Page 17 of The Wraith & Her Killer

Yeah, no kidding. The boys know some of Odessa’s story based on what I told them in the past when I was first sent to the west coast by Mikhail, but even I didn’t have all the details back then. They thought I was off the rails nuts and certifiably insane with how often I would leave a string of bodies in my wake. They weren’t wrong. The first time they invited me toplaywith them was thefirst time the urge to kill had been dulled fractionally enough to at least explain my compunction to cause a heart to stop beating.

Odessa was in possession of the threads that held my humanity together and when she left, they snapped one by one with every mile she ran away from me.

I divulge the new information to the two of them, explaining how her mother had been killed and how she was sold to Santino Ferrero for what purposes, I don’t know, but regardless of what they were, he was a dead man the moment he had half a thought topurchaseher.

“Ferrero? The head of the Italian mafia here in Washington?” Rune asks, moving down the hall and turns into his office where all of his computer equipment is set up. Rune is a fucking tech genius and his skill is highly sought after in the underground world.

“It seems so. Why?”

“He’s a piece of shit,” Calix mumbles under his breath. I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. Rune sits behind his computer monitors, but makes room for Cal when he moves to sit in his lap.

“Welcome to our world, Calix. We’re all pieces of shit here.”

Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes while Rune types away on his keyboard. “No, I mean he’s an actual piece of shit. Santino Ferrero let his position of power go straight to his head. From what I heard, he’s in the red after gambling all of his money away on bad business dealings. He’s also in deep shit with several outfits that were once allies to the Ferrero family after three of his drug trafficking rings were busted and his storage warehouses were set on fire.”

He pauses, sifting through his mental cache of information again. That’s the special thing about Calix. He has an eidetic memory, which is both as much an asset as it is a liability. All it takes is hearing or witnessing one conversation or event, and it becomes permanently ingrained in his memory, right down to the finest details. It’s quite the spectacle to watch, because it’s like he becomes a completely different person when he starts to recall information.

“He was also arranged to marry Nadya Papov, daughter to thehead of the Papov bratva, by his thirtieth birthday. It was done so in an effort to strengthen the alliance between the mafia and the bratva of the west coast, particularly the Pacific northwest. But I heard through Volkov that Pakhan Papov called it off suddenly, earlier this week. This is Santino’s second engagement, but I don’t know who she was or what happened to the first woman promised to him,” he says, a look of frustration creasing his brows as if he’s upset that he doesn’t have more information. His dark eyes snap up. “Wait,” he says, looking at me from behind the monitors, “you were on his property today. How the hell did you not know any of this?”

“Because if you recall, the contract gave me no information about the kill other than a first initial and the money he was willing to pay. The hit was an anonymous request. The whole situation was fucked and nothing made sense. There was no staff onsite, no security either. Every alarm had been disabled prior to my arrival. Santino suddenly wanted Odessa dead after he had her under his thumb for a fucking decade.” I grind my molars so hard at the thought that I swear I hear one of them crack.

“The question is, why?” Calix ponders, his eyes moving to whatever Rune is doing on his computer.

“No, the question is, where the fuck did he go? I don’t give two shades of shit about the ‘why’ of it all. He’s a dead man regardless of what his reasoning is. He took what belongs to me but he sealed his visit from the fuckingCupid Killerthe moment I found out exactlywhohe wanted dead.”

Calix’s doe-eyed mocha gaze meets mine and his shoulders sag in defeat, “She really means that m?—”

“Shut the fuck up, Cal,” Rune snaps, slapping a hand over Calix’s mouth, but I’m already moving across the room and lifting Calix by his jaw off of Rune’s lap, backing him into the wall. I crowd his space and force my knee between his legs. He’s already hard against my thigh because Cal lives for rough play.

Rune watches silently from his chair, knowing to not interfere. Icock my head to the side, watching his pupils blow with arousal. “What’s wrong,malenkyi diable? Use your words.”

His breaths come heavily and I loosen my grip on his jaw so he can speak clearly. “I don’t—” He swallows, his eyes darting to Rune. Rune nods back at him in my peripheral. “I don’t like the idea of losing you to someone else.”

I narrow my eyes. “Who says you have to?”

“I—Well,” he stutters. “I don’t—I?—”

“Calix,” I croon, pressing my knee harder into him until he groans. “Lines were drawn in societal norms by jealous men, and tell me where the fuck any of us fit into society?”

“We don’t,” he breathes, his eyes volleying between mine.

“We don’t,” I confirm.

I don’t like the idea of anyone but me coming anywhere near myWraithbut perhaps I could attempt to extend the same trust to Calix and Rune with Odessa as they’ve given to me with each of them. What’s the worst that could happen? I stab them both and take her far away from here? Simple solutions.

Just when I think Calix is about to implode from the friction of my thigh against his dick, I back up a few steps and turn my attention to Rune. “We need to find this cocksucker first so I can make him dead before I can even think about fucking. I’m about to lose my fucking cool and start stabbing, Rune.” It’s like he’s not even paying attention. He’s actually got his eyes glued to the monitor. “What are you doing?”

“I put some feelers out on the dark web. Offering payment in exchange for information that can lead us directly to Santino.”

“You don’t need that,” a soft voice calls from the doorway. All three of us turn at the same time to see Odessa standing there in nothing but a black tee, her pastel locks falling in messy waves down to her navel. Her dark eyes flit over each of us before landing on me.

She crosses the room and stops in front of where I stand. Her cheeks are flushed a bright crimson as she watches Calix panting like the dirty dog he is somewhere behind me. She probably witnessedthe whole exchange. I don’t bother with offering an explanation, though. Instead, I lift my hand to grab one of her wild, wavy strands of hair to rub between my fingers and my eye fucking twitches when she flinches away from me. The bruising on her face is just one of the infinitely many clear indicators that it’s not just me, but because it’s a habit she’s formed from her past. I can see the apology and fear written in her eyes, but I don’t want her cowardess. I want to devour that fear and leave nothing but the crumbs of unapologetic chaos in its wake.

She steps closer to me when she notices the two extra sets of eyes on her. Rune is watching her with a disinterested expression and Calix can’t decide if he’s jealous or turned on at the sight of her. They each have a bad history with women, so I’m sure there’ll be an adjustment period for the four of us.

I gesture to the man now scowling at Calix. “This delightful ray of sunshine is Rune.”

He flips me off before softening his hardened expression and nodding at Odessa.

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