Page 94 of Passion and Payback

Christ, was that all that would separate me from people like him when this was over?

My gaze moved to the second man. “You were planning on killing them in the first place, weren’t you?”

“I figured it would come down to it. That’s why I brought up their company’s history of employment and tactics.”

“So I wouldn’t be horrified when you inevitably killed them.”

“If I had to, yeah.”

I snorted. “I can’t even be mad at you. Who's to say I wouldn’t have done the same thing in your shoes?”

“There’s probably at least two or three more up here. I doubt he’s surrounding himself.”

“You don’t think he suspects anyone’s coming after him?”

“No. I think he’s just out of his head with grief,” Kai said blandly as if the idea of killing best friends who cared about each other didn’t faze him in the slightest. To be fair, it probably didn’t, considering what they’d done and would have continued to do until we stepped in. And who was I to judge him? He was, after all, a seasoned soldier as familiar with killing as I was with running a business, if not more so. Now, I was on the same path and began to understand what he’d been so worried about.

I had killed the guard without the slightest hesitation. I had seen the danger, first to Kai and then to me, and I had made sure he wouldn’t be a threat anymore. The old me would have shrunk from the idea, let alone putting it into execution. But now, I had taken two lives, one with the full intention of doing so. Somethinghadchanged inside me, and that change might not have left me numb to what I had just done, but it made it far easier to push from my mind before it threatened to overwhelm me with guilt and shame.

“Hunter,” Kai said in a soft voice.

“It’s too late,” I said quietly, putting the knife back into the holster I’d found for it. “What’s done is done. And if what you said is true, there’s no reason for me to lose sleep over these two...or anyone else waiting for us up there.”

The sad glint flashed in his eyes before disappearing again, and he gave me a small smile instead. “Alright, then, let’s get this over with. We need to get moving after this.”

“Got it,” I said, watching as he bent down, took a pair of leather gloves out of his pocket, and put them on before grabbing the gun from the first guard. From the second, he pulled a clip and pocketed it. I seriously hoped we wouldn’t need that many bullets.

We moved back toward the door, and he motioned me to wait as he opened it and stepped into the hallway, smoothly holding the gun up and sweeping it around. After a moment, I followed him, and we walked down the dimly lit hallway, stopping outside the only door with light spilling from the gap under it. His grip shifted on the gun as he thought about how to proceed, probably trying to figure out how many waited for us.

“I got this. I’ll be sure to let you know,” I said, stepping forward and grabbing the door handle as he made a sound of protest. I was tired of waiting for the night to end and wanted it done as soon as possible. Whatever we did, it was going to end with us dead or Mitchell and his guards dead, and waiting around for an ideal moment wasn’t going to work.

Following the same theme as the stairwell, I lurched forward as I twisted the door handle. The door was flung open by my body weight, and I saw a blur of people. I let out a sloppy giggle as I stumbled forward and tumbled to the ground with a little snicker.

“What the fuck?” a voice barked.

I swiveled my head to stare at the owner of the voice and grinned at the three men even as I felt my heart lurch at the sight of the one behind the ornate couch. “Oh hiiiiiii. I uh,” I paused, swallowing as if fighting for the words or fighting a drunken load of vomit. “This isn’t...my room. Hiiiii.”

“For the love of God,” Mitchell snapped, barely looking at me as he glared at his two guards. Unlike his friends, it seemed he had let himself go a little. He’d had a bit of a belly the last time I’d seen him, but now it hung noticeably over the band of his pants as he stood with his hands balled into fists at his side. He still had that shock of red hair, though it had thinned. “What the hell am I paying you miserable idiots for? I didn’t come up here to be harassed by random drunks.”

“Ugh,” another of the guards said with a shake of his head. “Where the fuck are K and Troy?”

“Probably off dicking around,” the other one said, coming closer to me. “C’mon you, you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Mmm,” I said, rolling so I could sit up and grin at them. “Three of ya, huh? I can dig that.”

The guard nearest to me paused. “What?”

“Jesus,” the other snorted. “I think the little homo is hitting on us.”

I heard a creak behind me and a tap on the wall, and I figured that was the signal. “Nah, murderous assholes aren’t really my type. Well, not ones without a shred of dignity or humanity in them anyway, which leaves the three of you out.”

Mitchell’s attention snapped to me, eyes searching my face and widening. “You.”

“Me,” I said simply. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to lie down real quick to let my boyfriend show you your new retirement plan.”

No sooner had I noisily fallen to the floor with a thump than Kai appeared in the doorway. The guard nearest me didn’t havea chance before a loud report filled the air, and a hole appeared in his head, dropping him. The second didn’t fare much better, having only a moment to grip the gun in his holster before the next two bullets caught him, jerking his body to the side before it dropped.

Kai whipped the gun around on Mitchell. “I really wouldn’t reach for that. Trust me, my aim is good, and your dick comes off if you try.”

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