When I was five feet away from him, he finally looked up just as I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. I never gave my targets time to speak, to plead for their lives. It was an act of mercy on my part. I could do far worse if commissioned to do so. But I knew their sins before I accepted every contract.
It was an easy job, one of many I had taken since I returned to Italy. I had no time for thoughts that weighed me down. There was never any shortage of work. Never any lack of men who were too much of a coward to dispose of their own enemy. My vengeance for my brother’s undignified death had led me down this path. Matteo was murdered before my eyes by an evil man full of greed, much like the man I’d just left a corpse in the street. And he too had been tracked down and suffered the same fate as my brother.
I touched the untouchable.
The piece of shit that lay bleeding behind me had fled and believed himself safe. That morning he woke up with a clear conscience and deemed himself free of the consequences of his actions. But shadows always lurked in the most secretive places. And I was good at searching the earth for those places.
My reputation preceded me, though no one had ever seen my face unless I escorted them to their death. And the dead could keep a secret.
I was fine with the progression. I was always hungry, waiting to conquer the next untouchable.
Until I saw her, touched her, felt the warmth of her light, the deliverance of her eyes in the way she looked at me.
In the States, I had attempted to live a life with a woman who moved me toward something better, something more than the life of a man without a conscience. More than the shadow of the man he once was, who became what he despised most.
But she extinguished that light.
And now I dwelled in darkness.
“Taylor.” Cedric strode through my condo with authority past the officers who were leaving. “What the fuck happened?”
I nodded toward Joseph, who slept on my chest, and walked into Amber’s bedroom and laid him in his crib.
When I closed the door behind me, I walked Cedric out to the patio. “They shot Amber.”
“What!?”
“They shot Amber. I need you to take the baby. I have to end this.”
I moved toward my bedroom, leaving Cedric temporarily stunned on the porch, and paused at my bedroom door when I saw my sister’s blood. Cedric was behind me an instant later.
“Taylor—” he gripped my wrist gently “—talk to me, start from the beginning.”
My thoughts raced as I looked back at him. “They must have thought it was me.”
“They who?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out.” I unpacked the bag I was working on before I got into the shower and began cramming in street clothes. “Do you know the temperature in Barga in August?”
“Barga?” Cedric looked at me incredulously. “Fucking Italy? You think he did this?”
I shoved another T-shirt in my bag. “I have to get away from them.” I pointed in the direction of Amber’s room. “I have to. Move her out of here, Cedric, until you know she’s safe.” My heart cracked. “If she survives, keep her with you. Okay? Just get the baby and go.”
“Wait a fucking minute.” Cedric gripped my arm and spun me to face him. “You aren’t going after him.”
“That bullet was meant for me.”
His eyes penetrated mine. “Fine, so it was meant for you. We’ll up security.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No locked boxes. I didn’t come this fucking far to look over my shoulder. And you met him, Cedric. Do you really think that would work?”
Cedric took a step back and crossed his arms. “So, what? You’re going on a suicide mission?”
“If I’m there, they aren’t looking for me here. I’ll make some noise. It will keep her safe.”
“Do you hear what you are saying? No fucking way.” Cedric pushed my bag off the bed.
I picked it up and faced him head on. “I did this. I brought him into our lives. I did this, and I don’t give a fuck what happens to me.”