Either way, this shit isn’t about to go down on my watch, at least, not the way he thinks it’s about to go down. He thinks he’s got the element of surprise, but he’s about to learn a very hard lesson.
I spare another quick glance down at the street, making sure the fucker is alone, and when there’s no other movement, I silently slip out of the apartment and race down the long corridor toward the stairwell. Maybe I made a mistake bringing her here. We should have laid low longer. Waited out the feds until they moved on to their next biggest target.
Soft humming fills the stairwell, and I silently curse her for taking her sweet time, but the moment she clears the landing, I reach out and grip her arm, pulling her into me as I press my hand against her mouth.
Aria’s eyes go wide, but she relaxes as she sees it’s just me. “Someone’s following you,” I whisper, pulling her right inagainst me. “Run to the apartment. Lock the deadbolt behind you and hide in the closet. Understood?”
She frantically nods, and I reluctantly release her, wishing I could keep her right here where I can keep an eye on her and make sure she’s safe, but I don’t know this fucker that’s coming up the stairs. I don’t know what he wants or what his skill level is. Am I his target, or is it both of us? Do the feds know that she’s no longer a hostage? On top of that, what the fuck was said into that radio? Was our location given up? Are we no longer safe here? Either way, this motherfucker will die today. He set his sights on my girl and followed her into the building with a blade, and that’s more than enough to have signed his own death certificate.
Aria disappears into the apartment, and I make a mental note to remind her that the next time this shit goes down, not to slam the goddamn door behind her. But Aria is the same old Riley, after all, and sometimes, things never change. They’re simply wired into our DNA.
Pressing my back against the wall, I hide around the corner of the landing, listening to the man’s light footsteps on the stairs. He’s trying to be quick, probably trying to listen to which floor Aria stops on, but with her already hidden away inside our apartment, he’s probably getting nervous.
He creeps closer toward the fourth floor, and my fingers itch to strike, but I wait him out. He thinks he’s about to get the drop on me, but he’s got another thing coming.
A black, heavy boot hits the landing first, and just as he leans into the corner, my hand whips out, gripping his wrist and pulling him into me. The shock barely registers on his face. It’s fucking go time, and I’m not holding back.
I lift the fucker an inch off the ground, and before he can even figure out what’s going on, I launch him back down the stairs, his back slamming against the brick wall and sending him sprawlingto the ground. I don’t allow him the chance to recover as I grip the railing and jump the ten steps, landing with a heavy thud before him. My hand immediately goes to his throat as my knee braces against his chest, keeping him pinned beneath me.
His eyes roll in his head, and he’s probably rocking a brand-new concussion, but that’s not my problem.
“You won’t be needing this,” I spit, taking the blade out of his hand and tossing it aside. He blinks a few times as I put more pressure on his throat, clearly disoriented. Then he finally looks up at me, realizing just how much trouble he’s in. Whether he’s a fed, hitman, or just some vigilante looking for recognition, he’s done his homework, and he knows that he won’t be making it home alive. Not anymore. “How’d you find me?”
He clenches his jaw, refusing to respond, and I pull his head up off the ground before slamming it back against the concrete. “Don’t make me ask again.”
He spits at me, panting as though he just ran a marathon, and I watch as the fight quickly leaves his eyes. He doesn’t have the strength, skill, or balls to attempt to fight me. He knows his fate, and now it’s up to him how he dies. I can make it quick, snap his neck, and he won’t feel a thing, but a smart man knows if he doesn’t cooperate and give me exactly what I need, there won’t be anything quick or painless about it.
“Clocked you outside the original crime scene. Figured you’d show up there eventually,” he grits. “Assholes like you always return to the scene of their crimes. It was all too easy to follow you back here.”
“Who are you?” I question. “FBI?”
“Hitman,” he tells me. “Ten million bounty on your head.”
Fuck. A bounty like that could only mean more of these assholes are lying in wait. “Suppose today’s not your lucky day,” I tell him. “And Aria? Why are you tracking her? Bounty on her head too?”
He shakes his head. “No, but her face is all over the news, right next to yours. Figured she’d lead me right to you.”
I nod and let out a sigh as I reach for his discarded blade, then before he even gets the chance to scream, I plunge it straight through his throat and sever his spinal cord, not stopping until the tip of the blade is wedged into the concrete beneath.
“Fuck,” Aria breathes from behind me.
I whip around, not having noticed her creeping up on me. She’s standing with her feet hip-width apart, her chin raised, and the pistol she’d stolen off the guard back at Hartley Creek pointed directly at the dead hitman. Can’t lie, she looks fucking stunning like this, but I don’t know what she thinks she was going to do with that gun. There are no fucking bullets in it.
“Thought I told you to lock yourself in the apartment.”
Her shoulders slump, not having the energy to argue with me. “We can’t stay here, can we?”
I shake my head, glancing back down at the hitman and more specifically the radio on his shoulder. “Sorry, Menace. He called it in,” I tell her. “It’s only a matter of time before this complex is surrounded by every cop, fed, and bounty hunter in the state, and when that happens, we’re not going to be here.”
“Shit,” she sighs, a thick disappointment in her green eyes. “I’ll grab our things.”
23
ARIA
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
The apartment door slams behind us as we hurry down the corridor, our arms filled with everything we’ve accumulated over the past week.
