She was a floating fortress. An ark.
And it was time to return to her.
But your promise…to make love to Pim.
My hands curled even as my pulse remained steady in the face of the upcoming battle. Pim needed one more night of affection. Shit, I needed one more night of affection.
I wanted her too much to be chased into hiding by these cocksuckers.
One more night.
In that case, I needed something to ensure I behaved.
Ignoring the oozing spray-paint dripping onto the bed and pillows below, I picked up the kicked-over bedside table and pulled free the bamboo box from its interior.
Pim had wrung a promise from me that I didn’t know if I could deliver. Tonight would either be in my realm of capabilities, or it would send me into a dark, dark place I would struggle to climb out of.
Either way, I wouldn’t return to that hotel without being prepared.
Weed wouldn’t help me tonight.
My other crutches would fail.
I had to come up with another plan. One that might, just might, circumnavigate my useless brain. A plan that could technically help Pim as it did me. It would force her to take accountability for what she was asking me to do.
Stroking the bamboo lid, I didn’t need to open it to remember what was inside.
Gifts from the men who’d torn apart my house.
Tools of my trade as a fighter for their cause.
Making sure I had the key to the box in my pocket, I called the service I used to maintain this mausoleum and requested an urgent tidy up.
I didn’t know why the Chinmoku hadn’t hung around to finish the job when I entered. I didn’t know where they’d gone. But I’d been ready for them for years. It was me they should fear, not the other way around.
Storming outside, I slid into the car, and ordered Selix to drive me to the warehouse.
There, I’d found he’d had my cello delivered, and all thoughts of working were dismissed.
And now that I’d had my musical fix, I was ready to find Pim.
Ready to hunt her, watch her, and somehow find the strength to love her.
* * * * *
I’d followed her for the past ten minutes.
She hadn’t seen me thanks to my habits as a thief and my training as a killing ghost.
Normally, my heart rate didn’t spike when stalking my prey. I remained focused and sharp, locked on one mission and one mission only.
But Pim?
Fuck me, this girl made my entire body disobey me. My palms sweated as she weaved between travellers and locals. My heart raced as she bumped into strange men and battled with her training to drop her eyes ready for a fist, to tentatively smiling and believing she was safe from harm.
The two guards I’d demanded follow her did a good job; shadowing her but not suffocating her, they diligently watched foot traffic and made appropriate calls on what and who were a threat.
I scanned the crowds for any sign of the Chinmoku, but all seemed normal. If they were here, I’d sense them before seeing them. For now, the hairs on the back of my neck remained unchanged. Knowing them, they’d retreat to plan an attack now they knew where I lived.
Unfortunately for them, they thought I resided in the house upon the hill and not in a garrison on the open waters.
Apart from my mess catching up with me, Monte Carlo was too drunk on its own superiority to be a danger to most. The worst crime in this city was a high-powered poker game with a million dollar buy-in followed by the tears of those who lost. Petty criminals weren’t here. They were outcast by the masterminds who operated in full view under the guise of well-known businesses.
In fact, the only person who was a threat to this city was Pim.
She was a thief in their midst, and no one paid any attention.
My lips pulled into a crooked smile, pride filling me as Pim slowly switched from meandering daydreamer to focusing on the task I’d given her. I’d expected her to complete the thievery sooner, but either she hadn’t found a perfect mark, or she’d taken this long to work up the courage—either way, I was lucky enough to have first row tickets to her infraction.
Eyeing up handbags of women brushing past in barely covering material and dripping with jewels, she grew distracted by wallets in men’s back pockets as they followed in the wake of their wives and mistresses.
Giving up on looting a moving individual, she searched stalls selling fresh fruit and others toting cheap beaded jewellery.
Each one, she discounted as a target.
I’d given her an impossible task. I’d commanded she do something she wasn’t comfortable with and accept the guilt and shame that would undoubtedly accompany it.
I pushed forward a little, intending to save her from having to do such a thing, but she suddenly veered direction, stepping off the curb and heading toward the beach where late afternoon sunbathers left their belongings to dip into the turquoise bay.