“And you’re blind to it. That’s even worse.”
He studied her. “What are you talking about?”
She hit his arms with shocking force.
His fingers lost their grip and sent his knife flying.
“Empty your pockets!” She forced her blade against his Adam’s apple.
Brad cleared his throat and pulled out his wallet, phone, and another knife. He set each item on the counter, careful to put his phone facedown.
She sneered at him. “You’re really prepared, aren’t you?”
“You’d better not hurt Luna.”
“I’d rather not, but that’s up to you. Sit.”
He shot her a death glare but did as he was told.
She took a seat across from him. Then stared him down.
“What do you want?”
“You dead.”
“Why?”
Rose pressed her palms on the table and leaned forward. “I’m sick of being under your thumb. You’re not even the boss, but I have to follow all of your stupid protocols. I should be a free agent by now, but you’re always getting in the way of that.”
“My protocols? Hello. The company has rules. We can’t run around like rogue agents. The things you want to do—”
“Shut up!” She picked up the Valderdorf and thrust it toward him.
Brad gritted his teeth.
“I can’t move up, and it’s all your fault! You’re always telling Kurt when I don’t do things the way you want — like we’re on a kindergarten playground. If it weren’t for you, I could enjoy my targets more. Really make them pay! But no, I have to play by Brad’s rules. Kill the bastards quickly. Never give them time to think and regret. Just off them. So humane, right?”
“Would you listen to yourself? You’re insane.”
“Me?” she scoffed. “What about you?”
“I follow the rules. It’s taken me years to reach my rank. You think you can do it in months. You’re—”
“Enough!”
“What do you want?”
“I already told you!” She leaped out of her chair and began to pace the room.
His pulse drummed in his ears. He watched for an opportunity to overpower her.
But her gaze never left him.
“We can talk about this … If you want more freedom in the company, let’s come up with something together. We can go to the office and talk to Kurt. I’ll back you up. How’s that sound?”
“Don’t patronize me!” Her nostrils flared.
“I’m trying to help. That’s all I’ve ever done.”
She spat on him. “Liar! You’re a typical man — trying to push down the women. I hate you just as much as every other man I’ve had the pleasure to—”
“Let my daughter go, and you can do anything you want to me.”
“Let her go so she can run home and call the cops? Nice try.”
“She’ll tell Faye I’m with you. My wife already thinks we’re having an affair.”
Rose smirked. “I’m still not sending that brat away.”
“She’s no brat!” Brad lunged for her.
But she blocked his swing and shoved him down. “Stay there!”
“No. If you’re going to hurt me, I don’t want Luna seeing it. It’ll scar her for life.”
“Good!” She punched him across the face.
He held his aching jaw. “You’d destroy a little girl?”
“Why not? Then maybe she’ll grow up tough like me.”
Brad glowered at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re evil.”
She got in his face. “And you’re a dead man.”
“Just let her go.”
“She’ll be fine. Like I said, she’s tied up. Can’t sneak down to see what I’m about to do to you.”
His pulse was on fire as he turned toward the stairs and bellowed, “Luna! How’d you get there? GO BACK!”
Rose’s eyes widened, and she whipped around toward the empty staircase.
But then, as she turned back to Brad, he wrapped his arms around her throat in a chokehold and squeezed.
She gagged and struggled against him. Kicked, flailed her arms. Sliced his shirt with the curved blade.
Agony shot through his arm, and blood trickled down to his wrist. But after a moment, the gash began to tingle and turn numb. His grip slipped.
He pulled away from her before she could turn and stab him again. “Did you put something on the knife?”
Rose leaped for him, covered his mouth and nose, then shoved his chest into the counter, bringing the knife back to his neck.
His vision blurred. He struggled to breathe, to push her off. Managed to pull away from the counter. Gasped for air.
She forced the blade to his throat yet again. Led him to the chair. Shoved him down.
Pulled out a gun. “I didn’t want it to come down to this. Stay there and shut up!”
It took all of his self-control not to say anything.
The pistol was hers, not company-issued. So using it on him would tie the crime to her.
Rose pointed it at his head and grabbed a rope from an empty chair. Wrapped it around him, anchoring the other end with her foot, keeping the gun in place until she tied him up.
He couldn’t move an inch. Not surprising, since Brad had been the one to train her. “What now?”
“I told you to shut it!” She waved the pistol around like a maniac.
His mind kept racing. There had to be something he could say to talk her down.
“I’ve been waiting so long for this day.” She stopped pacing and waving her weapons to get in his face. “I’m going to take this nice and slow. You’re going to suffer for everything you’ve ever done to me!”
“For training you to be the best?”
“Second best.” She struck him with the gun.
He winced, his cheek throbbing.
Blue and red lights flashed on the ceiling.
Brad breathed a sigh of relief and tried to keep his expression from showing any emotion.
Rose turned back to him. “How should we start the games? I’ve dreamed of slicing your smug face to pieces. Watching the flesh hang down while you beg for mercy.”
