28. Structure of Love
Shade
I watch as she turns and walks away, her ass practically hanging out of her shorts they’re so small. She doesn’t even have fucking shoes on.
I’m hard as a rock and my throat is so dry that it clicks when I swallow.
“Where did she come from?” Gabriel asks quietly.
“I didn’t see her,” Mikael, his giant bodyguard says in confusion. As the only person standing and taller than Melissa by several feet he had a clear view of the entire room around us. With Evie’s bright teal hair he couldn’t have missed her.
“Yeah. That chick Tera hit it dead on. Be quiet and still,” Cade says with wide eyes. “She’s a damn ninja.”
“Was that South?” Matthias asks me, his face pale. I’ve never seen so many of them rattled at one time.
“Yeah,” I say flatly. I’d rather be chasing after her and begging for forgiveness than finish this meeting. “Are we done here?”
They all give me looks of disbelief.
“You have your leak ,” I gesture to the dead body soaking the floor. Evie didn’t have a drop of blood on her. How?
Ace stands with a giant grin to inspect the body then turns to me. “I’m fuckin’ jealous. Your girl is somethin’ special.”
I slowly turn to face him and palm my own knife.
Ace raises his hands, his smile unchanging. “Not wantin’ to poach, just sayin’ you should be proud. Wife her up.”
“I am and I will. Let’s finish this so I can go home.”
“She tried to cut her to pieces,” Brody says with a cringe. They’re taking it awfully well that she’s dead. It’s a little suspicious.
Then what he said hits me like a freight train.
“I got it done and went home…” The completely emotionless explanation for the men she killed flashes across my mind’s eye. Like she did a mundane chore that meant nothing.
Butchering someone isn’t her MO.
I get up and look at what she did to Melissa and then the other two bodies. I recognize them. Cousins of the pedophile Melissa was convinced was innocent.
The first two kills are clean and precise. Melissa is a bloody ragged mess.
Why?
The gun was pointed right at my face. Not the first and probably not the last time. And then Evie appeared and sliced her throat. I saw her hesitate as she stared at me and then started cutting again with a thoroughness that hits it home for me.
She didn’t like that I was threatened. At all.
Fuck, she loves me. I fucking know it! I need to get home. Now .
Matthias clears his throat to get everyone’s attention again as I walk back into the room.
“Now that this part is cleared up I have something new for your team to look into.”
I glance back to see him looking at Ira.
“Where?”
It’s back to business as usual and it makes me frown. Matthias is shaky but still in control. Andi is trying to hold it together but I can tell she’s seconds away from a panic attack. Gabriel is looking at his father as if he’s disgusted by what he sees.
“Andi, let’s go,” I wave her forward.
She doesn’t hesitate to stand and approach me, taking my hand. Her boyfriends are quick to follow, scowling at me.
“Neither one of you are going anywhere.”
I ignore Matthias to look at Gabriel. “You don’t have to put up with his shit. Come with us.”
He raises a brow in surprise and leans back in his seat.
“Gabe?” Andi says with a shaky voice. “Please?”
His jaw ticks once. Then he shakes his head with a sigh and stands.
“What the fuck?” Blaze snaps and stands. “You’re bailing? Now that we know you aren’t a leak you can come back.”
I give him a look of disbelief and start laughing.
“You’re going to trust that at your back?” Ira asks darkly and gestures towards Melissa’s body.
“I can’t,” Andi says and I nod at her pale face and wide eyes. She’s doing everything she can to not look at the body.
“Get out of here. I’ve got this.”
“Excuse me?” Brian asks with a scowl. “What makes you think you can talk to her like that?”
“I’m her brother you fucking moron, take her home,” I snap at the end of my patience.
“Love you, Evan,” she squeezes my bicep and hurries away.
“Love you too,” I glare at Matthias with a sneer. “Get them the fuck out of our town and keep them out. Otherwise, I’m going to let South do what she wants to them.”
Ace starts laughing heartily. “You need to buy her more blades. I’ll get you a purse to carry them for her.”
“I would crawl over broken glass to do it too,” I assure him. He seems surprised at the comment. They know me as Daniels, a cold blooded and methodical assassin. I was trained into that behavior.
This is me . All the fucked up versions blended together to make someone worthy of Evie. If anyone thinks I’m going to shy away from it they’re dead wrong.
“Good on you,” he claps my shoulder with a serious nod of respect. “All jokes aside, you’ve got yourself a keeper.”
“Evan,” Matthias stands with a frown. Gabriel stops at my side and joins me staring at our father.
“I messed up. I wanted them to make sure you stayed safe, that’s it.”
Bullshit. All of it. He wants his pet assassin back.
“I wasn’t kidding Matthias. I quit. If you want to talk to me you’ll have to get South’s approval first.” I smirk at the thought. She’s going to love that.
Then I turn to Gabriel. I don’t know him well but I do know he’s always hated being a part of the business. He’s more of a white collar crime bloodhound. His guards are loyal only to him though, which says a lot to me. I know Ace and Mikael pretty well and they aren’t easy to win over.
“So, I’ve been hearing a few rumors that might keep you from being bored.”
He raises a brow, eyeing me in contemplation.
“You might want to think about moving here.”
“No way,” Cade protests immediately.
“Go on,” Gabriel says in his cold tone and moves with me to the door.
“The underbelly of this city is rotted through. It needs a clean sweep.”
He makes a thoughtful sound and readjusts his cufflink with a frown.
“You can also fight it out with Andi by buying the other half of town. She’ll be pissed that her complete takeover isn’t going to happen.” I smirk at the thought of the rage she’s going to throw around. It might take her years to calm down.
Ace starts laughing as we walk out, leaving the dirtier side of our lives behind without looking back.