“You have one job to do and that’s to do exactly what I say.”
“Fuck you, Boss. I did what you wanted.”
“No. You left mess following in your wake. For someone who’s supposed to know what they’re doing, you’re sloppy. You’re not professional. You’re nothing like fucking Viper was.”
“Then hire him back. Remember, you came to me. You wanted me, not the other way around. I do my work, and I get the job done.”
“Then kill her!” Boss yelled. “Kill her. Prove to me right now that you can follow orders. Grab her damn neck and put a bullet inside her. She’s a problem, Bain. Do what you know you can do. What’s easy for you to do.”
Bain’s hand tightened around hers. It wasn’t painful yet, but it was getting close. “I kill the people you need me to, but I’m not going to do this.”
Why did Bain sound so calm?
Boss exhaled, an exasperated sound. “You know, I had my doubts about you, and every step of the way you’re proving I was right to doubt myself.” He snapped his fingers, and the men with him held their guns up.
She gasped as Bain let her go and held his own gun steady. He didn’t train it on anyone else but Boss. “You really want to do this?” Bain asked.
“I clean up my mess.”
“There’s no problem here,” Bain said. “But I’ll put a bullet in your fucking skull if you don’t back up, and I mean that.”
“You don’t have the fucking—” Boss didn’t get to finish as Bain shot him in the shoulder. Boss groaned and cursed. His jaw clenched as he pressed a hand to his shoulder. The three men with him didn’t do anything. They continued to hold their guns on them, nothing happening.
Bain had just shot their boss, so why weren’t they shooting? She expected a replay of the gunfight at Semenov’s. Her heart raced, and her entire body trembled. Bain had moved her so that she was shielded by his body. She held onto his waist, hoping that she gave him strength even as hers was fading fast.
“You shot me?”
“You were going to tell me I didn’t have the fucking balls. I do, Boss. I don’t give a fuck if you live or die. All of my life I’ve never had anything to myself. I’ve given you everything. I’ve given everyone who ever wanted anything, everything. There’s nothing left to give. You’re not having her. I’m not giving her up. Not for you. Not for Killer of Kings. For no one.”
The emotion in his voice shocked her. He was on the brink. Couldn’t anyone else sense that? They all stood facing off against one another, and Bain was fighting for her. No one had ever fought for her. No one cared enough about her. She was always a means to an end. Something to be disposed of or replaced.
The tension was thick. Silence fell in the house, and she was sure that she could hear a pin drop. Time seemed to stand still they waited for one of them to make the first move.
There was the sound of another car door closing, and Boss was the first one to mutter. “Is this fucker popular?”
One of the men left and looked through the curtains. “Viper is here.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Boss said, moving toward the door. “Is this a family fucking reunion?”
The door opened, and another deadly looking guy entered the house, a gnarly scar down one half of his face. “I see I’ve come in time.”
“Viper, what the fuck are you doing here?” Bain asked.
“I may be out of the business, but a contracted killer never really steps away. I’ve got a woman to protect, and a family business to keep thriving.” Viper frowned and pointed to Michael. “You know this guy?”
“No. I don’t know him, but he hurt my woman, and so he couldn’t live another day. He hurt her, and I think he did a whole lot of other shit I don’t even know about.”
“So he was a piece of scum,” Viper said. He pushed his hands into his pockets.
All of this was surreal to her as she was in Michael’s home with a bunch of killers, hitmen. Deadly weapons for hire for a really high price.
Crap.
The man she hated more t
han anything was now dead, and people had seen her enter the neighborhood. Would they think she killed him? Wow, she was starting to feel really sick right now, and everything that was happening around her scared her.
Breathe, Scarlett, breathe.