by S. K. Lessly
Sweets stiffened and I turned and gave her a quick look that meant she was to stay put. However, I know my wife. As we charged out if the room, guns drawn, I yelled my brother-in-law's name.
He met my eyes and gave me a reassuring nod. I knew he understood what I needed, however he still said to me, “Yeah, I got her.”
I was the first one out of the conference room, my Glock tight in a two-handed grip. I followed the sounds of grunts, bodies being slammed hard against the walls. I felt Malcolm behind me with Stan coming on my six. A woman’s scream echoed just ahead and I picked up the pace. I knew that fucking scream. My blood began to go cold as I sprinted around the corner to our reception area only to find a sight that had my blood immediately going from cold to fucking scalding. I had no time to react. I saw movement to my left and quickly moved in that direction, my gun pointed at a large man dressed in a cheap-ass blue suit.
He was trying to go for his gun inside a holster under his jacket, looking right at Misty.
“Don’t you fucking think about it,” I warned, my voice a deadly growl.
I heard Malcolm shouting similar commands behind me, but I didn’t take my eyes off the piece of shit in front of me.
“Two fingers, asshole. Do it slowly or take two to the face." He gave me an eyebrow lift in question and I added for good measure. “Yeah, I don’t mind getting messy so don’t test me.”
The piece of shit stood up straight, rubbing at his throat, and glared at me with such malice. If looks could kill, I'd be dead three times over. But I didn’t.
I rotated the gun in my hand, signaling him that I had grown tired of his shenanigans, and urged him to get on with it. He rubbed at an impressive angry red bruise on his cheek before he opened his jacket wide enough so I could see his weapon. Slowly, with his eyes on me, he did as I asked and dropped his gun on the floor.
“Good, now kick it over to me and take five steps back.” The man, again, did as ordered, scowling at me the whole time.
I shifted to my left so I could get a good look at the woman Misty had trapped up against the wall between the two elevators. She had a fist full of the woman's dark hair and her knife right up against her jugular. As soon as the woman’s face came into view, my entire body went numb. Rage, fury and shock slammed into me all at once. I could feel my pulse quicken.
Holy fucking hell! Emily got damn Parsons
I couldn't believe it. Emily was here, in the flesh and under Misty's knife.
I didn’t move at first, couldn’t wrap my head around what I was seeing. Then I snapped.
Everything from there happened quickly. I didn’t give two fucks about anything or anyone. All I saw was the woman who tried to fucking kill me standing in front of me and all I tasted on my hungry lips was the sweet flavor of revenge.
“Drop the knife!” boomed a voice I hadn’t recognized. The voice shook me from my headspace and I shifted more to my left and found chaos. The small reception area was trashed. A space that was once decorated with two sets of club chairs on either side of a glass coffee table had been destroyed. Glass was all over the place. Pieces of the chairs were strewn every which way and picture frames lay scattered on the floor. There was also a shit load of guns out and pointed in all directions. Everyone had crowded themselves in this small space, including my fucking wife.
So much for my brother-in-law getting my meaning.
Fucking hell…
“You drop your weapon now or I’ll have you shot. Major, get a hold of this lunatic.”
The frantic voice was coming from a man I didn’t know. He was dressed in a now rumpled gray suit with a torn white shirt. His dark hair was all over the place and looked as if he was tossed around by his hair or he just got out of bed. Since Misty was probably the reason for the ripped shirt, my guess was the former.
“Misty, what the fuck are you doing?” Malcolm asked.
I signaled for one of the security guards to watch the man in front of me and once the big man was secured, I slowly moved closer to the two women.
Misty growled, not moving an inch. “What I should have done years ago, Malcolm.” She bit out through clenched teeth.
“What she should have done years…Wh…” The man stuttered then looked at Malcolm. “Are you going to do something or not?”
