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Drake Windsor hasn’t been unguarded or alone the entire evening, and I’m not sure we’re going to get our chance tonight. He’s constantly surrounded with friends and guards. How do we have weapons conveniently stashed in the target’s house, but can’t even get him alone to use them?
Brian leans in close to my ear. “Will you be okay if I leave you for a while? I want to take a look around, see if I can figure out a way to lure him away. Keep an eye on him for me.”
Brian has a syringe on him that he plans to inject Windsor with, so we can move him to the original planned kill location. He’s got clothes planted for us so I can wear my normal clothes and not have to maneuver in a dress, and so he can look like part of the help. There’s a large rolling cart with a sturdy bottom metal shelf and a floor-length white tablecloth over it to get the unconscious Windsor to our second location, but Brian has to get him alone and unconscious first.
I nod, even though I want to say no. But the last thing I want to do is make Brian feel like I can’t handle all this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me right now. I feeloff. It’s as though that switch inside me never flipped at all, and I’m still the same Mina I was when I first came to the house.
When he’s gone, I grab a glass of champagne and some tiny food off a passing tray and watch the room.
Nearly half an hour has passed, and I’ve lost sight of Windsor and worry he’s gone to follow Brian. I put the empty glass down, intent on following him, when I’m stopped.
“You’re with Brian Sloan, aren’t you?” a man with an indiscernible accent says.
“Who’s asking?” I continue to scan the ballroom, not sure if I’m looking for Windsor or Brian, but I can’t go after Brian now. What if this guy follows?
“Dante Valentino,” he says with a small insincere bow.
I stiffen and smile tightly at him. I wonder if he knows Brian agreed to kill him for Windsor. How would he?
I’m so tired of these games.
Dante moves in close to me and grips my arm too tightly. He leans in, his voice a low growl. “Time’s up. I want Windsor gone tonight, or I’m going to become very unreasonable.”
He allows his gaze to sweep over my body. Oh, this man is a dead man. If Brian doesn’t kill him, I surely will. Unfortunately I don’t have weapons on me. We’ve been in the ballroom this entire time, and the weapons are… not in the ballroom.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m only accompanying Mr. Sloan for the evening,” I say, playing into the escort rumor and trying to sound as stupid and vapid as possible.
I relax when I feel Brian behind me, his hands sliding around my waist.
“Brian,” Dante says, nodding. “Good to see you. I trust everything is in order.”
I’m sure Brian nods, and probably gives Dante a glare for good measure, but I don’t see him because I’m still looking at Dante. My breath comes in sharply, as Brian presses a kiss to the side of my throat, then he takes my hand to lead me away.
“You too have fun, tonight,” Dante says with a weird creepy laugh.
“Let’s kill him,” I say under my breath.
Brian only chuckles, as he leads me through the crowd. I admire the view of his broad back in the tuxedo, and suddenly I’m thinking about getting it off of him.
He guides me down several hallways, and I allow myself to be pulled inside one of the rooms.
“Where are we?” I ask. The room is dark except for the small strips of moonlight coming in.
Brian pushes me against the wall, his mouth on mine, and my nerves slowly slide away as his hands move down my body.
Chapter9
Brian
Fifteen minutes ago.
I haven’t beenable to get Windsor alone all evening. I had thought it would be easy to lure him away, but his security detail tonight is even more intense than it was on the night of the cocktail party. And he’s constantly got important people around him wanting to discuss important things. So he certainly has no time for the likes of me. It would look suspicious if he put these people off to talk to a complete stranger who doesn’t seem particularly important in comparison to themselves.
I grab a gun and one of the knives my target allowed me to hide throughout the house. I was careful to stash weapons without marks or prints, that hadn’t been used in any kill before, with no provenance or traceability. I get all my weapons on the dark web… mostly ghost guns, but some are standard with the serial numbers filed off. Every bullet was inserted with gloves on, so not even a fingerprint on a shell casing will be left behind. I have thought of everything, just in case there’s some sort of double cross waiting for me.
I would never blindly trust that I could just leave weapons at his house. I made sure there was no security footage rolling—or hidden cameras—while I planted them, and I’ve checked again tonight to make sure the state of things remains the same. Everything is clear and clean and ready. The only problem is, I can’t get the target alone. If I thought it would do any good, I’d try to get Mina to seduce him into my trap.
Dante is at this party. I don’t know why he’d accept an invitation from his target when they seem locked in this tug-of-war of who can kill who first. Nothing about any of this smells right, but it’s far too late to pull the plug. Plus I don’t want to. I feel genuine glee at the prospect of killing Drake Windsor tonight. And Halloween is the only holiday I like. The one night of the year that celebrates death and puts a glittering orange bow on it, so of course I have to celebrate with blood.
