Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ivan
I never stayed. Maybe that made me a bad person, but staying would have been worse. We’d fallen asleep tangled together, and when I woke, there was a peace buried in my chest that scared me more than it soothed. The kind of peace that made a man think he could be something he wasn’t.
I slipped free, careful not to wake her, and dressed in silence. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from turning in the doorway. She lay there with her hair spread like ink across the pillow, lips parted in sleep. For a second, I almost convinced myself to crawl back in beside her.
Almost.
By the time I reached the hall, her scent clung to my coat.
Each step away felt heavier than the last, but I kept moving.
Staying meant giving her the wrong idea, letting her believe there was more to me than a man made of blood and mistakes.
And Poppy deserved better than that lie.
She deserved love and happiness… Not whatever mess I’d created for myself.
But regardless, that was a mess I wanted. This mess of my life was exactly what I needed after I’d lived in a glass house my whole life. I wanted to forge a way for myself.
It wasn’t until I walked through my front door that I remembered the main reason I’d been itching to leave.
The grannies were still here. I’d thought for sure that they would have left while I was gone. Wishful thinking on my part, I supposed.
This time, there wasn’t a full spread of breakfast waiting for me, but instead, a pot of coffee and a folded newspaper. Neither one of them bothered with pleasantries but merely watched me sit down across from them with no expression at all.
“Good morning,” Grandmother said. Her tone was all business. “Did you have a good night?”
I shrugged. There was an overwhelming desire to scrub Poppy’s scent from my skin, but also another completely unexpected feeling of wanting to keep her scent on my skin.
It was confusing. As much as there was a need for normalcy in my life…
I’d chosen the path of revenge. I’d chosen a path not meant for normal.
Nana pressed her lips into a thin line. “All of the information about your target is in a folder on your bed. We know you are discreet, but we find this way easier as you can destroy the information faster. He has three daughters who are all vacationing at the moment with their mother, and two sons who work with him. He will be difficult to get alone… but we know how resourceful you can be. Both sons frequently engage in a long list of illicit behaviors. I’m sure you can find the right opportunity. ”
I nodded once. I wasn’t usually one to be discreet. I didn’t typically care if others were around when the kill shot happened, but for whatever reason, the grannies wanted him alone when he died. That was fine by me.
“And the wedding?” It was the last place I wanted to be, but I knew I needed to be there.
“In the spring,” Nana supplied with a soft smile. “They’re getting married in a church, can you believe it?”
Grandmother rolled her eyes. “It was once a church, now it’s a wedding venue.”
Nana shrugged and leaned back in her chair, satisfied all the same. “I’m just glad one of my grandsons will be marrying in a house of the Lord.”
“I never took you as the religious type.” It was rather odd to hear her speak like this. I didn’t think she’d ever even been inside a church. “Are you trolling me?”
They loved to do that. I would never forget what they did when Carina and Ace were getting married.
Everyone thought they were saints and couldn’t have any unmarried couples sleeping in the same room…
But really, they just wanted to stir up trouble because they were bored.
I mean, I couldn’t exactly blame them, even if it was annoying.
“We haven’t the slightest clue to what you speak of,” Grandmother said as she stood from her place at the table. “We have a busy week ahead of us. Please stock your fridge and freezer with edible food for our next visit.”
Nana came around the table and pressed a kiss to my temple before they both walked out of the front door of my home. They both got into a truck waiting for them at the end of my drive, and I wondered where all of their things were.
Instead of immediately going into my bathroom and scrubbing the feeling of Poppy from my skin, I swiped the folder off of the bed and got right to work.