Page 83 of Pretty Little Assassin

Twenty minutes to find him, stop the kill command, and end the bastard once and for all. Preferably slowly and painfully.

As we slink through the guts of the house, I think about my mom and the night she showed me every nook and cranny of this estate.

I think about her telling me how she kept trying to come back to me. The way that I forgave her as she died in my arms.

If my stepfather’s voice could come through that intercom, then that means he’s here, inside this house somewhere right now. He should have been smarter. He should have taunted me remotely. He never was very good at stopping when he should.

I hope he chokes on his arrogance. From my garrote or on his own blood from Mercy.

I’m not leaving this fucking house until I kill him.

26

VIKTOR

“Hey, guys? Guys?”

Donnie’s voice has either been unusually quiet this whole time, or I’ve ignored it. Probably the latter. Yet another heartwarming indication that I consider this assassination team like family. I am no longer a lone wolf.

“There’s movement at the next address. I’ve been trying to tell you before you reach it. Comms went dark for a hot minute.”

“How come?” Zero asks. “You never lose the thread. What happened?”

“Not sure. Working on it. Fucking glitch or something.”

“What about Valentina? Have you kept eyes and ears on her?” That’s the part I care about.

“Trying. Lost her too. Last feed I got was her talking about finding some phone in her old bedroom. Then I think she threw it against the wall or something. After that, I lost contact. She seemed okay, though. That house was empty, no omega there, only Madam.”

“You lost contact with Valentina?”

“Madam?”

Zero practically lifts her foot off the gas as she and I speak at the same time.

“What the hell was Madam doing there?”

“I think he’s shrugging.” Alley Cat laughs when the comm goes silent. “Donnie, you know we can’t hear it when you shrug, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“He’s doing it—he’s shrugging again.” Alley Cat can’t help herself.

“Madam is there in Valentina’s old childhood home,” Donnie says. “She wanted to see things for herself.”

“See what, exactly, for herself?” I am not getting a good feeling about this. I am also not getting a good feeling about the warehouse that we are pulling up to.

The quiet in here is wrong.

“I dunno, whatever goes down in that house, I guess. But as far as I could tell, the house was essentially empty.”

“Essentially empty and actually empty are two very different things, Donnie. Madam doesn’t go anywhere without a reason.” Zero’s voice is tight. Her eyes narrow. She can tell something is off here too. “I thought you said there was a lot of activity at this location.”

“I did. There was.”

“Then why the hell is it a ghost town now?”

The parking lot is filled with cars. All of them empty. All parked perfectly like a model showroom. There is no movement outside the warehouse. No people. No lights on inside. With so many cars in the lot, something is off.