Hitman (Savage Crows MC (Texas Charter) #14)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Julian

F or someone involved in a sex trafficking ring and knowing his fellow comrades had been taken out, which included law enforcement on the local and federal level, senators, members of congress, and even billionaires, Stewart Dukes sure was comfortable keeping to a daily routine and never changing it up.

He arrived at work at promptly seven every morning, and then, his assistant would bring him coffee and three blueberry muffins. He’d do computer work for two hours after having his breakfast and coffee, then have a meeting. At lunchtime, he had a glass of expensive brandy, a soda, and fried chicken with macaroni and cheese. Then, he held another meeting. After that meeting, he did more computer work for about three hours. After that, he usually went over his schedule with his assistant for the next day. At promptly four in the afternoon, he booted his computer down and left the office, heading to the country club to rub elbows with other trash-ass mother fuckers just like him.

After rubbing elbows with other rich assholes for three hours, he went home where his cook had his dinner ready for him. He sat down to eat, then spent an hour in his office answering more emails. Once those emails were answered, he showered and went to bed so he could wake up the next day and start his boring as fuck routine all over again.

The only day his routine had been different was when a gorgeous as fuck woman with long as fuck legs and curves for days had marched her perfect ass into his office a few days ago. I didn’t know what they’d discussed, but he’d given her some folder with information in it. And she’d been important enough that he’d cut his meeting short.

I hadn’t cared enough about her to dig into who she was. No matter how hard she got my dick, her connection to him made her off-limits to me.

It was easy to see how Stewart had slipped under the radar for so long. No one would ever suspect someone like him who kept to such a strict schedule and never hid. He never had any shady meetings, and he never looked even the slightest bit panicked about anything. In fact, the only time I’d seen the man even somewhat frustrated was when that woman had marched into his office, interrupting his meeting with the influential businessman he’d been talking to.

But he was no longer slipping under the radar. He’d been found out, and his time was up.

I climbed down from the tree I’d been chilling in for the past three hours. My boots were silent as I made my way toward the dark house. I was halfway across the expansive lawn when I heard a twig snap behind me. I paused because I’d been sure I’d been alone for the past few hours, then turned toward the noise.

“What a surprise,” I murmured, running my eyes over the woman who’d interrupted Stewart’s meeting earlier that week. She was holding a knife in her hand, and her gaze was hard and unforgiving as she stared back at me. The moonlight cast a beautiful glow over her, and had I been in any other situation, I would’ve definitely tried to get her back to my place.

But I knew a hitwoman when I saw one. Everything about her screamed pro. Which was just my fucking luck.

“I don’t know what business you have with him, but you won’t be finishing it,” she told me, her voice frigid.

I smirked. “That so, doll?” I asked. I slid my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket and looked her up and down, taking my time as I drank in every bit of her, committing her beautiful body to memory.

“You think someone as rich as him doesn’t know when he has a hitman coming after him?” she snapped, moving closer to me. I kept my posture relaxed, letting her think she had the upper hand. I wasn’t afraid of her. To her, she’d think my cockiness would be my downfall. But in reality, I was tracking her like a predator, cataloguing every single move she made. I already knew when she thought I least expected it, she’d strike.

But I’d be ready. I wouldn’t kill her. She wasn’t on my targeted list, which made getting rid of her off limits. Taking out a target without the backing of the club would only mean my own end. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t do what I needed to make sure she stayed silent while she still breathed though.

“Usually, people aren’t worried about being eliminated if they weren’t doing something worthy of being murdered in the first place,” I drawled.

Annoyance flashed in her eyes. She was so close now, I could smell the sweet scent of her expensive perfume. The moonlight was reflecting in her pretty, gray eyes, and the blonde streaks in her black hair almost seemed to glow.

Pity she was so fucking beautiful. Knowing she was off-limits would’ve been easier to bear if she hadn’t been so damn gorgeous.

“Don’t make assumptions,” she sneered at me.

I laughed, letting my eyes close. And just as I predicted, that was when she striked. Because surely, I wouldn’t expect it when I couldn’t see her? Anyone else, that probably would have been true. But I’d been highly trained by the government. When one sense was gone, I knew how to focus using my other senses. So, when she lifted that knife, ready to swing at my throat, I snapped my hand up, wrapping my fingers around her slender wrist just when the knife was a mere inch from my jugular.

Slowly opening my eyes, I let a cocky smile tilt my lips. “Rookie mistake, doll.”

Using her arm, I spun her around so her back was facing me. In her surprise, she dropped the knife. Wrapping my free arm around her neck in a chokehold, I yanked her back against me. Lowering my lips to her ear, I pressed a kiss to the pierced cartilage, humming low in my throat. “Sleep tight.”

She fought me for a good thirty seconds, calling me every name under the sun, and then, she slumped. Sighing, I turned her to face me, then tossed her over my shoulder, carrying her toward the house.

I’d find something in the house to tie her up with, then I’d take care of the low-life piece of shit upstairs. After that, I’d take her back to the clubhouse, deal with the fallout from Grim and Alex, and figure out what the fuck to do with her.