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“Once we get inside, I’ll find Alex,” Taylor said.
“What happens when you find him?” Ruger asked.
She looked him right in the eye. “I’m going to kill him.”
And I could see by the expression on his face, he believed her.
We split up, and while my brothers disappeared, Taylor and I stealthily made our way through a patch of trees toward the back of the lake house. Just as we were about to make a break for the small alleyway leading up to a side entrance, a man stepped out onto the back deck.
Gimmel Martel.
I saw him but Taylor didn’t, and I had to pull her back to stop her from breaking our cover. As I grabbed her, we both fell back into the cover of the dense tree line, and collapsed onto the damp soil. For a brief moment I was engulfed in the sweet scent of her, and I couldn’t help but breathe her in and lose myself in the perfume that was uniquely her. Brimming with agony, my heart ruptured, and I had to swallow back my pain. She looked up at me, her eyes wide, her lips parted.
I wanted to kiss her. Hold her. Bury my face into the infinite warmth of her smooth throat and clasp her to me so I could feel the gentle beat of her heart.
I wanted to beg her to tell me it wasn’t a lie.
But I didn’t. Instead, I let her go and shifted my focus to the task at hand.
Because our plan had just changed.
Gimmel Martel was here, only yards away.
And once I got inside the lake house, while Taylor located Alex, I was going to put a bullet in Gimmel.
TAYLOR
Even by Alex’s opulent standards, the lake house was over the top. It was a massive brick and wrought-iron monstrosity rising out of the water.
It was impressive.
But it was impractical. It didn’t offer him the security he needed, and it was almost too easy to slip inside undetected.
Once inside, Bull let me know he was going to look for Noah, and signaled for me to find Alex.
I found him in the kitchen. He was standing at the massive granite island, chopping tomatoes and onions, the aroma of garlic and Napolitana sauce heavy in the air.
When he looked up and saw me aiming my gun at him, he smirked. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Little Assassin of the South.”
I gripped my gun tighter, hating his taunt.
“Where is Noah?” My voice bit into the cool air of the gleaming white kitchen.
“No need to fret. He’s safe.”
“He’d better be.”
He put his knife down and made a point of taking his time wiping his hands on a dishtowel. “I’m guessing this means you’re not coming back to work for me?”
“You guessed right.”
“What a shame,” he said.
My eyes shifted to the gun sitting on the countertop.
“Don’t even think about reaching for that firearm.”
His eyes gleamed. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. I know what a good marksman you are.”
I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I wasn’t his kill girl anymore.
“Where is Noah?” I asked again.
“He’s around here somewhere.”
“And Martel? I’m sure he’s lurking about.”
Alex wasn’t about to give up too much information. He waved off the question. “Perhaps.”
“You might want to go get him.”
He said nothing. Instead, for a moment he was completely still, his black eyes reaching me from across the room. “Why are you doing this, Taylor?”
“Because I am trying to stop a war,” I said. “If you do this, Alex, you’ll be setting things in motion that you can’t possibly stop. You don’t want war with the Kings of Mayhem.”
Alex raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I don’t?”
“No, because it’s a war you can’t possibly win. And what for? Because Gimmel got his panties in a twist over Bull’s refusal to let him run drugs out of Destiny. It’s not even your fight!”
I knew Alex was doing this out of loyalty to his long-time business partner. But it was a loyalty that could destroy him and his business empire if he didn’t see the dangerous waters he was treading.
“Gimmel is like a brother to me!”
“Gimmel is poison!” I snapped. “He lied about Bull. He’s not a monster. He’s nothing like he said he is. He is a decent man.”
He scoffed. “You sound like a teenage girl with a crush.”
Heat flared in my cheeks. And in that moment Alex knew I was in love with Bull, and he started to laugh.
“Well, well, well,” he chuckled. “The hitman has fallen in love with the hit.”
He laughed again, and I had an urge to plant a bullet in his smug mouth sooner rather than later.
But then he stopped laughing, and a menacing darkness swept over his face.
“Does he know who you are?” he asked darkly. “Does he know about the men you lured to their deaths with the promise of pussy, only to put a bullet in their brains before they even got a taste?”
