Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
BOSTON
No fucking way.
There is no possible way Soren was behind this. I know he likes to meddle in things that aren’t any of his fucking business, but as the Lord, sometimes he takes it a bit too far. My gaze slides from Maven to Soren to see him grinning back at her.
Is he fucking kidding me?
How did I not pick up on it sooner?
Not possible.
Everyone seems to be as confused as I am. But one thing they don’t seem so confused about is my wife. She could probably kill all of them and not break a sweat. And that’s so fucking hot.
She stands poised in her red heels, blue hair shifting in the light breeze, and looking like a fucking goddess as she stares down one of the most powerful men in the country with not an ounce of fear.
That’s something that attracted me to her initially.
She’s not afraid of powerful men. I doubt she’s really afraid of anything, apart from someone hurting those she loves.
I saw it in the way she stayed with me when I was shot.
“Venom is a man,” someone argues, and she turns in his direction.
“That’s an insult.” Her hand goes to her heart. “But you should ask your Lord. He knows. Since he hired me.”
“She’s lying, and you’re so wrapped up in that bitch that you can’t even see it,” another mutters.
“She speaks the truth,” Soren says. “You were the best of the best, Maven. I’ve had people trying to track you for years.
Clearly, you run a very tight ship. But then I got word of you, and I had to find out more.
So I invited your sister to an event, and thankfully she brought you along.
” He smiles. “Though, I can’t say I saw this coming—one of my most trusted and loyal members falling in love with you. ”
“You set her up?” I growl.
“Bailey, Marcus, and Edgar were dirty. All of them were working with Rolland. So your wife did her job, and she also did the Forsaken a service.”
“You thought members were dirty, and you kept that from us?” Arlo asks accusingly.
“I had my suspicions. Then they were confirmed.” Soren motions to me. “She’s the perfect assassin.”
“What did you expect to happen by sending me that video?” I ask.
“Exactly what happened,” he replies without remorse. “I didn’t expect you to cover it up for her, though. That was a surprise.”
Her hand slips into mine, and she tightens her grip.
A part of me wants to kill him for setting her up that way, while the other part is thankful he brought her into my life.
And she knew all this and didn’t disclose it to me because she knew I wouldn’t believe her unless he admitted it.
Not that I don’t believe what she says. It’s just that I wouldn’t deem it possible that he would do such a thing.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do now?” Reon asks as he kicks Rolland’s dead body.
“I can always find you a new toy. A new contract came through, but I haven’t accepted it yet,” Dynamite says, shocking all of us.
“How long would it take you to collect the target?” Soren asks.
She glances down at her wrist, which doesn’t have a fucking watch on it, then looks back up with a shrug. “If someone will take me, then maybe an hour or so.”
“I’ll drive,” Victor offers.
“You got it, big man. Let’s go and earn some money.” She leans up and kisses my cheek, then goes to walk off, but I stop her, pulling her back to me.
“Be careful.”
She winks at me. “I always am,” she replies before getting into the car with Victor. Victor doesn’t like many people, but he sure as shit has respect for her.
Which makes me fucking love her even more.
“What about the rule of wives killing members? Was that just thrown out the fucking window?” someone asks, making my head swing around to them.
“She’s a contract assassin,” I remind him.
“So we heard. But if we let it slide for one bitch, that means we’re going to do it for fucking all of them.”
“I would watch who you’re fucking calling a bitch, or you’ll end up in the hunt, you stupid fucking prick,” I warn.
Soren steps forward and raises his hands, gesturing for us to calm down. “I hired her to kill Edgar. He was going behind the society’s back. So technically, she was not a wife who was killing members. She was a hired assassin,” he announces.
“You knew who she was?” Reon asks me.
“Yes.”
“Damn.” He whistles. “And I thought my wife was crazy.”
“Your wife is crazy. Certified, actually,” Arlo chimes in.
I’m still trying to process that Soren was the mastermind behind everything, apart from me falling head over fucking heels for Maven, and her shiny red heels, of course.
“Who’s going to bury this body?” Reon asks, pointing to Rolland.
“Start digging,” Soren says as he picks up a shovel and throws it at the feet of the member who questioned whether we should kill my wife or not.
He doesn’t argue as he picks it up and heads into the forest. Most of us know our way around here, as we’ve been coming out here for many years.
We don’t hide all of the bodies in the forest, but there are a fair number of unmarked graves out here.
“Who wants to make a bet on how long it takes for her to come back?” someone jokes.
“I would say you stick to what she says, considering she’s taken out three of you fuckers and none of you had any idea.” It almost sounds like a compliment coming from Soren.
She could also take him out, and he wouldn’t know until it was too late.