Page 80 of Mine to Keep
“You put a price on my head, Teresa. After you almost denied me payment for a job.”
“A job you botched,” she spits at me. “Imagine coming home to find him like that. And I wanted to live in that house, but all I could see was the blood stains everywhere. I had to sell. You know how long it took for me to sell that fucking house, knowing someone died in it? I had?—”
I raise my gun and she stops talking, tears welling in her eyes. “The job was done. You could have used that five million to clean it all up or, hell, even bought an identical house down the block. But you chose to have me killed.” I shake my head as if I’m disappointed in her. “Now you’ll be the one in a body bag.”
She whimpers, dropping to her knees. “Please, don’t kill me. It was a…misunderstanding. It won’t happen again. I swear.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” I tell her, pulling a syringe from my pocket. I remove the cap and tuck it away. “You won’t be alive to order another hit.”
She tries to run, jiggling the door handle, but she forgot she threw the bolt. Teresa manages to duck under my arm to make her way to the balcony, but I grab her by her ponytail and yank her back. When she falls onto her back, I inject her with a syringe full of insulin.
Teresa thrashes and cries, rolling around on the floor for several minutes until she stops breathing. I stand over her, watching as a pallor comes over her face, her eyes wide in fear. After I check her pulse to ensure she’s dead, I lift her body and place her in her bed. If someone comes for her, they’ll think she’s fallen asleep.
After I set the scene, I send Peggy a text with all her banking information. She sends a thumbs-up and a kissy face emoji.Shaking my head with a smile, I pocket my phone. Peggy plans to siphon that money and use it for The Void and whatever it is they do these days.
It takes me no time to slip out of her villa and onto the beach. I blend in with normal tourists, walking in the sand to get back to the main road where I left my car.
Once I’m behind the wheel, I send Olivia a text.
Me: I’m done. Finished my last job.
Olivia: Happy for you. See you three in a few months?
Me: Yep.
I toss my phone in the passenger seat and head home.
I’m glad this was my last job because after my injuries from the fucking dynamic duo, I wasn’t one hundred percent. The knife through my hand fucked something up and I can’t move it like I used to. If I had stayed in the business any longer, it would have been a liability.
The drive only takes about fifteen minutes, then I’m back where I belong.
Once I let myself in, I check all the downstairs rooms and don’t find them. I take the stairs to the second floor two at a time, smiling as I hear the chattering of my little one.
When I get to Javier’s art room, I lean against the doorjamb and just watch the two of them, hit with a strong sense of déjà vu. Talon is sitting on a couch that he maneuvered next to Javier’s canvas, leaning on the arm and talking a mile a minute. Javier hums, dragging his paintbrush along the canvas, a splash of color appearing under his strokes.
Javier’s hands are spattered with paint, and he has a paintbrush woven through his ponytail keeping it out of his face. Talon’s hair is in a large ponytail on top of his head, the coily ends dangling over his forehead.
This is what I wanted—to be with them, to be a part of their light, to see them thrive.
I fucking love them both.
Talon notices me and smiles, climbing off the couch and skipping over to me. He hops into my arms and I catch him under his ass, laughing as he wraps his arms around my neck.
“Daddy Koda. We missed you.”
Both Javier and Talon said they liked my birth name and started calling me Daddy Koda so they can say it all the time. I’ll admit, it’s nice to hear it. After going by Knox to honor Patience for so many years, I like that they call me something only she did.
I flick up an eyebrow. “Did you? You didn’t even give me a kiss before I left.”
He grins before leaning in and planting a quick kiss on my mouth. “There. Feel better now?”
I give him a look and his eyes grow wide. “If you want to get spanked, keep being a brat.”
After I went and found to my boys, I made sure I gave Talon a sound spanking for how he behaved in the safe house. He could barely sit for a week, but I think he liked it. His bratty behavior got worse and worse. I’ll have to think of a new punishment for him—he likes spankings way too much.
“I’m not being a brat, Daddy Koda. Promise.”
I chuckle and kiss him lightly before walking over to the couch, sitting down with Talon on my lap. Javier stops painting long enough to come over and kiss me gently. “Hey, Daddy Koda. You all done?”
