Page 97 of Reaper Flame

“You’d better tell him there’s been a...” I paused to think of the right word. “Misunderstanding.”

TWENTY-ONE

Zander’s face twisted in fury as he assessed the scene, pacing back and forth like a troubled detective from a cop show. He scowled as he looked at the ring. Sure, it was a forensic nightmare, but it would have been worse if he arrived to see West balls deep in me. That would have impressed him even less than the blood spatters over the floor.

He glared at West, who lounged against the wall. “I thought you said you could handle her.”

“Her?!” I jumped down his throat. “I have a fucking name, and that bastard was asking for it!”

“Killing him was not part of our plan,” Zander snarled, shooting me an icy look.

“So?” I shrugged and checked my nails. After the scuffle, they were now chipped. Brilliant. Another thing we had to thank the Blackbird for. “Plans change.”

“Clearly.” Zander’s lips pursed into a thin disapproving line, then turned to West, “How does a lesson in self-control end in a murder?”

“I’m not going to apologize for protecting our girl,” West said. “The slimy fuck pulled out a gun. What would you have done?”

Zander clenched his fists. He didn’t reply because he’d have done the same thing without hesitation.

“The Blackbird knew what Hiram was planning to do to Q,” I said. “He told him about the fucking yacht! That was never part of your plan. Who says he wouldn’t have turned on us? You should be grateful for what we did.”

“Grateful?” Zander laughed. “This is another mess I have to clean up becausebothof you couldn’t control yourselves. Did he pull out a gun unprovoked?”

I rolled my eyes. “What does it matter?”

I’d already decided before the Blackbird tried to draw his gun that I wouldn’t let him leave the Golden Gloves alive. Why did Zander care about the details? Knowing wouldn’t restart the bastard’s pulse.

“Don’t pretend you did it for the Sevens,” Zander seethed. “You did this for revenge.”

“Wrong again, Zander!” I said. “I didn’t do it for me. I did it for Q.”

“You were reckless,” Zander sneered, spitting out his words. “You murdered our only fucking informant!”

“The Blackbird wasn’t an asset,” I replied dismissively. “He was a liability, and he needed to be taken out.”

Zander’s shoulders shook in anger, letting his usual calm exterior slip for a moment. “That wasn’t your call to make.”

“If he hadn’t crashed our party, this would never have happened.” I batted my eyelashes innocently. “He basically served himself up on a plate!”

“Why was he here?” Zander asked sharply. “He’s not someone who shows up out of nowhere.”

I stayed silent. The Blackbird only managed to say a few sentences before I’d gone psycho on his ass. Perhaps Ishouldhave done a little interrogation before breaking his neck, but I wanted to get to the fun part.

“See? Reckless!” Zander shook his head. “Whatever he was here for, we’ll never find out now.”

“I’ll call in the crew to clean the place up,” West said, picking up his cell and starting to dial. “It’ll be done in an hour.”

“Not yet.” Zander held up his hand to stop him. “We can’t have this getting out. Right now, we trust no one but each other. We need to plan our next move and control the damage. This needs to be kept quiet.”

“What do we do now? Throw him off a cliff?” I grinned wickedly. “Or are we feeling an acid bath?”

“Youare doing nothing,” Zander said, pointing a finger at me. “You’ve already done enough for one night.”

I pouted. “You ruin all the fun.”

West coughed to disguise a laugh. I may be able to get away with mocking Zander, but he didn’t want to push his luck further. Zander’s ringing cell caused us all to freeze. He answered and his expression darkened as he listened to whoever was on the end of the line. “We’re on the way.”

West frowned, sensing his mood shift. “What is it?”

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