And he was grinning.
Chapter 31:
“How incredibly anticlimactic,” Kelevra said, watching as a group of men in bodysuits lifted the dead Shepards and cleaned blood off the street.
They’d shut down the roads leading to and from the bridge, but there was no telling how long they’d be able to keep that up before word got back to one of Kelevra’s sisters. None of them wanted this getting out, and while they’d always protected him, there was no telling how they’d react if they discovered Sila had murdered five people.
“You have no idea,” Sila agreed at his side. “I might even be experiencing disappointment at the moment.”
“If they were going to bother you like this, they could have at least kept things entertaining. He should have brought more men if he really wanted to beat you. And blasters. Lots of blasters. Clearly Haroon didn’t bother actually looking that deeply into you.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Sila said. “I don’t flaunt my darkness like some people.”
Kelevra chuckled, not the least bit insulted. “How long did it even take you to beat them?”
He thought it over. “Ten minutes? Maybe twelve.”
“What, not good enough to get it done in five?” his brother stated sarcastically as he walked over from one of the black vans that was being filled with bodies. He scowled at the scene. “Pretty sure I told you I didn’t want to have to clean up your shit again.”
“Mine?” Sila pointed to Kelevra. “Or his?”
Rin glared, but Bay ended his conversation with Madden who’d arrived with the cleaning crew, putting a stop to their teasing.
After Sila had slit Haroon’s throat, Bay had gone back to the car to grab his multi-slate to call Rin. Since Sila’s was still back at the house, they didn’t have the contact number Kelevra had sent over back at the hospital. They’d both known they couldn’t just leave this type of mess behind to be discovered, so calling for backup was the smart play.
His brother had been nonstop scolding him since their arrival, but the Imperial Prince had appeared almost impressed by the scene, asking Sila enough questions that both Rin and Bay had eventually wandered off to deal with other matters while the two of them discussed the gruesome details.
“Madden says they’ll be finished soon,” Bay informed them, coming to a stop in front of Sila.
Without much thought, Sila stepped forward, closing the small distance between them so he could wrap an arm around Bay’s narrow waist. As soon as they had physical contact, he sighed, a coiled knot he hadn’t been aware of in his chest loosening all at once.
When he’d turned around earlier and realized Haroon had Bay and was hurting him…
“I shouldn’t have killed him so quickly,” he said.
“From the sounds of it,” Kelevra stated, “doesn’t seem like doing the job any slower would have made it anymore worth your efforts.” He clapped Sila on the back, leaving his hand resting there, obviously ignoring the way that had both of the twins tensing and their eyes narrowing. “Think of it this way, now you have more time to take the professor home and get him on his back. Or his front. Actually, have you tried the G-Tester 450?”
“That’s enough death for one night,” Rin growled, shoving Kelevra off his brother roughly. “If they’re done here, let’s get going.”
“Why?” the Imperial gave him a flirtatious grin. “Did my mention of—”
“Are you sure you don’t want us to send some people to the Shepards to dig into things?” Rin cut him off and directed the question at Bay. “If there’s evidence to find, the Retinue can be trusted to find it without leaking it to anyone else.”
Bay nibbled on his bottom lip but ended up shaking his head in the negative. “There’s nothing. If there was, Sila’s information would have discovered it by now.”
“He’s right,” Sila agreed, though he didn’t like it. Aneski would have undoubtably found the proof they were after if Haroon had left any lying around, he was certain of it. The other day, after Bay and he had left Nila, it’d been Aneski who’d first discovered her body and called him back to the scene. They’d tried to track down Haroon, but the guy had already gotten away, so Sila had focused on other things.
He took in the mostly cleaned crime scene. “It’s too bad I didn’t keep one of them alive. We could have tortured them for a confession.”
“People like that?” Kelevra snorted. “There’s no way Haroon trusted them with details. I doubt they even knew what they were doing here. They probably just followed orders like the sheep they were.”
“The next in line will make things more interesting,” Sila promised.
“That so?” he let out a low whistle. “Baikal is going to be pissed when he finds out there’s going to be a next in line. He’s barely held himself back from destroying the Shepards on more than one occasion. The only reason he hasn’t is they’ve never been a big enough threat to warrant how many people he’d have to bribe to look the other way.”
“I wouldn’t bet money on that,” Sila said.
“Know something I don’t, Imposter?”
