FIFTEEN
“T his is quite the sight.”
My statement is easily ignored by Ray and Niko, and my father merely rolls his eyes. The three men are sitting around the table, playing poker. The amount of smoke from their cigarettes makes me gag, and I wonder how the fuck the smoke alarm hasn’t gone off by now.
We’re in one of our restaurants. It’s past work time and aside from the four of us, no one is inside. When I received the urgent call from my father, I thought it was a life-or-death situation.
I never would have imagined that my father would be playing poker with our enemies with a small grin on his face. They’re chatting away, though it’s mainly small talk.
“Either sit down or get out of my sight,” Ray says.
“Speak to my child like that again, and I’ll blow your brains out.”
“Is your child incapable of speaking for himself?”
An intense staring contest ensues.
“Instead of bickering, how about you tell me why we have gathered here?”
Ray lowers his cards and turns to look at me. I make my way over to their table and take a seat, pouring a glass of alcohol for myself. Why in the world are they drinking plain tequila when the restaurant is packed with better drinking choices?
“I hear my precious daughter now has two scars because of you.”
“Don’t play with fire unless you want to be burned. By the looks of it, your daughter just adores fire.”
A scowl appears on his face, and he looks about ready to strangle me. I grin at him, taking down the drink in one shot. The taste slides down my throat with ease, and the burning sensation barely appears.
“Motherfucker,” Niko says—loudly, might I add—while shooting daggers at me.
“So, what’s up with the secret meeting? Don’t tell me you’ve formed a secret society of sorts.”
Henrick snorts. “We need updates on the situation, which is why these two morons are here.”
“Shouldn’t Noelle also attend?”
Niko clenches his fist and slams it on the table. “That’s the issue. My sister can’t be reached. What did you do to her?”
I blink. “She was alive and well when I last saw her this morning.”
“Noelle can take care of herself.” Ray shoots a warning gaze toward his son, and he huffs in response. “So, do I need to pull your tongue out, or will you speak?”
I glance at Henrick, and he nods.
“Three nights ago, I was shot, twice. I was on my way to pay your daughter a little visit when I got a call from Henrick. One of our shipments was fucked up, the warehouse was blown up, and the people were killed. Not a single trace of the culprit. Then, I was ambushed. I took them all down, but not before taking two hits. By the time I told Henrick about it, the scene was wiped clean, and the dead bodies had vanished into thin air.”
“It’s the same person who’s been after Noelle,” Ray adds, and I nod.
“Most likely. However, the bullets remained in my body and that Italian girl, Silvia–”
“Cecilia,” Niko corrects.
“Right, that one. She pulled them both out, and they were personalized. Noelle has the location of the man who made the bullets, and I’m just waiting for her to call, then we’ll check it out.”
Ray and Niko glance at each other, having a silent conversation. Niko rises to his feet, cusses, and pulls out his phone. He walks away from the table, shoulders rigid and voice loud as he speaks to someone on the phone.
“What?”
Ray closes his eyes briefly. “Why do you think she’s not here? By now, she’s either fucking dead or the man is dead.”
The moment his mouth closes, all eyes turn to the door that’s abruptly forced open. Noelle strolls in with a passive look and a trash bag in her hands. There are a few blood droplets on her face, and it looks like she did her best to clean herself.
“What’s this?” She grins. “Am I not welcome here?”
“Nonsense,” Ray says, and Niko rushes to her side, grabbing her face in his hands.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
With her free hand, she smacks his away and doesn’t give him a response. She takes a few steps forward, then dips her hand into the bag.
Niko gags and steps away, whereas Ray and Henrick look at her as if she’s completely lost it. They’re shocked, bewildered, and in disbelief at the sight in front of them.
Noelle is holding a man’s head.
As in, his decapitated head.
The blood is oozing from where his neck would be, his dead eyes staring at me. She’s holding him by the hair before she tosses the head toward me. It rolls on the ground and lands right before my feet.
“What the fuck, Noelle?”
“It’s a gift.”
“And this man is?”
She shrugs. “Didn’t ask for his name. He’s the bullet maker, though.”
Quickly, she sits down in Niko’s chair and gulps down the drink from his glass. It drips down her chin and if we were alone, I would’ve licked it off her.
Noelle always looks so… edible.
And tastes sweet, too.
I’m curious to know how she would taste mixed with alcohol. Imagining the divine combination threatens to ruin the remainder of my sanity.
“Was this truly necessary?”
Noelle turns to Henrick with a raised brow. “Why, of course. You see, he tried to use a rifle on me.”
Henrick narrows his eyes. “But you already put a bullet between his eyes.”
“The decapitation part was an impulse.”
“What in the world did you use?” Ray asks, pride in his voice and the biggest smile on his face.
“An ax.”
“That’s my girl.”
She smiles, proudly.
“Anyway.” She turns serious for a second. “I killed him because I got what I went there for. I have a name.”
Ray and Henrick exchange an odd glance.
“The Silencer.”
Suddenly, the air shifts with tension, and the atmosphere thickens to the point all I can hear is the sound of heartbeats. Ray’s jaw clenches, and Henrick’s lips thin into a line. They don’t utter a word, but it’s evident they’re familiar with the name.
Since they seem to be in agreement, it’s a bad sign.
“What?”