Panic took hold of the man who I assumed was CIA. Yeah, he should be panicked. I knew that tone of voice. Misty was fresh out of fucks to give. This guy looked over at my brother, who by the way conveniently had his weapon pointed at his face. Seeing that he wasn’t about to get any help from my brother, he looked at me. I gave him a blank stare letting him know he was on his fucking own. I didn’t know who this character was, but the fact that he brought the woman responsible for trying to kill me here, told me what kind of agent he was in the CIA. I wasn’t helping him do shit. The man sighed, shook his head, and then regarded Misty.
“Listen, whatever happened in the past is in the past. We have bigger fish to fry than old vendettas. You kill her and your life as you know it will be over. You will be hunt—”
Misty cut the man off with a twisted laugh. “Let me stop you right there, Einstein. You have me mistaken for someone that gives a shit. I’m not worried about your empty threats. You couldn’t catch a cold in the dead of winter buck ass naked and soaking wet. This is your fault. You brought this treacherous bitch to our doorstep. Her blood will be on your hands not mine. She deserves to go to hell and I’m going to send her.”
“Misty,” I called out to her, shifting her attention. She was getting agitated. I could see the whites of her knuckles as she gripped Emily's hair.
I also noticed Emily's body go languid a little as she tried move her eyes to me. “Oh, thank God, Jay. Pull your watch dog off me. I’m here to help, okay, that’s all.”
I ignored her and focused on Misty. “Misty, back off,” I called again and she growled.
“No, fuck that, Josh. You didn’t let me kill her when I wanted to and look what fucking happened. She tried to kill you.”
I heard a gasp and I looked over at my wife who looked pale as shit. I gave Curtis a hard look and he just shrugged at me, the fucker. I shook my head and tried to get Sweets to look at me, but to no avail. She looked like she was in full panic mode. Dammit, Misty.
“I didn’t try to kill him, you stupid cunt,” Emily struggled to say, considering the steel pressed to her throat. Misty seemingly eased up on the pressure because Emily sounded clearer when she spoke again.
“If I wanted to kill him believe me, I would have shot him in the head. Hell, I had plenty of times to do it, but, I didn’t. I saved him.”
Misty laughed bitterly and head-butted Emily in her nose. Her head snapped back and smacked against the wall. Blood gushed from her nose, spilling down her mouth to her shirt. Emily cursed, spat on the floor next to her, and glared at Misty.
Misty gripped the hair laced between her fingers then bit out, “You tricked him into going with you on some bogus call then shot him and left him to die.”
“Perchenko was getting close to him, so I had to protect him.”
“So, what, you decided to put Josh out of his misery by killing him?"
“I saved him!” Emily shouted, a steady stream of blood running down her face.
“You tried to kill him, you psycho bitch! You didn’t try to save him. You left him to bleed out!” Misty yelled back.
Emily scoffed. “Oh please, the way you lived up his ass, I knew you weren’t too far behind. I had to do what was necessary to keep my cover. The mission I was on came first, yes, but I led Perchenko away from you all. You should me thanking me.”
“Thanking you?” Misty let out a strangled, yet bitter laugh. “You are so far off your fucking rocker it’s laughable. But don’t worry. I hear Satan has a sense of humor too. I’m sure he'll enjoy hearing your bullshit.”
Both crazy women went silent and stared at each other. Blood continued to run down Emily's pale skin and she made no move to wipe her face. No
one uttered a word. All you heard was heavy breathing, the slight sound of the air conditioning cutting on and the hum of elevators carrying oblivious men and women to work.
“You have no idea who you’re fucking with,” Emily finally said, her voice low and dark.
Misty replied, her voice just as low and deadly as Emily's, “Neither do you.”
They both grew quiet again and I looked over at Malcolm who met my eyes. I knew the sound of Misty's voice only meant one thing. There was no way we were going to get Misty to back down. And fuck I shouldn’t care, but I did and not in the way you think.
Emily claimed she knew how to get in touch with Perchenko. Granted she could be setting us up, but I was willing to at least hear her out. Plus, the fact that Emily was here spoke volumes. She had to have known this would happen and she came here anyway.
