The hitman’s breath is uneven, his eyes fluttering open and closed. “His name is Razvan Marandici. He’s been organizing and running rings for the last forty years. He’s not the founder, though.”
Lily pulls her hunting knife from the sheath, stalking forward.
“Wait,” the man stammers. “You should know one more thing.”
“I’m listening.”
“The Taurus has an insider, passing details about you and your team. The Constrictor, they call him.”
Every muscle in Lily’s body tenses, a growl emanating from he
r lips. Sammi spins around, her eyes full of tears and a look of regret and terror on her face. Lily turns, stalking toward Sammi as Blake breaks into a run toward her.
I’m on his heels and a foot from Sammi, who cries, apologies spilling from her lips. He tackles Lily to the ground, knocking the knife out of her hands.
“Lily, no,” he yells as she pulls her knees up.
He swings his legs around, straddling her and pins her arms above her head. His face hovers over hers, just out of reach of being head-butted. She tries to thrash under him and his muscles bulge with the effort to keep her in place.
“Stop, Lily. Look at me, baby. Come back to me.”
Their gazes lock and I damn near pass out. No one has ever been able to control her like this. She’s raged for days in the past, damn near killing us, herself, and anyone else that got in her path.
“Listen to my voice, baby. This isn’t you. You’re not a monster. You’re my Lily. My love, my life, my everything. Come back to me.”
With every word, the malice and psychotic rage recede from her eyes. She sucks in a breath as if she’s been holding it this whole time. Tears pool in her eyes, clouding over the sapphire irises and she looks around frantically. Her gaze finds Sammi, the rage creeping in again.
“Look at me, not her. We can deal with her later. Right now, I need you, baby. You gotta come back.”
My heart is going to explode out of my chest. After a few minutes, Lily exhales, slowly. “Blake?”
“Yes, Lily?”
“Sit me up, please. Don’t move off my legs and don’t let go of my hands yet.”
Relief floods through my veins as Vlad helps them readjust so Lily is sitting. The worst is over. Once she’s lucid again, we’re in the clear. Now comes the fun part. Regret, pain, anguish . . . and dealing with Sammi.
“Dresden,” Vlad calls as he throws a rope in my direction.
Something is shining in his eyes, but I can’t place it. He nods toward Sammi and without any preamble, I go to her. She willingly holds her hands out and lets me bind them. It hasn’t hit me yet that Sammi’s working for the Taurus. It’d taken a year before I accepted Hayato betraying us.
“Take her in the house and tie her to a chair until I can talk without killing her,” Lily says keeping her eyes on Blake’s face.
Rhett and Vlad take her away. Once she’s in the house, Blake lets Lily up. She studies her hands, the blood still sticky covering them. Glancing over her shoulder, she blanches taking in her handy work. She didn’t mean to lose control, but it doesn’t change the aftermath.
“You need to finish him off, Lily. You can’t let him bleed to death and suffer,” I whisper.
She begins to shake so hard it’s as if she’s having a seizure. Blake leans down and grabs the hunting knife off the ground.
“No. She’s not killing any more people right now.” He takes determined steps to the hitman and before I can protest, shoves the hunting knife into the top of the man’s skull, twists and pulls it back out. Swiftly, he throws the knife at Lily’s feet, grabs her hand and drags her toward the house.
Following them, I finally see the message she left on his chest.
You’re next.
— The Viper
21