Shadowed: A Hitman Mafia Romance (Team Zero Book 4)

by Rina Kent

  “Why should I?” His voice is stone cold, face emotionless. “I don’t know them.”

  I expected something – anything – but this cold reaction. It’s as if he doesn’t care for the suffering his parents went through.

  “And this man,” he hooks a thumb at a slack-jawed President Joe, “should’ve protected his daughter instead of blaming other people for it.”

  “Shadow!” I smack his arm. “He’s been in pain all this time. It’s all because of my mother, not him.” Tears barge into my eyes. “I… I’m sorry. I don’t know how to make amends for what she’s done.”

  He places a hand behind my back and another underneath my legs. My good arm circles his strong neck as he carries me effortlessly. “We’re leaving.”

  “Wait.” President Joe blocks Shadow’s way.

  “Get out of my way or I’ll shoot you like I shot your underlings at the entrance.”

  He would. I have no doubt that Shadow will finish President Joe’s life in a heartbeat.

  I give a subtle shake of my head to the older man. Now isn’t the time to face Shadow. He probably needs space to deal with all of this. I know I would.

  Even the guard tries to coax his boss back. He says in a low voice, “Our security is compromised. We should head down.”

  President Joe doesn’t budge. He searches Shadow’s face as if he stumbled onto a long lost treasure. “You have Rachel’s nose. How come I was so blind to notice it?”

  Shadow’s shoulders tense underneath my finger, but he strides forward, attempting to sidestep President Joe.

  The latter thrusts a hand in front of him. “Don’t go.”

  Shadow is about to say something — probably profanities — when quick footsteps sound from the stairs. The guard lunges to the door and Shadow’s muscles turn rigid.

  Men dressed in black suits without ties barge into the room, raising guns and knives like in some action film. Only this is no fiction.

  I shrink into Shadow’s hold, unable to suppress the bad feeling lodging at the back of my throat.

  The men give way for another well-dressed man. He’s wearing a leather jacket and black trainers. His hair is slicked back too perfectly, it appears more greasy than shiny. The ugly scar ruins whatever model looks he’s trying to pull off.

  Johnny.

  Twirling a gun in hand, he stalks to the middle of the horde of men, a smug expression strapped over his features. He ran away like a rat from Shadow, but now that he has bodyguards, he appears so conceited like he owns the place.

  The only unarmed man in Johnny’s crew stands on the side, carrying a black leather briefcase — that might as well contain a machine gun.

  “Fucking Johnny.” President Joe spits out in a near growl. Gone is the softening man from earlier. His features regain the cold, ruthless appearance he’s known for. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Johnny smirks and it deepens the hideous scar. “Paying my due, Boss.” He pauses. “Wait. You’re not my boss anymore. You kicked me out.”

  “After you plotted to start a war with Ghost behind my back, you fucking idiot.”

  All smiles leave Johnny’s face. “You always call me an idiot, Boss. Fucking always! Even with all the drugs and people I recruited for you, it’s never fucking enough. Well, I’m not so stupid, now, am I? I’ve been watching all the time and I even took some of your own men. I brought them in so why should you have them, eh? And then this brute.” He points at Shadow. “Eliminated the security I’ve been struggling with. Here I am, Boss. Your idiot is here to take everything. The Firm should’ve belonged to me anyway since I did most work.”

  “You think because you have the power you’ll be able to rule my empire?” He laughs a long humourless laughter. “You’re a fucking idiot all right. Didn’t you learn anything in all the years you spent with me? The firm is only successful because my name is attached to it. Do you think anyone will give you the time of the day if my name isn’t there to back you up?”

  “I can always take that name.” Johnny stops twirling the gun and raises an eyebrow. “We can always become in-laws, Boss.”

  President Joe has other children? That means Shadow has a family. Before I can mull the words, Shadow strides towards the door as if it’s not stuffed with armed men.

  “Good luck with the drama,” he tells Johnny.

  “What? No.” I hit Shadow’s shoulder. “You can’t leave President Joe alone.”