But then again, the bitch did try to kill me. In addition, the more I listened to Misty remind me, remind us of what happened, and Emily's fucked up reasoning, the more I thought the bitch did deserve to die. In fact, she deserved to die by my hand.
But before I could aim and pull the trigger, two things happened. One, my traitorous wife screamed, “No, Josh!” and gotdamn stepped into my line of sight, preventing me from pulling the trigger. And two, the elevator door opened and out stepped Shane.
My brother looked around the room, taking in the sight before he shifted his attention to Misty.
He sighed loudly as if he was bored and tired. “Drop the knife, King," he commanded in a deadpan voice.
“Not on your life, Cooper,” Misty bit back, but I noticed the tightly coiled muscles in her body loosen just a fraction.
“Misty, we don’t have time for this. We have shit to do.”
“She tried to kill Josh. Don’t you want revenge?”
“Of course, I do. But I also want the rat bastard who put out the hit on my brother in the first place. That’s twice now; two times too many. I want him to pay and she’s going to give him to us.”
“You can’t be serious.” Misty finally moved her gaze from Emily to Shane.
Shane leaned in close and looked to be whispering something in her ear. I noticed Misty's body go stiff before she cursed, gave him the evilest eye I had seen her give anyone, right before she removed the knife from Emily's throat and stepped back. Holy fucking shit…
Well, if she wasn’t going to do it I can. I shifted to the left, positioning my gun so I could shoot but my damn wife moved with me. The fuck? I looked at her telling her to move out of the way with my eyes. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was going to do. I didn’t give a fuck about what Shane was talking about. I’d been looking for this murderer, waiting for this moment for years and here she was right in front of me. I would be remiss if I didn’t take the shot. But my gotdamn wife kept getting in the way.
“Move, dammit,” I mouthed to her.
“No,” she mouthed back. Fucking hell…
“Tell me you’re joking, Shane?” I heard Misty yell and I tuned back into the fiasco in front of me, my trigger finger itching to fire. Misty’s eyes were wide, wild and manic as she pointed her knife in Emily's direction. “She can’t be trusted. She’s a lying manipulative bitch who doesn’t have a sane bone in her twisted fucked up body. You can’t believe anything that comes from her mouth.”
“Misty,” Shane started but Misty shook her head.
“No, fuck that. She deserves to be put down like the rabid dog she is.”
“Fuck you, King," Emily exploded, a fire I was used to seeing appeared in a blaze in her eyes.
Misty stiffened and moved toward Emily, no doubt about to keep her promise, but Shane grabbed Misty by the back of her neck before she got past him, stopping her momentum.
Shane stepped in front of Misty and moved his mouth to her ear again. My eyes were wide as hell for two reasons. One, the fact that Shane was able to get through to Misty had me baffled. No one had ever been successful in calming her down when she was in her blood-thirsty murderous state but me and she hadn’t listened to me at all. She was willing to kill in cold blood, in front of everyone without batting an eye. I knew what Misty was capable of, I’d seen it first-hand. Everyone else in this room hadn’t, especially Sweets. It had been the only reason why I had first tried to stop her. But again, she ignored me, which bothered the shit out of me.
And two, the way Shane had her close to him caught my attention. It wasn’t out of the ordinary; we’ve all had an arm around Misty in some capacity. However, as I studied the couple, it was the way my brother gripped Misty by the neck that caught my attention. He grabbed her the way I grabbed Sweets—controlling, dominant, and hungry as fucking… holy shit, no fucking way!
Now I watching the two in abject curiosity. Shane continued to hold her close and we couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could tell it wasn’t good. Misty’s face fell in disappointment and went blank before her face exploded in a wide grin. She leaned back from Shane and looked up at him.
“You promise?” she asked.
Shane nodded. “Yes, I promise.”
Misty stepped back and gave Emily a smile so wide it lit up her entire face. It also sent a shiver down my spine. Emily didn’t react. She stood still, wiped her mouth with the back if her hand and met Misty's gaze with some heat of her own.
“Alright, shows over. Let’s get this meeting under way. We have a killer to find.” Shane gave a pointed look at Emily but said to me. “Put your gun away, Josh.”
