AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ilet out a low whistle when Brian steps out of the bathroom, Friday night. My brain is barely able to comprehend what I’m seeing. Brian, in a suit.
Brian. In a suit.
“Mina? Are you okay?”
I shake my head. “I am not okay. You’re wearing a suit. You look so… suave.”
He smirks.
“Like James Bond,” I add helpfully.
“You could have stopped at suave.”
Fair enough.
“Where are you going?” I don’t know if I want to let him out of the house looking like this. I mean I know his energy doesn’t exactly invite a lot of women to cozy up to him, but still.
“Where arewegoing,” he corrects.
“Where arewegoing?” I ask, playing along, but on the inside, I’m excited. And more importantly, what am I wearing?
He answers both my spoken and unspoken question by laying a black garment bag across the bed and handing me a thick cream-colored invitation on Crane stationery.
“I scored this invite to the Windsor Estate tonight.”
I goggle at the envelope in my hand. “I thought you said the job wasn’t until Halloween. That’s still almost six weeks away. We’re not ready.”
“It is on Halloween. This is just a cocktail party. Just a little reconnaissance.”
I unzip the garment bag to find a black floor length evening gown. He glances down at the Longines watch he liberated from the Stryker building back in July. Though it isn’t cheap, it’s certainly nothing close to a high-end luxury watch, and Brian doesn’t generally care much about that anyway. I’m sure he’s only wearing it because it’s a trophy from our last kills.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” he says, “Party starts in an hour.”
Thanks for the notice, Brian.
I pull the invitation from the envelope and scan it. “So how did you get invited to this again?”
“The same way I’m on the guest list for the Halloween Masquerade Ball.”
I’m actually not completely sure how that happened, either.
Off my expression, he says, “I know Drake Windsor.”
I stare at Brian, waiting for a punch line that never arrives. Heknowsthe target?
“If you know him already, why do you need the murder wall?” I wave an arm dramatically at the wall in question.
“Distance. It’s more dangerous to take a job where you know the target. Too easy to get sloppy and leave a trail. But there are five other contract killers who’ve been invited to tonight’s party, so when it does happen, suspicions will be spread out.”
“How do you know him?” I ask, skimming right past the fact that this Windsor guy seems to be cozy with at least six contract killers.
Brian arches a brow and points at the dress I’m still half staring at. I begin to strip out of my Queen of the Damned uniform and get into the evening gown.
“Happy?” I ask, once dressed.
His gaze sweeps over my body in that predatory way that still sends a shiver down my spine.
“Very.” He rotates his finger in the air. “Turn.”
