Before I left the warehouse, Wil’s team cared for all the victims. She’d ensure they received medical care, food, and safe places to rest and heal until they could reunite with their families. I hated being involved in that part. Too many emotions rushed through my body, clouding my judgment, so I packed up my equipment and avoided everyone until the warehouse was clear. It reminded me too much of when Wil and I escaped our captors.
The women were safe now. That’s all that mattered.
I’d spent the rest of the day making sure Wil’s team was set up and the warehouse was returned to its usual decrepit state without anyone knowing what happened inside that place.No DNA. No blood. No evidence whatsoever from both sides. No one needed to know the truth of what happened there. The women were in control of who they told and what they said. I left it at that.
After I’d left, I’d sent a message to Obi, letting him know I’d made contact with the Vero princess, and then crashed at Wil’s place. She didn’t mind, but she did comment on how out of sorts I was. I couldn’t stop fidgeting. I rechecked all my weapons twice. I worked myself ragged at the Irish’s gym. I spent far too much time researching Leona and the Vero Family.
It was her fault. I itched for nightfall so I could see her again. I needed to see what she wanted the Shadows for, and then maybe I’d get her out of my head.
Eventually, the sun set, the world turned dark, and it was finally time.
Fallon and Colin had done a decent job setting them both up in a relatively safe place. I’d cased the neighborhood and searched for red flags, but nothing was suspicious or out of place.
When I knocked, Caspian opened the door and immediately gave me the evil eye until Leona ushered me inside. She’d gestured for me to sit on the recliner chair while she sat on the couch and tucked her feet underneath her. Caspian sat next to her, an arm over the back of the couch cushions, with his guns on full display. I almost rolled my eyes. If I wanted to kill him, I would have already.
Hemightput up a decent fight. I’d seen his file, too.
She still looked so beautiful it made my chest hurt. This time, her hair was up in a messy bun. Her face was fresh, and her giant brown eyes were bright as they took me in. What was she thinking behind them? Had I been stuck in her head the same as she’d been in mine?
She tucked a few stray curls behind her ears. My hand twitched with the urge to tangle my fingers in her hair. The urge for physical touch surprised me. I shied away from it most of the time, but she was different. Every muscle in my body screamed to get closer, to touch her. I clenched my fist to stop from reaching out to run my fingertips down her cheek.
Caspian stared at me with open hostility. His body crowded hers on the couch, brushing against her with every movement. Though she didn’t seem to mind, it appeared to me as entirely territorial.
“So, Wynn—” Leona cleared her throat, breaking up the staring match between me and Caspian. Her eyes looked between us, slightly annoyed, before they settled back on me. “Thanks for coming. I am not sure how much you know about me, but I want to hire you. Hire the Shadows.”
I had dived deeply into her files to learn everything I could about her circumstances. I knew what happened with her father and Maximiliano Volpe. The ripples of that coup had reached across the criminal underworld.Everyoneknew she was on the run. Volpe had put a nationwide hit out on her, and there had been at least one assassination attempt before she’d gone underground with the Irish.
Fallon wouldn’t protect her forever. She’d told me as much in her message. So, this meeting meant a lot to Leona. Did it mean as much to me?
“Hire us for what?” Did she want safety? A hit on Volpe? Information? Yes, we were known as assassins, but those weren’t the only contracts we took.
A dark shadow fell over her face. Caspian brushed the back of his hand against hers, a gesture that appeared like support, or warning.
“My father was murdered.” She paused to stare at her hands folded in her lap. A few moments passed as her eyes unfocused,and she blinked rapidly. Then, they snapped to mine with a sudden and deadly clarity. “I want revenge.”
So she wanted to put out a hit.
“On Volpe.”
Caspian’s hands fisted on his knees at the name, and he looked away as a muscle clenched in his jaw. They both wanted to kill him. It made sense.
“Yes.” She leaned slightly forward. “I want him dead at my feet. He killed my father, tried to kill me and Cas, and he took what’s mine. He deserves to pay.”
“You want us to kill him.” I would never say a contract would be easy without thoroughly looking into it, creating a plan, and understanding the potential pitfalls. But I was a Shadow, so how hard could it be? And it was clear to me now, after hearing her speak and through my reconnaissance, that Volpe was in the wrong. Whatever issues he held with Leona’s father became secondary the moment he tried to kill her, too. If I helped her with this, I’d be helping an innocent. A victim who deserved better. That’s precisely what my skillset was for.
“I want the Shadows to help me crush him to dust.” Her fingers absentmindedly played with a diamond pendant that hung from her neck. “Death would be too easy. I want to tear him apart, limb from limb. I want to burn him alive from the inside out. I want to do what he did to me, but tenfold. I want to rip his money and power from his fingers. I want to watch tears roll down his face as he begs for his life at my feet.”
Shit. Every word she spoke set a fire alight in me. The urge to touch her surged.
Before, I had assumed she was just a spoiled mafia princess. But with every word she spoke, the underlying pain that drove her desire for revenge became clear. I’d been there, and it’s what set me on this path of death and destruction from the beginning.She was so much like me, back when I had no idea how to forge forward unless I inflicted the pain I felt onto others.
I didn’t regret the revenge I’d gotten for myself and my sister, but I did recognize it stained me. It damaged me. Now, I spent my time trying to absolve myself of my sins by helping those who needed my skills. Here was the perfect opportunity to do just that. If I helped her, it would be one step closer to finally feeling the peace I’d been searching for since the first time I killed a man.
If I could help her, I could save her from the same anguish.
Maybe I could find out why she’d had such an effect on me after only just meeting. Perhaps I could grasp this fleeting, unknown feeling.
“I want to help you, Leona,” I said as I observed her every movement. Her slight intake of breath at my words. The movement to her chest. The flush in her cheeks. “How do you plan to pay for our services if we agree?”
