Page 33 of The Monster’s Weakness

“How are you doing this morning?” Caleb asked, moving up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist.

She smiled. “I’m good.”

Gemma wasn’t angry at him. Caleb had a whole different kind of life than she ever imagined. He traveled, and sure, he killed people, but no one was perfect. He’d promised her he would get to the bottom of what was happening.

“How is ... everything?” she asked.

“I’ve got my guys working on who could have ordered the hit,” he said.

She turned to look at him. “Don’t they like ... give you a name or contact once the job is done?”

“It doesn’t work that way. In most cases, you don’t always know who has taken out the contract. We almost always go through a middle man. It’s cleaner that way.”

This made her frown, and she looked up at him a little more confused. “But isn’t that dangerous?”

“How do you mean?”

“If you don’t know who has initiated the contract, how do you know who is right and who isn’t?”

“Does it matter?” Caleb asked.

“What if you’re killing good people?” She looked at him as he opened his mouth, closed it, and then paused. She waited.

“The job is about getting paid. Most times, they’re not good people.”

“But what if they are? What if the good people you’ve killed have been removed by the bad people?” She didn’t even know if she was making any sense.

Caleb frowned.

“I know Pembroke was once a good man. At least at some point. He had an amazing idea and a plan, and it worked. It used to be a great place to work, and then it was like overnight everything changed. He used to be such a nice man, and then he started locking himself away in his office, and I heard him screaming at his wife. There was a big mess.” She threw her arms up in the air. “I don’t know what I’m talking about. Ignore me.” She frowned. “I’m just afraid because someone wants me dead, and it makes no sense because you were there as well, and they’re not going to kill you.”

He pulled her close, and she didn’t realize how close she came to falling apart, but in his arms, she felt safe.

“I’ve got you, Gemma. I swear, I’ve got you.”

“I just don’t understand it. I don’t understand any of it.”

“I’m not going to allow anything to happen to you, baby. Trust me, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

His cell phone went off, and their moment quickly came to a close. He didn’t answer it right away, though, he pulled away and cupped her chin.

“I’ve got to take that,” he said.

“I know.”

He looked at her for several minutes, but only after she smiled at him. She didn’t want him to feel bad. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.

She made her way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Pieces of chicken were in the fridge, as well as a nice block of parmesan cheese, so that was what she would make. Parmesan chicken.

She moved through the motions and got dinner settled. At one point, she heard Caleb yelling, but she continued cooking. Finally, he came out of his office and he looked red in the face.

“Not a good day?” she asked.

“I’ve had better days.” He came toward her and kissed her on the lips.

“Dinner is finished. I’ve just got to serve.”

But Caleb held her a little tighter.