Scenes from their childhood.
Ocean vacations.
Playing in the backyard.
Competing in sports.
Learning to shoot.
Learning to kill…
Benedetto refused to acknowledge Gabriel as the rightful lead assassin because of a single mistake. One. Single. Fault.
Gabriel had fallen in love with a woman.
With the precision of a true assassin, Wrath knew instinctively the steps that Gabriel would take. And in those last precious seconds, he captured Sophia’s haunting eyes, hoping she could muddle her way into his very soul.
Bang!
Bang!
“No!” The cry was filled with horror.
The sounds were muffled, the pain anguishing, and the hard fall exactly what he deserved. As a pool of blood began to oozefrom underneath him, he could only laugh. The shooting was more than justified. His breathing labored, he tipped his head, wanting to see her one last time. She was alive. She’d been spared. Her life would go on. “My beautiful… Sophia.”
She felt his chest, finding his phone. “Fuck. Fuck. What in the hell. You’re not going to die on me, Wrath. You’re right here. Just stay with me.” She fumbled with the phone as she pressed her hand on the wound. “Breathe.”
“Clever girl,” he whispered. She’d been bluffing about contacting the police.
“Code,” she insisted. “Give me the goddamn code to your phone or you will bleed out.”
He hesitated then simply gave in, offering her the four numbers, unlocking the iPhone. Tired. He was so tired. And cold. “My beautiful flower.” As she dialed a number, her hands were shaking. Maybe she cared after all. As he slowly turned his head in the other direction, he was able to smile; the shot had hit Gabriel between the eyes.
At least he’d saved her… life.
Never forget me…
“This is Agent Sophia Waters. I need backup plus a bus sent immediately to…”
How many tears had she shed? How many nights had she remained awake, worry and fear keeping her adrenaline high?
Would she ever feel safe again?
Sophia had been shipped off to a safe house within hours of the incident, but there had been no outward threats on her life or activity denoted as suspicious. She longed to go home, hiding under the covers as she attempted to recover.
That was going to take a hell of a long time.
If ever.
Sophia continued typing, her thoughts on the case and nothing else. She’d spent the better part of a solid week in interviews, follow-ups and buried in paperwork surrounding the capture of the notorious assassins. The protection detail also meant she came and remained at the office. However, she’d spent her nights searching for additional details about the Dark Haven, gleaning any scrap of information that she could get her hands on. She was lucky she still had her job and expected to be placed on probation at any time.
Wrath’s accusations about the criminal nature of the men and women who’d had contracts placed on their lives had given her a secretive project and one she wanted to get to the bottom of. Her lover… He hadn’t been lying after all. Maybe the great consortium was simply eliminating the world of wretched human beings. She had no idea what to believe in any longer.
What she couldn’t grasp a handle on was the identity of the informant.
The other news, and more damning that she could grasp, was the report that her mother had passed away. All the wretched memories resurfaced, the various beatings and horrible words something Sophia would never be able to forget.
Or forgive.
