They gave me rules. They gave me contracts. They gave me control, a life of clean exits and endings.
No complications. No emotions. Just results.
Until now.
I looked again at the sleeping woman in my bed, in my arms.
I want her.
Not just her body. I want her trust. Her laughter. Her forgiveness for a crime she doesn’t even know I’ve committed.
It’s confusing for me to feel like this.Out of control.
I watch the world from rooftops through the scope of a sniper’s rifle. I make people disappear. I don’t hold a target close; I neutralize them.
Once, Logan asked me how it feels to end a life. I told him I didn’t know because I haven’t ever felt alive.
All those kills—and I was the one who got dead, never having tasted life to start with.
My phone lights up. It’s Logan.
I look at the message:Remo has a kill contract on you and Calista.
Of course, he does.
Logan:Gideon and Adrian need to know.
I sigh.
Me:Group call in ten.
It was already six in the morning. All my brothers would be up. Working out. Working. Fucking. Living.
Logan’s right, I have to tell them—andI have to tellher.
What will happen when she finds out who I am?
She will leave.
I know it. I know her.
So, don’t let her find out.Don’t let go of this moment. This illusion. This woman who looks at you like you could be something more than what you are.
But I can feel it coming.
The fall.
The moment she sees the whole picture.
And the light in her eyes goes out—because of me.
14
HE’S JUST LIKE THEM
CALISTA
Iwake with a start.