“You’re one twisted—”
“I told you to shut up!” she spat at him again. “Actually, I’m going to wait for the face shredding. You can think about that while I work up to it.”
The front door burst open.
Several uniformed officers stormed in, followed by Detective Stewart.
Rose’s mouth dropped open. “What the …?”
The detective marched over to Rose with handcuffs. “Rose Flores, you’re under arrest for the murder of Duke Hill.” She looked around. “And whatever’s going on here.”
“Attempted murder and kidnapping!” Brad told the detective. “My daughter is upstairs.”
A blur of activity ensued as Rose resisted arrest and Stewart struggled to untie the rope.
“How did you know she killed Duke?”
“You mean given your lie about her being with you at the time of the murder?” Detective Stewart lifted a brow.
“That wasn’t what I was referring to.”
“I followed all the leads to her. The murder weapon was found in her car down the road — missing the exact piece of the blade left behind at Duke’s murder. That’s all I can tell you.”
The rope came loose.
Brad jumped to his feet and headed for the stairs. “Luna!”
Stewart stopped him. “Two of my officers are getting her as we speak. We need to get you checked out by the medics outside.”
“I’m fine. I want to see my daughter.”
“At the ambulance. Come with me, Mr. Morris.”
He grumbled but went along with her.
No surprise, his neighbors were gathered outside.
“I knew you were innocent all along!” Lucas yelled.
“Of course, your feud with Duke was friendly.” Donna Brown gave him an exaggerat
ed wave.
A pair of officers stepped outside with Luna. Not a mark on her.
Brad pulled away from the detective and drew his daughter into an embrace that he wanted to hold forever.
Chapter Thirty-Four
A wide array of emotions tore through Faye’s psyche. Sympathy for Brad’s wounds. Relief that he and Luna were okay. Shock that his mistress had been the one to kill Duke. Blinding rage that he had a mistress.
“Please, Faye, hear me out.” He pleaded with his eyes.
“I’ve heard more than enough.”
“There was never anything between Rose and me.”
Faye turned toward Hadley and Zeke. “Watch cartoons with Luna.”
“Both of us?” Hadley frowned.
“Yes.” Faye gave her a look that told Hadley not to mess with her.
Hadley and Zeke took Luna to the living room.
Faye glared at her husband. “Make this quick.”
“Upstairs.”
“Don’t want the kids hearing about your indiscretions?”
“There weren’t any. But yes, they shouldn’t hear what I have to say.”
“Fine.” Faye marched up to their room ahead of him, her stomach doing somersaults.
He closed and locked the door. Turned to her. “I lied about the affair to the police to cover for what I was really doing when Duke was murdered.”
Faye folded her arms and tried to keep all the warring emotions out of her expression. “Cheating on me.”
Brad shook his head. “You’d better sit down.”
“I’ll stand, thanks.”
He held her gaze, stepped forward, and took her hand in his.
She snapped it away from his hold. Stepped back and glared at him. Heart pounded almost too loudly to hear him. “You don’t get to touch me.”
Brad didn’t blink. “I’m an assassin, Faye. BlueBlade is a cover.”
“What?” It felt as if all the blood had been drained from her body. She had to have heard him wrong. “It sounded like you said you’re an assassin.”
His expression softened. “I was killing a man named Juan Sanchez in Issaquah. It got messy because I was jumped — that’s never happened before. So that’s how I ended up with blood behind my ear Friday night. I was taking care of a man who tortured and killed children but had thus far evaded the police.”
“You … you kill people?” She couldn’t be hearing him right.
“We’re a secret organization that goes after people who can’t be caught through proper legal channels.” He stepped toward her.
She backed up, shaking her head, studying the man she’d given her life to. “This can’t be right. You’re not a murderer.”
“I’m not.” He shook his head. “I only take out people who are menacing society. The authorities can’t get to them through the law, and we have government permission to do what’s necessary. We keep people safe by eliminating actual murderers from the population. Not people like Duke — I would never have hurt him.”
Her knees wobbled. She collapsed onto the bed. “You said you’d kill him when Hadley—”
“That was just talk. I felt like that, but no, I wouldn’t kill him unless BlueBlade assigned him as a target. But even then, I wouldn’t take anything so close to home. In fact, in Issaquah the other night, that was much closer than usual. I prefer to travel out of the area.”
“To kill people.” She swallowed, her throat dry.
He sat next to Faye and took her hand.
She didn’t have the strength to pull away from his grasp.
“I’ve only ever killed anyone as part of my job. Faye, I’m one of the good guys. I swear it.” His eyes seemed to be telling the truth.
“You’ve been lying to me all this time.”
His face fell. “Only about work. I never lie about anything else to any of you. Ever.”
Tears blurred her vision. “I don’t know you at all.”
“You know me better than anyone.”
She shook her head, a tear spilling onto her cheek.
He wiped it away, his touch gentle. With hands that had killed. Many times.
Faye choked on air. “How can you do it?”
