Well, okay then…
He opens the door and leads me inside. We walk through a dark, narrow hallway that looks like it’s been abandoned for years before he comes to a stop in front of a door.
“This leads into the main building. Are you ready for this?”
I nod. “As I’ll ever be.”
He grins wickedly. “Good.”
He pulls another gun from his waistband and swings the door open, not even taking a breath before shooting the two guards on the other side. The gun he used doesn’t have a silencer on it, and chaos erupts immediately.
“I’ll hold them back for as long as I can,” Reed shouts. “You do what you need to do.”
I glance past him and see at least six men coming our way from the left, while there’s no one coming from the right.
This might be my only chance, and I’m taking it.
“Thank you,” I murmur, and he nods before focusing his attention back on the guards, and I run down the hallway away from them and towards the main part of the house.
I did it. I got in. Now, I just need to do what I came here to do.
I enter the main foyer and look around in distaste at the gaudy furniture and decorations lining the walls.
What is it about people with money thinking they should decorate like this?
At least Cole’s family doesn’t. I wouldn’t have lasted until Thanksgiving dinner if they did.
Cole.
Fuck, maybe I should have at least stuck around to say goodbye, but it’s well past the time for regrets right now. There’s no turning back.
I hear the noise of a TV, and I follow the sound to a sitting room where Josh, the youngest of the Richardson sons, is sitting on a chaise lounge, flicking through his phone. I sneak up behind him, not even bothering with an interaction, before pulling out my knife and standing behind him. I snake my arm around him and slice his neck before he even knows I’m here. I’m not here for pleasantries; I’m here to get the job done.
He coughs and splutters on his own blood, his body twitching as his lifeless eyes peer into mine. I’m just about to back out of the room to continue my search for the others when I feel something press into the small of my back, not too far from theCthat Cole carved into my skin.
I swear, if they shoot me there and ruin his hard work, I’m going to come back from the dead and chop them intopieces.
I slowly turn my head to find Roan, the eldest brother, glaring at me with a fire in his eyes so intense I’m surprised I don’t burst into flames.
“Hey there,” I say with a smirk. “Where’s the rest of your poisonous family?”
“I’m going to enjoy watching him rip you apart, little girl,” he says ominously, and I nod my head.
“Then let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
He grabs me by the back of my neck and leads me out of the room and through another door where his brother, Brice, waits, twirling a knife through his fingers.
He approaches us and takes my own knife from my hand, inspecting the blood on the blade before looking to his brother.
“It’s Josh’s blood, just in case you were wondering,” I say with a shrug, and he charges towards me. If this is the end for me, then at least I got to kill one of them. I’d have preferred them all to die, but one is better than none, I guess.
“Stop, Brice.” A new voice enters the room, and I glance to the side, only to see the man I’ve hated with everything in me for as long as I can remember. The man who has been at the top of my hitlist since I learned of his existence.
He stands there casually, his hands in the pockets of his slacks as though he doesn’t have a care in the world. The pressure in the small of my back moves, and my eyes flick to the side, only to see the gun now pointed at my head and Brice sliding in behind me, his knife working its way to my throat.
Poetic, that he’s doing to me exactly what I’ve just done to his little brother.
“You’re a brave girl, Alana,” Callum says as he stares atme, his dead eyes taking in every inch of my body. “And you’ve certainly grown up since I last saw you.”
