A Destiny of Carnage (A Violent Agenda)

“How is your heart,” I ask Dante casually, taking a sip of my drink from the table and glancing up at him.

He grins down at me, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. “How is the money I gave you? Did you get to put it to good use?”

A dark thrill of adrenaline surges through me. He knows about my plan to leave. Of course, he fucking does. Dante taught me everything—how to kill, how to disappear.

It’s why I can never find him, and he’ll always find me.

I dart a glance to Lorcan, who is watching us from the other side of the table, drinking his whiskey while sandwiched Sorrow and an empty seat. Sorrow has a rabbit in headlights look on her face, angled toward Lorcan, her deep blue orbs fixated on Dante. I guess he does have that effect on people. Saskia, next to Sorrow, has Lola trapped in deep discussion and hasn’t seen him come in. Quinn, further down, hasn’t noticed either, or she’s pretending not to. She’s doing the role I asked of her, flirting with Sal, hand on his arm, staring intently into his eyes. And next to me, Dino asks Lana about her next album tour.

Everyone is doing their job.

Except me.

And Jude. The fucker is missing, no doubt sulking, but I can’t do anything about that now. I need to fix this fuck up. Dante isn’t meant to be here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use him.

In Edrei’s place.

Unless Edrei sent him to deal with me instead?

I gaze back at my mentor, watching me like a cat studying the plumpest mouse. It’s a look that burns right through to my monster, waking it up from its slumber deep inside me. “Let’s go to the terrace.” I don’t wait for him to respond. I get out of my seat, amid the staff bringing out the next course, and walk toward the external doors.

Adrien’s eyes are on Dante and me the whole fucking time.

Outside, dusk has swept over the estate, softening the backdrop. I walk a bit toward the pavilion where hanging plants have taken over, out of view of the main dining room. I have no idea if Dante is following me until I smell his scent—chemicals, death, and smoke. His arm slides around my waist, dragging me back to him.

“You disappoint me. I taught you better than this,” he says softly in my ear. “You should never turn your back on your enemy.”

I lean into him, reaching up, looping my hand around the back of his neck as I turn my face up toward his. Our lips barely touch, and his breath…warm on my skin as I inhale deeply.

“So, you admit it. You are my enemy?” I grate at him.

“It depends,” he says as the fingers of his other hand circle around my neck.

“On what?”

“On you,” he muses. “Iskar thinks you’ve outlived your usefulness.”

“Fuck, Iskar.” I sneer. “The pussy hides behind a fucking corporate logo. I much prefer how you manage things. You get deep and personal with your agents.”

He stills, and then I hear him snort. “Clever girl. I wondered when you’d work it out.”

“You run the agency,” I say to him, reaffirming what I already suspected the day I tortured Polina. She had no idea Dante was the one running the show. Neither did I until Quinn brought me the data proving Savino had another son. One older and placed with someone who Savino wanted to control. “For Savino, your father,” I add.

Dante just chuckles. “Good for you,” he says, tightening his hand around my throat. He sounds amused.

I’m not.

“You had me jumping through hoops to get this information when you could have just told me,” I hiss.

“Now, why would I do that. It was much more fun to send you on Polina’s wild goose chase missions.”

“She didn’t know you were her boss?”

“She suspected.”

“And Adrien doesn’t know?”

“He thinks the agency defers to him. It doesn’t.”