“For you, for the kids.” He kissed another tear away. “The world would be a much more dangerous place without teams like ours.”
Her stomach lurched, churned acid.
“The law can only do so much — it doesn’t accomplish nearly what it should. I shudder to think of what society would be like without—”
“All of your coworkers, too? They’re all killers?”
“Some of them.” He nodded. “Some only work in the shop and don’t know anything. BlueBlade is a legitimate business. We go to conventions and other events, but not nearly as often as I’ve led you to believe.”
She studied him again, trying to see the teenage boy she fell in love with. “How’d you get involved? When?”
“After the economy crashed and my real estate business fell apart.”
“I know when you started working for BlueBlade. Did you know about the assassination business right away, or were you just selling knives and then found out about the rest?”
Brad took a deep breath. “Kurt knew how obsessed I was with finding my dad’s murderer. He knew how it was eating away at me — at us. What I was doing to us. How my temper was spiraling out of control. He thought this would give me something to focus my energy on.”
“Killing people.”
“He was right. Killing criminals who evaded justice has helped to fill my need to get justice for Dad. No, I still don’t know who killed him, but I’m doing good for other families who need the closure.”
“You’re a killer.” She pulled away from him and grabbed a fistful of bedding.
“An assassin. And meanwhile, I’ve been able to keep looking into my dad’s murder. It’s given me time and resources I would never have had otherwise.”
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to make sense of it. “You’ve been killing people for over a decade?”
“Yes. But not just random people—”
“Criminals.”
“Right.” He squeezed her hand.
She looked at him again. “I don’t believe it. You couldn’t kill anyone.”
“Not in cold blood, no. But I’ve been trained to take down hardened killers and abusers. People who enjoy torturing others, destroying lives. I’ve taken out plenty of child killers and traffickers. Serial rapists. Murderers.”
Faye ran her hands through her hair, gasped for air. “This can’t be happening.”
He kissed another tear as it trailed down her face. “I never wanted to hurt you. That’s why I’ve kept this from you — only this.” He shook his head as he shuddered. “But I can’t have you thinking I was sleeping with Rose. I’ve never been unfaithful to you. Staying honest about everything other than work is a promise I made to myself from the start. I’d managed to keep that vow until Friday night, when you found the blood on me. Things got tricky. But I wanted to keep you out of it.”
She shook her head. How could he be telling her this?
“Because of our lie to the police and their focus on me, things got sticky fast. Especially after finding out that Hadley and Zeke had their secrets with Duke—”
“I have to tell you something.” Faye sat up straight, surprised that she wasn’t nervous.
“What?” Brad asked, scooting closer to her.
“I didn’t just cut Duke’s hair that one time.”
“Meaning?”
“He came to the salon for haircuts every other week. Always to me.”
“Why?” Brad asked without even blinking.
“What was I supposed to do? Turn him away? Say that my husband wouldn’t let me cut his hair? Do you know how ridiculous that would make me look to my colleagues?”
He sucked in his lips and nodded. “I understand. Now that you put it that way, I can see how unreasonable I was. It was only a haircut
.”
“And I’m the top stylist in the salon. I should have my own studio, not be working for someone else.”
“I know you’re the best,” Brad acknowledged with a nod.
“Is your … work … the reason you don’t want me having a salon here?”
“Right. I can’t risk people snooping around. Someone could use your business as a way to get into my office when I’m not here to—”
“If you’d have given me a say in that, we could’ve come up with a solution.”
“I realize that now.”
Faye lay down and closed her eyes, her mind swimming with the fresh information and what it meant for not only their past but also their future. She tried to make sense of it all. “What was that receipt you gave the police? For the date you took with Rose?”
“You mean the date I lied about to cover for you since the police knew you were here.” He leaned back and took her hand again, rubbing shapes on her palm. “That was for the dessert I picked up for you Friday night. It was you I was thinking about.”
“After killing a man.”
“After my assignment.”
“What made that night different?”
A few beats passed before he answered. “I suppose being jumped gave me a new perspective on everything. My life flashing before my eyes — if that’s not too dramatic. I realized we’d been drifting apart, and I wanted to bring your favorite dessert home to show you how much I still care.”
My husband, the romantic assassin. She rubbed her eyes. “You’re going to have to give me time to process … I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to believe this … not really.”
“The fact that I’ve kept this from you or that I’m a trained assassin?”
“All of it.”
“It was only to protect you. The less you know—”
She sat up, her heart fluttering. “Wait a minute.”
“What?”
Worry shot through her. “What if Rose implicates you now that she’s been arrested? You’ll go to jail.”
He shook his head. “Neither Kurt nor his father would ever allow that to happen.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They have records of everything. Kurt could drop her files into the hands of the prosecuting attorney, and she would never see daylight again.”
“What do you mean by everything? Is there more? Other than the assassinations? How could Kurt keep her from talking — would they threaten her family?” Her heart clenched at the idea of someone threatening Hadley, or Luna, or Zeke. “Would your bosses ever hurt me or the kids if—”
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