  “I can and I will.”

  “Nah-uh.” Johnny shakes his head and a few men surround us, blocking the exit. “You can’t leave just yet. Actually, you can, but she can’t.” His sleazy gaze rake over me. “We have a deal, don’t we, babe?”

  Shadow’s overcast eyes snap towards me with that frightening darkness that knots my inside. “What deal?”

  “You haven’t told him?” Johnny’s laugh is like dragging nails over a chalkboard in my head. “Zoe here asked me to take her because she’s so sick of the cunts in Le Salon. I’m only making her wish come true. You’re President Joe’s granddaughter, aren’t you?”

  “How did you know that?” No one knew. Even Elle only recently find out.

  “Natalie told me some facts she eavesdropped on. That bitch opens both her mouth and legs for a good sum of money. Once I researched a few things, the picture became loud and clear.”

  Nausea fills my throat and I find it hard to breathe. Natalie? No. This can’t be true. The Natalie I know would never do that to me. A scary thought hits me. She drove me near this place earlier and soon enough, Johnny showed up. This can’t be a coincidence.

  “I’ll marry you to secure President Joe’s empire.” Johnny points a gun at Shadow. “Put her down and out you go. This is a family business.”

  To my utter surprise, Shadow complies. There isn’t even the stiffening in his posture or any readable expression on his face. He places me on one of the chairs without sparing me a glance.

  I clutch his arm with a desperation I never felt before. “I didn’t make a deal with him. I only pretended to, I swear. He’s nothing to me.”

  “We’ll see about that, sweetheart.” Johnny beams from the side.

  Shadow uncurls my hand from his arm with utter ease.

  “Shadow…?” My voice borders on panic.

  Without baring me a single glance, Shadow walks out of the room.

  I sniff and remain slumped in the chair like a wounded animal. I don’t even focus on what’s going on around me. President Joe is talking to Johnny with tense words all while standing in front of my chair.

  Shadow left me. He… abandoned me. Just like that.

  It’s as if nothing happened between us. As if he didn’t cut my heart open and lodged himself inside.

  As if we don’t have a baby… oh my God, my baby.

  I shake myself out of my daze and focus on the scene unfolding in front of me. My top priority is finding a way to get out of here alive.

  With all those men at the door, violence isn’t even an option – especially with the risk on my pregnancy.

  Tears rim my eyes at how easily Shadow walked away. If he can do it without a hassle, how can I trust him to be there for us in the long term?

  Was I foolish enough to believe a monster can grow a heart?

  At the moment, I only have one option to escape this unscathed.

  Play smart, not rough.

  I stagger to my feet and face Johnny. “I’ll marry you.”

  “Absolutely not.” President Joe’s nose scrunches.

  I give him a gentle nod. I’d die before marrying Johnny, but making him believe I would is our only non-violent way to get out of here.

  “But you have to leave President Joe alone,” I continue. “It’s my only condition.”

  “We’ll see about that.” Johnny grins, and I don’t like the smugness in it. Not one bit.

  “We'll go prepare for the ceremony, then.” I nudge President Joe forward.

  “Who said anything about a ceremony, babe?
” Johnny advances with the unarmed man. “This is Larry, he’s authorised to register marriages and he’s all we need.”

  My mouth hangs open. “You mean we’ll get married now?”

  Panic bubbles in my throat no matter how much I try to swallow it back. Johnny the arsehole thought this whole thing through.

  “I need time to prepare.” I push the hysteria out of my voice and plaster a smile on my face.

  “I don’t think I was clear enough, babe.” Johnny snaps his fingers. Three of his men push President Joe and his guard to their knees and place guns to their heads.

  Johnny taps his gun against his own temple. “Now. Sign the certificate or their brains will serve as your wedding dress.”

  “She’s not my granddaughter.” President Joe grits out and motions for me to run or whatever he wants me to do.

  “Could’ve fooled me, Boss,” Johnny smirks and yanks me towards him by the arm. “Now, be my wife, babe.”

