Fuck me.
“No, please,” a small voice pleaded from behind me. I didn’t turn around but knew it was a young child.
The callous expression of the woman in front of me twitched slightly, her eyes sliding back to mine.
A weakness.
“When the train stops. You willnotget off. You willnotfollow me. If I so much as see your shadow, I will put a hollow point between your eyes.”
I swallowed hard, my chest heaving with anger, but remained rooted. “I’m going to find you. You owe me.”
“Of course you will.”
When the monorail came to a stop, silence blanketed the car. Everyone was paralyzed in place.
“I look forward to it, love.”
With a cock to her brow, she wet her lips and bolted out the door.
Five
SILAS
Barcelona, Spain
“Silas Hayes. You’re still breathing?”
Santino’s hand clapped my shoulder as he pulled the stool to my right and sat. A sense of relief washed over me in the presence of a familiar face. He was the only person left in this world who had my trust. Three years into my life with Hades, he and I allied against a mutual enemy. The Leone family were long-time business associates of Hades in the trade of arms, finances, and sex.
He was the closest thing to family I had. At least, what I remembered. Maybe I did have people out there. From what I’d been told, my entire family had been massacred. Somehow, I’d managed to survive. The story was one of nightmares, but surely it had to be true, as no one had come looking for me in over sixteen years. Thoughts of their last moments used to keep me up at night when I was a young kid, wondering what my life was like before my accident—before I was thrust into a world of carnage and depravity until I became numb to death. The countless lives stolen by my hand were nothing but numbers on an invisible tabulator. Maybe one day, the ghosts of my past would come to collect, but the counter would keep ticking in the meantime.
“Day drinking, brother?”
I leaned back and forced a smile. “I don’t know the difference anymore. It all blurs together these days.”
“I hear that,” he said, a sympathetic gleam in his eyes. “Cillian still sending his men?”
Upon hearing his name, thoughts of that woman came to mind. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of her in the two weeks since our last encounter. But while she had vowed to kill me, it was as if she’d fallen off the face of the earth. And a woman like that was easy to spot in a crowd. Still, I kept my head on a swivel and prepared for the unknown. Not just where she was concerned, but if I knew Cillian, he lacked the patience his mystery woman clearly possessed. He’d have sent reinforcements.
“Two weeks of silence. But that doesn’t mean I let my guard down.”
“Of course not,” he agreed with a nod and huffed out a long puff of air. “But how long, Si? You can’t run forever. Just give me the word, and I’ll order the hit.”
I sucked in a breath, appreciative of his offer and loyalty, even though we both knew it was suicide and would start a war. Cillian always kept his best men on guard—an arsenal of soldiers at his beck and call. Melina was the only reason I’d made it out alive when I did. She’d found out too late about her brother. By that time, I was long gone. These days, she probably wanted me dead more than her father.
“You at least get some pussy? Help ease the tension a bit,” he asked, pouring himself a drink.
My eyes slid to his as that woman’s face formed in my thoughts again. She would be hard to forget having stabbed me twice.
Santino’s hand was on my shoulder. “Where’d you just go?”
“You asked about pussy. There’s one, in particular, I can’t get out of my mind, but not for the reasons you might be thinking.” He motioned for me to elaborate. “She tried to kill me…multiple times, actually.”
Santino laughed as he leaned back on his stool. “What did you do to her, Si? Didn’t return her calls?”
“She’s one of Cillian’s crew.”
His expression suddenly shifted to a serious one, now creasing his brows. “You were her mark?”
