The gun fired. The bullet missed me by less than an inch, skimming my ear enough to singe the heat into my skin.
"I hadn't killed anyone until the day you made me," she sneered, "but Kage made sure I had perfect aim." Her finger tightened on the trigger. "That one missed on purpose. The next won't."
"Is everything okay in here?" Syn asked, stepping into the room. She leaned against the wall as Ghost moved in sync with her.
"I know we just became friends, but I need you to leave," Choyce instructed, never taking her eyes off me.
"Honor."
"I'm good, Syn," I reassured her.
"Okay. And Choyce, I told you before how I show up willalwaysannounce mywhy. It's smart to be skeptical. It's stupid to kill him." Syn left without another word, Ghost's nails clicking against the concrete as the door shut behind them.
"Y'all two are friends?" I asked.
"Something like that."
"She'll be good for you." I nodded. "Syn knows the importance of doing what needs to be done without losing yourself to make it happen. She can teach you how to become the woman you're chasing."
"And what do you know about the woman I'm chasing, or who I want to become, for that matter?"
I wasn't used to Choyce sounding so cheeky. She flirted in order to control rooms, bending attention where she wanted it. However, this wasn't that. This was the little sister who used to look to her big sister for safety. The feelings she liked to pretend didn't exist. This was Choyce without the Mancinelli name. The real her.
"I know you want power," I asserted evenly. "Enough to erase what Lucian did to you. Respect, so survival never costs your self-worth again. Money, so rules stop being something to obey and start being something you create. And Cherish?—"
"Don't you say her fucking name," she hissed, closing the distance between us. "Don't act as if you care about my daughter. I warned you. I told you there'd be consequences for telling Lucian no, and you didn't give a fuck. You went toe-to-toe with that man, and for what? For fucking what, Honor?"
"I needed him to show his hand."
She laughed.
"Congratulations, because all he showed me was how far he's willing to go. He was in my fucking house. My house. Not the onehe built, but the one I paid for. He sat in my daughter's room." Her eyes burned. "And he told me because she wasn't a boy, she was disposable."
Silence swallowed the room.
"And a few hours after he left?" she continued. "I had to deal with my bitch ass husband and your bit?—"
The look I gave stopped the word in her throat.
"Girlfriend," she corrected, jealousy heavy in her tone. "Do you understand how fucked up my mental was when your girlfriend came questioning me about shit she should've asked you?"
Her chest heaved, spit flying as the words poured out of her.
"Look what your precious girlfriend did to me."
Choyce set the gun down, lifted her chin, and peeled the bandage from her neck. A swollen, ring wrapped her throat, from one earlobe to the other.
"This…" she pointed to the mark she'll have to carry forever, "this is what happens when you don't trust the people you work with, Honor."
"Nah." I shook my head, a venomous laugh slipping out. "That happened because you let your infatuation with me go too fucking far."
Choyce's eyes flickered with a mixture of embarrassment and hatred.
"I told you to quit playing with me. You chose not to and treated it like foreplay. The back and forth, me threatening your life, you liked that shit. It turned you on and gave you courage when you should've run the fuck away."
"Is that what you think?" she scoffed, jerking her head back. "I'm not infatuated with you. I just see what everyone chooses to ignore. Navy is a moment. She's not your forever."
"Your new neck jewelry didn't teach you shit, did it?"