Noelle asks before I do. She’s shifting her eyes between her father and mine with suspicion written on her face. She’s getting impatient for an answer, her brow twitching as another minute of silence passes.
“It’s impossible, right?”
Henrick doesn’t reply immediately, thinking about his answer.
“Right, Henrick?” Ray presses, his words sharp and dark. “You said you killed that motherfucker.”
“And I did,” Henrick defends. “I watched him bleed out and die with my own eyes.”
“Well, I don’t know him,” Noelle chimes in. “But unless he rose from the dead, he didn’t really die in front of you, did he?”
She really doesn’t know how to read the room. Or she doesn’t give a single fuck. That innocently deviant face of hers makes my cock throb all over again. I can never understand how the fuck he reacts to her. Or why, for that matter.
Henrick doesn’t lose his shit, which is a rare sight. Instead, he takes a deep breath to calm himself, then responds.
“The reason this motherfucker—” he motions toward Ray, who flips him off, “and I haven’t been out to get each other as much as the previous generations is because this treaty happened once before.”
“And I’m only hearing about this now, why?”
Ray speaks up. “There was a man who went by the name of The Silencer. In the beginning, he posed no real threat, which is why neither of us reacted to him. However, he started involving himself in some dirty business.”
“As opposed to the clean business we’re leading?”
Noelle gets shut up with a single glare from Ray.
“Sorry, continue.”
“As Ray was saying,” Henrick says loudly. “He was involved in a lot of human trafficking rings. He wasn’t too big, and we were able to put an end to it, but he grew to have some connections. Big ones, at that. Killing him took a toll on both families because the longer we let him wander around, the more support he was getting.”
“So, did you kill him or not?”
Henrick’s jaw ticks. If this were me, I would’ve been smacked into tomorrow for the constant interruption. He’s being careful, though, because Ray won’t hesitate to put him down if he lays his hands on his precious daughter.
“When we agreed to the treaty—and after his very loud threats—he went into hiding for a while. When I did find him, I made sure he was dead.”
“So, he either didn’t die or someone took his name.”
Henrick nods. “And both scenarios are hideous.”
“Then we’ll proceed as planned.”
I whip my head in her direction and very calmly, but firmly, shut down that ridiculous idea.
“No.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not even speaking to you, asshole. I’m just saying that I will find out where and when an auction will be held, and I will attend.”
Niko, who was quiet this whole time, decides it’s time for him to chime in.
“It’s too dangerous.”
Finally, the bastard says something I like.
“You don’t get a say.” Noelle huffs and folds her arms in front of her chest. “Although, I do have a back-up plan if I can’t track him down.”
“No.”
She stares at me, jaw clenched. “You didn’t even hear me out.”
“If you want to use yourself as bait because the victims looked like you, then the obvious answer is no.”
“Why the hell would you even care? If I die, isn’t that even better for you?”
“Your life is mine, Noelle. No one else gets to kill you.”
Glass shattering causes me to break eye contact with Noelle. I’m met with a fuming Ray, who all but stabs me with the little pocketknife in his hands. He’s clutching the weapon in his hands, and Noelle is immediately alarmed.
She’s by his side within seconds, whispering in his ear and stroking his forearm. She’s trying to calm him down and although I’m skeptical, her method proves to be useful after a few moments.
“You.” She turns to look at me. “Come with me. We need to talk.”
Her words are filled with a fury that makes my heart beat furiously. The expression she’s making can only be compared to that of a war goddess, and she’s prepared to destroy the enemy: me.
I’ve never felt like this before.
I place my hand over my chest, my body blazing with fire. Harshly, I swallow a knot that forms in my throat, hypnotized by the hatred in her eyes. She drags her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling on it.
Her eyes, always such a deep shade of whiskey, meet my gaze, and my entire body shivers. She has me under a menacing spell, paralyzed and completely defenseless. My body aches, my breath is uneven, and even my cock reacts to her harsh gaze.
“Call an ambulance,” I say through my gasps. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
Noelle starts checking me, staring with my pulse and moving to my chest. Her brows are narrowed as she slowly touches me, and it only makes it worse.
“You’re not having a heart attack.” She frowns. “Your heart rate is elevated, but that’s it.”
Oh, God.
The woman I hate with a burning passion is touching my skin, her cold hands bringing down the blazing temperature of my body. Yet, it’s not helping. If anything, my heart all but jumps out of my chest, and I can’t get a hold of myself.
She then turns to Ray and Henrick. “He’ll be fine. I’ll take him with me, and I’ll call you if something happens.”
“Just promise me you won’t use yourself as bait, Noelle.”
“Let’s hope I won’t need to.”
Noelle grabs me by my elbow while I’m still trying to figure out what the fuck is happening to me. She drags me outside, leaving Ray and Henrick to deal with the decapitated head.
I’m being dragged behind her like a dog; all I’m lacking is a collar and good barking skills. Noelle’s freezing hands soothe the burning sensation in my flesh, and it feels liberating to be able to breathe again.
“You can let go of me now.”
She digs her nails into my skin, drawing blood, before dropping my elbow. Slowly, she glances at me from over her shoulder and rolls her eyes.
“How long do you think it’ll take you to fully recover?”
“I’d say a week or two.”
She nods. “You have ten days. Rest. In the meantime, I’ll find out where the next auction will be held. You’re coming with me.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Now, we have somewhere else to be. Follow me.”