Page 136 of The Villain

An assassin family reunion.

No one notices me as I listen for a moment. I don’t want them to see me so they won’t. Tera calls it the super sneak power. My magical ‘gift’ to make me an efficient super villain. No one sees me and cameras don’t record me. I call it ridiculous stupidity, faulty wiring, and Tera interference. We all have our methods.

“He was guilty,” Shade says in a cold voice. He should sound monstrous by now. My irritation with him is growing.

“Bullshit!” Melissa screams hysterically. The gun she had pointed at Andi is now aimed at Shade.

“We always have proof, Melissa,” Ira says with a tense jaw. “We don’t do anything without a kill order.”

No matter what her reasons are for this stupidity she’s no longer valid as a breathing person. The second her gun started swinging toward Shade I started moving.

I knock the arm with the gun up and she reflexively pulls the trigger. While she’s trying to figure out why she’s shooting the ceiling I slice her throat. My eyes meet Shade’s over her shoulder and my gut tightens into a twisted shape I don’t recognize.

For once the clean kill doesn’t feel like enough. I picture Shade’s closed off expression as he stared down the barrel of the gun and decide she owes a little more.

I slice again across her throat and hold her arm up to cut under her armpit. Again over the soft skin of the bend in her arm and flick it down the inside of her forearm. By the time I’m done she’s gurgling at my feet, the only thing holding her up is my grip on her arm. I let go and watch as she dies. It doesn’t take long but somehow this is one of the most satisfying kills I’ve ever had.

“Baby?”

I glance at Shade’s stunned face and raise an eyebrow.

Andi heaves and turns away, two of her boyfriends following suit while the last one gapes. Several guns are pointed at me in a pathetic display of unity between the four assholes. Everyone else is frozen in place staring at me. I turn to the older man gaping at me.

“The other two are dead. The hallway and the dumpster outside. You’re cleaning it up because you owe for waking Tera in the middle of the night like a damn heathen. None of this will happen again,” I inform Matthias. He stares at me like I’m a mirage.

I turn to Shade with my dead gaze and look him over. He seems fine so I let it go. But he’s not getting off easy for this little stunt.

“You get embarrassed easily so your punishment for this will be at home.”

28. Structure of Love

Shade

I watch as she turns and walks away, her ass practically hanging out of her shorts they’re so small. She doesn’t even have fucking shoes on.

I’m hard as a rock and my throat is so dry that it clicks when I swallow.

“Where did she come from?” Gabriel asks quietly.

“I didn’t see her,” Mikael, his giant bodyguard says in confusion. As the only person standing and taller than Melissa by several feet he had a clear view of the entire room around us. With Evie’s bright teal hair he couldn’t have missed her.

“Yeah. That chick Tera hit it dead on. Be quiet and still,” Cade says with wide eyes. “She’s a damn ninja.”

“Was that South?” Matthias asks me, his face pale. I’ve never seen so many of them rattled at one time.

“Yeah,” I say flatly. I’d rather be chasing after her and begging for forgiveness than finish this meeting. “Are we done here?”

They all give me looks of disbelief.

“You have your leak,” I gesture to the dead body soaking the floor. Evie didn’t have a drop of blood on her. How?

Ace stands with a giant grin to inspect the body then turns to me. “I’m fuckin’ jealous. Your girl is somethin’ special.”

I slowly turn to face him and palm my own knife.

Ace raises his hands, his smile unchanging. “Not wantin’ to poach, just sayin’ you should be proud. Wife her up.”

“I am and I will. Let’s finish this so I can go home.”

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