I started not to do it. But the pleading look in Sweet's eyes had me putting the safety on my gun. However, I didn’t put it away.
Shane lifted his eyes from Emily, looked at me before circling the room. The tension in the room finally settled down. Guns were put away and relaxed postures took hold of everyone, except for me and Misty. Despite the calm taking over everyone, we still stayed on alert just in case one of the CIA goons tried anything, but so far, they didn’t move from their spots.
“What kind of operation are you running here, Major?” the man in the suit grumbled, walking up to Shane. He pointed a finger at my brother. “We need to talk now.”
“Yes, we do, Santini. You can start by explaining why you brought Parsons here knowing the history between her and my brother.” The man started to speak but Shane raised his hand. “Save it, that was a rhetorical question. There’s nothing you can say that will justify you not clearing this shit with me first. You brought a killer in our midst. What did you expect, a warm welcome? Balloons and confetti? And before you try to insult my intelligence, I know you expected trouble. It’s why you brought the two goons with you to protect your assassin. What you didn’t expect was our assassin going on attack.”
The man called Santini opened his mouth to speak again but closed it and sighed.
Shane smiled. “Yeah, I figured as much. If you agree to keep yours in check, I’ll do the same with ours as long as what you have is worth it. If you don’t have what we need, well I can’t promise you she'll make it out of this building alive.” He shrugged then smiled and clamped a hand on Santini’s shoulder. “Now that we have that settled, let’s get to the conference room.” Shane looked at our head security guard. “Rogers, call maintenance down here to clean this mess up. I want this room to look brand new understand?”
“Yes, sir.” Rogers, the security guard close to me replied curtly.
Shane looked over at Emily shook his head then added as an afterthought. “And send Jennings to conference room one with something Ms. Parsons can change into and a first aid kit.” He looked back at the woman currently bleeding on our marble floor. “We'll get you cleaned up, give you some clothes to change into since your clothes are bloody and ripped.”
Emily didn’t respond. She just locked her eyes on Misty.
Shane didn’t wait for a response he knew wasn’t coming. Instead, he turned around and looked at Misty. “You have my six?”
Misty moved her cold eyes to Shane and I could have sworn they warmed ever so sligh
tly. What in the double fuck? Yeah, my brother and I definitely needed to talk.
Misty gave Shane a nod in confirmation, exactly what he was waiting for, and turned and headed to the conference room with quick, purposeful strides. Misty gave Emily a quick look before she followed close on his heel.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It seemed that both of my brothers had lost their ever-loving minds today. First, Malc and then Shane. I looked around to see if anyone else had caught the exchange between Misty and Shane and found Emily looking at the back of Misty’s head.
“Well, well, well.” she said, her voice laced in disbelief. “I’d never thought I’d see the day.” She then met my shocked expression with one of her own before her face spread into a rare smile. “Looks like someone has a new alpha.”
My eyes flew back to watch Misty disappear around the corner toward the conference room as Emily's word sunk in. I shook my head. That couldn’t be what just happened, could it?
Before I could come up with some type of response, I felt my wife’s arms wrap tightly around me, well as best she could, considering her imposing baby bump. I could feel the tremble in her body, which snapped me out of my head.
I was ready to give her a piece of my mind for stepping into my line of sight, but the fear and anguish in her eyes stopped me temporarily. Oh, she would get an ear full. I just didn’t want to do it in front of an audience, namely Emily.
Santini and Emily walked off to the side. I motioned for one of our guards to watch them as I regarded my wife.
“I thought we were waiting in the conference room, Kenya,” I scolded in a voice that told her just how pissed I was.
My wife stilled at the use of her given name. Typically, I called her Sweets. When I wanted to get her attention, I called her Kenya. Well, she definitely warranted my attention.
“Are you alright?” She stepped back slightly and looked up at me. The fear and anguish still captured her brilliant green eyes, but there was also hesitation in them. I should console her and ease the tension in her body but I didn’t.