  I want to kick him. I want to ruin his face and add an even worse scar to the one already there, but that will be mine and President Joe’s sure death. Even if I follow President Joe’s plan and say I’m not his granddaughter, Johnny could still kill me. He’s that type of wanker.

  My lower lip trembles and I bite it down. He’s the last man I want to spend the rest of my life with. The only person I was foolish enough to hope for something like that with left me, though. He didn’t bother to listen to any explanation I have.

  Johnny taps on the table where the weaponless man sign with a piece of paper in front of him. “Sign.”

  I suck in a stuttering breath and walk to him. I’m sure Liam will help if he finds out. Maybe I can prove that I was coerced into the marriage and can get an annulment. I grab the pen Johnny thrust in my hand with trembling fingers.

  This is too final and will chain me to Johnny. But what other choice do I have?

  With another intake of encouraging air, I hunch towards the table where lies the piece of paper that will shackle me down.

  A thud startles me back. And then another. And another.

  I whirl around to see Johnny’s men falling one after the other like pieces of dominos. They’re shot in the head or in the chest or having their throats slashed with knives. The motion is so blurry, I can’t make out the assailants.

  Blood spills everywhere.

  I throw myself behind the Chesterfield sofa with President Joe and the guard as a blown out war breaks out. Silenced gunshots. Wails of pain. The metallic stench of blood permeates the air.

  Keeping my head low, I peek from the side. My heart almost thunders out of my chest when I make out those dark overcast eyes that became both my doom and my sole source of comfort.

  Shadow.

  He didn’t leave me. He returned for me.

  The moment soon ends and he goes back to slaughtering Johnny’s men. Shadow isn’t alone. Ghost and Mist slaughter the men like it’s a competition about who kills more in less time. A petite frame is bathed with blood due to all the precise throat slashing. The tight T-shirt with ‘Bored’ all over it gives her away. Scar.

  It’s fascinating – and scary – how utterly normal they all appear while killing. As if it’s a walk in the park. A daily occurrence – but again, it is something normal for them. Isn’t that what to expect from people whose sole purpose of existence is to kill?

  Johnny’s men try to fend for themselves. It’s useless. I can’t see Johnny. Either he ran away like a rat again or – I hope – he’s dead.

  Soon after, the shooting stops. The grunts of pain don’t. Injured guards lie all over the room, slumping against chairs or motionless on the ground. Some of them try to crawl outside, leaving sickening trails of blood behind.

  Scar’s blonde hair turned to a dark shade of red. Blood smudges her clothes and drips to the floor like water. Ghost and Mist are all bloodied, too, but since they’re holding guns, I think it’s because of her killings rather than theirs.

  I search for Shadow, but he’s already running my way. The front of his white T-shirt soaks in deep crimson. Alarm grips me like a vice. I’m shuddering now and my throat feels scratchy. I still manage to grab his arm and stand to my feet, frantically checking him out and panting.

  He must be injured.

  He’ll die.

  Just like Dad, Shadow will die because he didn’t leave me.

  He grips both my wrists in one hand and lifts my chin with the other. I’m crying and I must appear like a mess, but Shadow still looks at me with the clearest overcast eyes and with so much care that my heart nearly falls apart.

  How could I even think that he’d abandon me?

  “I’m fine,” he whispers and gathers me to him. “I’m sorry I was late, beautiful.”

  Loud ugly cries leave me as I encircle his back with both hands. My shoulder aches, but I hang onto him with all my might.

  “Take me out of here,” I murmur against his chest.

  Instead of carrying me as he did earlier, Shadow pulls away from me. I frown.

  I stare at the other three. Scar already disappeared. Only Ghost and Mist remain. The stoic guard is taking President Joe out of the blood bath.

  Ghost cocks his head and motions at Shadow and the door with a gun.

  Shadow grinds his teeth, and I have a super bad feeling about this.

  Mist walks to my side in brisk steps. To her credit, she tries to wipe the blood off her face, but it’s still forming rivulets down her neck. “Come with me, Zoe.”

