in my fingertips. The only energy I had left was used to tuck the empty shell inside the pocket of my coat.
The last object to hold my life’s attention.
