El Diablo (Killer of Kings 6)

“Oh, he loves giving. Give here, give there. Whales, seals, manatees. I can’t keep up with him.” Oh shit. She hated these specific questions where she had no answers planned. It was one thing to act like herself, but another to lie on the spot. Quick wit didn’t come easy when her nerves were frayed thin.

“You’re a good woman caught up in something you can’t begin to imagine.” He tossed his handkerchief on the bar and backed her up against the porthole. Her entire body tensed. She wanted to tell him to fuck off, but wasn’t sure how far Xavier expected her to take this ruse.

He placed a hand on her hip, and all those years of being at the mercy of drunks and perverts when working at bars came rushing back—the helplessness, the shame, and anger. “No, I can’t do this.” She shoved him away, cursing herself for not keeping to the mission. “I love Xavier.”

“Wrong answer,” he said. His hand was around her neck the next second, squeezing hard enough to steal her breath. She clawed at his arm with both hands, gasping for air. His eyes were flat, and all traces of the gentleman he’d tried to portray had vanished. “Do you really think you’re my type? Did you believe the bullshit lines I fed you?” He chuckled. “Alesha Marie Sanders. It didn’t take long for my men to get a full work up on you. Too easy really. Xavier is getting sloppy.”

He knew who they were. It was all a trap. Did they have Xavier?

She felt herself drifting away, and she was helpless to fight it. Her vision blurred, the room growing darker. Was she going to die? Would he throw her overboard? Feed her to the sharks? A great shadow appeared behind Dixon, like a demon about to consume him, and an arm came around his neck. The hand around her throat dropped away, and she coughed, air rushing back into her lungs, the room coming alive with color and light.

“Trying to kill my fiancée?” Xavier had Dixon at his mercy. “You’re a terrible host. I think we’ll have to cancel the rest of our lunch date.”

Dixon held onto Xavier’s thick bicep, attempting to speak. “We’re on my yacht, in the middle of the ocean. Do you realize how many men I have upstairs? They’re all aware you work for Killer of Kings.”

Killer of Kings? So, Xavier did work for a group of assassins. Everything he’d said when drunk was probably the truth. Alesha was still frozen in place, her hand on her neck.

“What men?” Xavier winked at her, and her heart did a little flutter even under the circumstances. “You’re the only one left, Dixon. Did you think my boss would send someone that unprofessional?”

“You used a civilian. I had her ID’d within an hour last night.”

“Actually, she’s where you went wrong. You should have kept your hands to yourself. I don’t like sharing.” Then a sickly crack made her stomach roil, and Dixon’s lifeless figure fell to the ground in a heap, his head at an unnatural angle. She stared down at the body.

“You broke his neck. Is he dead?”

“I certainly hope so.” Xavier stepped over the body as if he’d done this a thousand times. He probably had.

He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his messages as if she hadn’t almost died and her entire world wasn’t upside down. “Hello?” she said, trying to get his attention.

Xavier didn’t look up at her. “There was a woman. What happened?”

“I don’t know. She was protecting me, I think.” Alesha didn’t want them to run into that gorgeous woman. She would be too much of a distraction, and Alesha’s confidence was already taking a hit today. “I can’t believe you’re more worried about her. I could have died, Xavier. Do you realize that? Do you even care at all?”

This time he looked at her, returning his phone to his pocket. He stepped closer, cupped her face with both hands and held eye contact. “I just killed fourteen men, and no one at this luncheon is the wiser. I have you bugged, and heard your conversation with my mark the entire time. I wouldn’t have left you alone with him otherwise. As soon as you were in real danger, I was here.”

“This is crazy. I thought this was recon?” Her voice trailed off. She wasn’t able to process what was happening. Her world consisted of normal people things like grocery shopping, cooking, and worrying about bills. All this death, the chaos was something out of a movie.

“That was yesterday,” he said. Xavier’s ran his thumb across her cheek, a slow, sensual drag. “I did hear a lot in my earpiece that I wasn’t expecting. You love me?” He raised an eyebrow.

“I was playing the part. You told me to act.”

“No, I told you to be yourself.”

“Well, the real me would have kicked him in the nuts for touching me without asking. I was behaving so I didn’t ruin your mission.”

“Next time follow your instincts. No one’s allowed to touch you but me.” Xavier tilted her head back, examining her neck. He cursed, lightly touching the sore spots. She’d definitely have bruises tomorrow. “I should have come faster.”

“What happens now, Xavier? We’re on the ocean. There are dead bodies everywhere. Oh my God.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “They’ll put you in jail.”

“You’re too cute.” He kissed her on the forehead, no signs of concern on his face. His presence and confidence made her feel safe. “There’s nothing to worry about. A walk in the park.”

“Everything went so wrong. He said he knew who I was. The real me, not your fake fiancée.”

“It went exactly as planned, Alesha. I did what my boss asked, and now it’s time to go home.”

“Just like that?”

He took her hand, leading her to the stairs to the main deck of the yacht. “Do what I do every night. Turn it off. It’s a job, nothing more.”