Page 103 of Hades’ Revenge

Leo put the bag on the desk and unzipped it, revealing the rifle I had chosen for this job. It was known for its precision and would be quiet enough to use in a church with undeniable acoustics.

My only regret was Benny wouldn’t see it coming and he would never know it was me. That was how all of my hits went. But this one was personal. This mark took something that belonged to me. He had to pay with his life.

This particular job unsettled me for several reasons. The most prominent being that there was no room for error or Capri could pay with her life. I had no idea what we were walking into. I had no time to plan and no room to screw up. Romero provided discreet intel, but so far, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary at the church. Benny had seemed to go alone on this one, which didn’t sit well with me.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Leo asked.

“I’m the fucking best at what I do. This is my job, remember?”

“Yeah, well, my daughter’s life has never been on the line before.”

“Whose fault is that?” I took the gun from the case and lined up a pretend shot.

“That’s debatable,” he said.

“Are we going to fight now?”

“No.”

I familiarized myself with the weapon, going over different strategies in my mind. I had no idea what we were walking into, but I had to be prepared for anything. Leo would go in and assess the situation while I stayed in the shadows. I had to find the perfect spot in case I had to do what came naturally to me.

Benny took Capri. As far as I was concerned, what I did next was justifiable. I never used my skills to take a life that didn’t deserve to end. Despite what people thought, I did have a code. No innocent people died by my hand. That was why when Leo asked me to kill Emilio, I couldn’t do it.

Leo didn’t have the proof I required to make someone stop breathing. He had a hunch that Emilio overheard sensitive information. Even if that was true, I didn’t work with hunches. When Capri asked me how I could do what I did and come home and act like nothing happened, that was how I could do it. If I had to eliminate someone, there was a valid reason. I had turned down plenty of jobs because the client couldn’t meet my requirements.

“Why would he pick the church?” Leo asked. “After all this time?”

“He’s playing with us. Probably trying to throw us off our game.”

“We haven’t worked together in a really long time. He’s not stupid.”

“How did you get involved with him?” I held up my hand. “You know what, I don’t want to know.”

“Business has changed over the decade. It’s not the way you remember it. A guy like me has to get creative to stay on top. Bilotti runs things his way. He’s an arms dealer who happened to take over the city.” He shrugged. “Before we didn’t need the cartels. There weren’t cameras on every street corner. Sports betting wasn’t legal back then. Neither was weed.”

“You had to adapt.”

“Working with people like Benny seemed to be the solution.”

“I get where you’re coming from, but involving Capri should never have been a line you crossed.”

“Capri was a line you shouldn’t have crossed either.” He took a seat at his desk. “She’s so taken with you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“It seems as though we’ll never understand what the other was hinting when it comes to Capri.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t discuss my relationship with her.” I studied the gun one last time, memorizing the way it settled in my hands, calculating the weight in my mind, and anticipating the speed I would use when I pulled the trigger. “We have to focus.”

“There is one more thing I need to say,” he said.

“It’s not like I can stop you.” I smirked. “I never could.”

“I’m sorry for what happened with Emilio,” he said. “I was reckless and thought I could handle it.”

“If he were some scum you shot in an alley because he was a snitch or a liability, we could have handled that, but the way you went about it…”

“There wasn’t anything you could do by the time you arrived. Why did you stay quiet all these years?”