Page 35 of Targeted By Vengeance

I pulled the rope tighter, erasing any gaps between the rope and his neck.

“Please,” he croaked as his knees went out from under him. His blue eyes, bulging with fear, looked up at me. “Don’t…”

My brows pinched at his desolate expression. The pleas in his gaze weren’t for himself. They were for his daughter. His family.

I didn’t want to care. I shouldn’t. But, the tone of his voice as he spoke to her echoed through my mind. It reminded me of my own father’s voice the last time we spoke.

Taking away someone else’s father the same way another took mine made my stomach roll.

He must’ve seen the hesitation flash across my face. Moving quickly, he jutted his elbow back and shoved the sharp bone straight in my shin.

Distracted from the pain, I unintentionally loosened my grip on the rope.

He took the moment to suck in a breath and crank his elbow back again. This time, he hit me in the ribs.

The blow caught me off guard, and I stepped backwards from the impact.

My target ducked his head from out underneath the rope, freeing himself from the hold. He scrambled across the floor towards the open bedroom doorway.

Before he could reach it, a black gun emerged, aimed directly at his head. “Where did you think you were going?” Mateo’s deep voice came from the other side.

Startled, the target stumbled backwards and landed on his ass. He pushed himself backwards as Mateo strolled into the room. “Please,” he started to beg again. “Don’t do this! I have a little girl and she’s sick and she needs-”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Mateo replied, his voice void of any emotion. He nodded at me without sparing a glance in my direction. “Finish it,” he demanded.

I twirled the ends of the rope tighter around my fist as I approached our target, hoping the pain would distract me from the discomfort in my stomach.

“Wait, wait,” the man said, turning his head to me. “Please! I didn’t have any other choice! They were going to put me in jail, and my daughter…” He sat up on his knees and clasped his hands in front of them. Tears dripped down his face as he continued. “She’s not well. I’m all she has. She needs me.”

I tore my eyes away from his pitiful expression and looked up at Mateo.

His gaze was on me, empty yet tense. Not a word the man said moved him. I didn’t know why I expected it would. I’m sure he’s heard far worse sob stories than this.

Hands grabbed at my legs, and I looked down, noticing the man clutching my calves. “Please,” he whispered, his eyes turning red from his cries. “I’ll…I’ll do whatever they want. Just don’t…don’t do this.”

I opened and closed my mouth, unsure how to respond. My heart ached for his situation - for his child - but this wasn’t my call.

I had no authority over the consequences of his actions. I was just the messenger carrying them out. I hadn’t expected the weight to be so heavy.

The rope was yanked out of my hands before I could utter a response.

Without hesitation, Mateo looped the rope around the man’s neck and tied a tight noose around his neck. He used the loose end like a leash and tugged him across the floor towards the high windowsill. “Grab the chair from the dining room,” Mateo commanded, ignoring our target’s pleas.

I only stared, horrified at the scene happening in front of me. There was absolutely no regard for this man’s life. He might as well have been a puppet on a string with the way he was dragging him.

Mateo shook his head at my insubordination. He threaded the other end of the rope around the curtain rail. Wrapping both hands around the rope, he yanked the rope down.

The man’s legs flailed as his feet raised off of the floor. With every second he spent kicking and squirming, more color faded from his face. Moments dragged on like hours until finally, his body went completely limp.

THE ASSASSIN

I never thought Simone would disappoint me.

Since I’ve known her, there’s always been a fire in her eyes. She may not admit it to herself but that drive was fueled by all the anger she was hiding underneath the surface. Rarely was she determined to do something because she wanted to; it was because she was pissed off and needed to prove a point.

That fire was burning in her eyes when she got out of the van. It was there when she snuck into the motel room. It was there when she wrapped the rope around our target’s neck.

But three words out of that asshole’s mouth and the entire flame went out.