Page 102 of Cruel Love

He slams the butt of the pistol against her head, knocking her out cold. She drops back down to the floor and he releases her hand to let her fall hard.

I smirk. “My kind of gentleman,” I say.

He shrugs. “We should get her tied up. Secure the rest of the house.”

“Where’s Boxcar?”

Archer pauses. “He needs a minute.”

I raise a curious brow, but whatever.

Archer bends down to scoop Myra off the floor, her limp body dangling from his thick arms as he carries her out of the room. I stare at her, feeling that rage quickening in me again as I hear her voice in my head calling Archer lover. She really did say it to get a rise out of me, possibly to make me kill her right then and there and foil any hope we had of finding the Boss. She’ll try again, maybe, and I can’t say with any confidence that she won’t succeed. The thought of the two of them together, as non-consensual as their relations were, makes me sick.

A soft groan carries from the kitchen. I turn toward it, slowly walking over broken glass and the fallen bookcase to follow the sound.

I pause in the doorway and watch as Wes reaches along the floor, inching closer to his pistol just out of reach.

I plant my boot on it. He deflates, settling down to the floor on his back and accepting his fate.

I fire a bullet through each of his wide-open eyes.

Chapter 29

Dante

I pause in the doorway to our room. Lucy stands before the mirror in a little red dress that covers nothing but the important parts. I grow even more nervous than I already am. She pays close attention to Markov beside her as he instructs how to use the tiny syringe in his thick fingers.

“Just stick it in him straight and push down,” he says, his thumb on the plunger.

“Anywhere?” she asks.

“The closer to the heart the faster it works. But anywhere should do.”

She nods. “All right.”

“Then, get away because he will fall.” He slides the needle into a small, leather holder. “Hide it deep in your boot. They won’t check there.”

“Thank you, sir,” she says, offering a soft politeness I rarely see out of Lucy Vaughn.

The man smiles and nudges her chin with the edge of his fingertip. “Ni pukha ni pera,” he says as he takes a step back.

I give him a nod as passes around me. He bows his head with respect, his eyes showing the same great admiration for Lucy as they did downstairs.

After he’s gone, I step into the room and slowly close the door behind me.

“What did he say?” Lucy asks.

“Good luck. Or...” I chuckle. “Break a leg, loosely.”

She winces. “Guess no one told him about the knee, huh?”

“I’m sure he would have come up with a better idiom if he knew.”

“You’re probably right.” She shrugs as her face turns a little more serious. “If you’re here to try and talk me out of it, you’re wasting your time.”

I shake my head. “I’m not.”

She eyes my hands in my pockets. “No handcuffs?” she asks, only half-joking.

---