  Shadow plants a kiss on my forehead and nods. I shake my head violently, knowing that if I let him go, he’ll go somewhere I can’t reach.

  The Pit.

  So I do the one thing I know will keep him by my side.

  I fall over and pretend to faint.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Zoe is many things but an actress isn’t one of them.

  Her lips tighten in a straight line and her hands fists in my T-Shirt. Apparently, she remembers that’s not how to play unconsciousness and unclenches her hands.

  If she were a better actress, she would’ve parted her lips and relaxed into me.

  I lay her on the bed in my room in the safe house. Strands of her untidy blonde hair splay on the pillow in a chaotic maze. She’s still the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.

  Zoe can be a walking zombie and she’ll still be the most exotic thing in sight.

  Leaving her earlier had been the hardest thing I did in my entire fucking life. The way she looked at me with a deep sense of betrayal still guts me. I did it to call Scar and Mist who had my back when I stormed into President Joe’s compound. I didn’t realise Ghost followed until later. However, the thought that Zoe thinks I’d ever leave her unprotected left a shard in my soul.

  Not that I should complain. What I have in mind will sink that shard deeper.

  My eyes narrow on the blood marring her camisole, but I’m sure she wasn’t shot. I kept an eye on her the whole time I was butchering those wannabe mercenaries. I had Aaron come over before I carried her to the room. After some aristocratic bitching about how we always bother him, he bandaged Zoe’s arm, saying she doesn’t need stitches. Needless to say, he figured Zoe was faking being unconscious and I had to kick him out before he spilt water on her face.

  My hand is smudged with blood and so is my T-shirt. I yank and toss it aside then I take a quick shower, but don’t bother with clothes. I know how much she hates the bloody version, and I’ll do everything to not expose her to this image. That only goes as long as she’s not threatened. I’ll paint the whole fucking world red if something happens to her.

  A few cuts decorate my torso, but it isn’t something I’d lose sleep over.

  When I re-join Zoe, she’s still in the same position. I smile when her pupils move beneath her lids.

  I dry my hair with a towel and stare at her from the bathroom’s threshold. She looks so vulnerable like this. So beautiful but also so fragile. She’s a different beast when awake, bu
t what if something happens to her while she sleeps?

  The mere fucking thought of not being there for her guts me. She’s pregnant, Elle said. With my baby.

  I didn’t even form an opinion on that. People like me don’t deserve to be fathers. I sure as fuck won’t be like Zoe’s dad – who magically happens to be my biological father.

  My history means shit to me. At some point in my life as Rubbish boy, I wondered why I was abandoned, but then survival instinct became more important. Seems that my parents had a tragedy on their own, who am I to complain?

  A father. I’m going to be a fucking father. Perhaps I need to call Crow and haul his arse from France to get tips since his nurse is also pregnant, the last I heard.

  Even if I don’t deserve to be a father, there’s no way I’m bailing out. This woman is pretending to be fainting to keep me by hers and our child’s side. No wonder she gained weight and looked so radiant all this time. I should’ve connected the dots. If she wants kids, I’ll give her a whole fucking football team.

  I retrieve a wet cloth and stalk to Zoe. I prop her up and the horrible actress stiffens. I smile while I lean her head against my chest and peel the bloodied camisole off her. I pay extra attention to her arm wound and wipe the blood off her skin.

  Her head still leans against my shoulder when I’m finished. With a smile, I place a kiss on her throat where she’s sensitive the most. She arches against me, so I do it again, slightly biting. This time, a stifled moan leaves her.

  “Come on, beautiful.” I let the cloth drop to the ground and place both hands on her hips while she’s still against me. “Open those hypnotic eyes.”

  She remains still, so I suck her earlobe into my mouth and nibble on the sensitive skin.

  Her moan comes out unrestrained. She sags against me and twists her head to the side, asking for more.

  So I give it to her.

  I slip my hand underneath her bra until my fingers find a perfectly erect nipple and twist it while biting her neck at the same time.