Page 57 of Stalk

I move back over to Ren and gingerly place my hands on top of their shoulders. “We’re getting out of here soon. Marco is coming.”

“Blood,” they whisper.

“Eh?”

They point at my face. I touch my cheek and then bring my hand down to look at my fingers. They’re drenched in blood.

“Thank you,” I tell Ren.

I’ve already made one hell of a mess, so I take another towel from the ground and dip it into the hot tub, then rub down my face, neck, and hands. It’s dark outside, but you never know if you’ll come face-to-face with someone near a streetlight. I’m sure I missed some blood, but it’s got to be better now.

“He was supposed to be shot,” Ren murmurs when I come back to them.

“What?”

They swallow roughly. “My instructions were to poison him, wait until he passed out, and then shoot him.”

“Why so specific?” I press.

Ren sighs. “He was a high profile drug dealer.”

I look over my shoulder at the dead scumbag. “And now… now it looks like he’s been tortured when it was meant to look like a simple assassination or something?”

“I think so. Either way, Catherine will know I had help.”

Fanculo.They don’t say it, but we both know Ren would never be capable of making such a mess or torturing someone like I did. I justhadto have a temper tantrum.

When Marco arrives, it’s go time.

“You have to get this cleaned up as fast as possible,” I tell him once he’s done surveying the mess I’ve left. “I’m sorry I cannot help, but?—”

“Is okay, Mattia.”

My pulse races. “I lost control. But Ren said—Ren said they had specific instructions for this one. Their boss will know they did not do this.”

I can tell from the way Marco’s face becomes more wrinkly that he understands. We’ve known for a while now that Ren’s boss is up to something. If Catherine knows that Ren has notonly failed but gotten help to complete their assignment, I have no doubt that the consequence will be the end of Ren’s life. I think that may have been her goal in assigning this hit to Ren in the first place.

“Cosa dovremmo fare?”Marco whispers.What should we do?

“Partiamo stasera. Tutti noi.” We leave tonight. All of us.

Marco nods. “I will get to work. No longer than two hours, with travel.”

“How?”

He shakes his head at me. “I have backup for these things.” Normally, I would question that, but not tonight. Not right now. “You take the car. Get packed and cleaned up. I will be back as soon as I can.”

“Okay.”

I turn to leave, but Marco grabs my bicep tightly. “Be more careful than normal, yes?”

“I promise.”

Ren rests on the way back into D.C., and I am thankful. They threw up once again on our walk back to the SUV from the deceased scumbag’s house. I know they are exhausted, but we still have a long night ahead of us.

I’m not sure if they’ve figured out that they’re coming back to Italy with us yet. I didn’t want to tell them back in Alexandria so as not to freak them out any further. I’ll make our plans clear as soon as we get back home. They lean against the passenger door window, covered up in their towel. I’m ready to get them home and into fresh clothes and out of those dumb orange swim shorts.

When we arrive home, Ren doesn’t stir. I hop out of the car and sprint over to the passenger side, thankful to be back at my temporary home. I open the door and Ren falls forward, but I catch them in my arms before they can get hurt. They let out a small groan as I take them fully in my arms and carry them to the front door. They’re pretty lightweight for their height, so I only struggle slightly when unlocking the door.

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