Page 86 of Reaper & Ruin
My heart stuttered, confusion washing over me. I stepped closer, my eyes darting between her and Declan’s body. His throat had been slit, the blood pooling thick and dark beneath him. I didn’t need to look a second more to know that she had been the one to do it.
“What do you mean?” I asked quietly, my voice low but firm.
Her breathing hitched as she looked back at Declan, then at the bed. “I told him I wouldn’t do it. I told him. But he wouldn’t listen. He said it was the mission, that we didn’t have a choice.” She waved a trembling hand toward Declan’s lifeless form, her knife clattering to the floor. “I had to stop him, Atlas.”
I followed her gaze to the bed, my stomach twisting into knots. The boy was still asleep, his dark hair a messy halo against the pillow. His face was soft, innocent, and painfully familiar.
There was a photo of him and his parents on the wall by his bed. His eyes the same shade as the crying girl opposite me.
And then it clicked.
He wasn’t just some random target. He was the little boy she’d been watching in the shadows since his birth.
He was her brother. The one she’d spent years tracking from a distance, adopted into the Mancini family as a baby and kept hidden from the world.
He was someone she would never harm.
“Atlas,” Silver whispered, her voice breaking. “Please don’t make me hurt you. But I won’t do this. I can’t.” I looked up at her, seeing the knife now back in her grip. “I love you, and I don’t want to hurt you. But if you try to hurt my brother, I will kill you.”
I looked back at her, at the tears streaming silently down her face, at the knife trembling in her hands, at the boy who had no idea how close he’d come to dying tonight.
Despite the dangers, despite knowing the rules, I knew what my choice would be.
What my choice would always be when it came to my sister.
I nodded slowly, stepping closer until I could reach her hand.
“Come on,” I whispered. “Let’s get out of here. We won’t hurt him. I promise.”
She stared at me for a moment, like she couldn’t believe I was real, then let me pull her out of the room. Her hand was cold in mine, her grip tight and desperate as I led her back into the hall.
She didn’t let go of her knife.
“Stay here,” I mumbled, turning to face her as my mind went a million miles an hour. “I’ll fix this.”
Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, but she only nodded, her shoulders slumping as I stepped away.
I went back into the room, my heart pounding as I moved toward the bed. The boy stirred slightly, mumbling something in his sleep, but he didn’t wake as I carefully picked him up. He was so small his weight was almost nothing in my arms.
As I carried him toward the master bedroom, Kenji appeared from the shadows, his sharp eyes narrowing at the sight of the boy.
“Change of plans,” I murmured.
Kenji stared at me for a moment, then nodded silently, falling into step beside me. He was the least of my concerns, regardless of what I planned.
I knew he wanted out of our life just as much as I did.
When we reached the bedroom, he moved first, disarming Viktor Mancini with practiced ease. The mob boss woke with a start, his hand darting for a weapon that wasn’t there.
“Don’t,” I said calmly, holding his son out to him in a warning that made him still.
Going against every rule The Company had, I explained everything—the hit, the betrayal from his second in command, the fact that we weren’t going to carry it out. His hard expression softened when I handed him the boy, his hands trembling slightly as he held his son close. Within minutes, at my behest, he’d woken his wife, gathered their things, and disappeared into the night.
He was off home, to deal with the snake in his nest and find a way to protect the precious boy I could see he truly loved. A way to keep him hidden from the world and dead as far as anyone else was concerned.
Honey found me as I left the room, her face pale and tight with nerves as she tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “Silver told me what happened,” she breathed. “What are we supposed to say when we get back to the compound?”
I met her gaze evenly as my thoughts stopped racing, and the only idea that worked moved front and center. “Nothing. Because we’re dead. We’re not going back.”
