Page 100 of Tempest

Without another word, I pick up the discarded garrote and wind it around Steven Charles’s neck.

He can’t fight me. I almost wish he would. I greatly dislike disarming an opponent to the point there’s no retaliation or attempt to survive. This is how Miguel wants it, however, assuring decisive kills with no mistakes.

I’d hate to tell him that no matter how much a man fights back, I’ll always take him down. All Miguel’s doing is removing all the fun.

The wife screams as she watches her husband die beside her. I glance over while Steven’s head digs into my ribcage. “Perhaps if your husband didn’t skim off the top of the Outfit’s funds, you two wouldn’t be in this sorry state.”

“B-But, I don’t know what you’re talking about! Steven’s a good man. He’d never—please, let him go!”

“Mm, a good man doesn’t work for men like us, sweetheart. Sorry to say.” I pull the garrote tighter.

Marnie shrieks. Steven’s struggles weaken to flails, then slacken into nothing.

“No,” she sobs. “Nooooo!”

“Can I have her?” Hunter practically jumps with glee at the thought of gaining access to our final victim.

“No.”

“Why not, man? I have my tools ready. She’s second-best, anyway. You got the information you needed.”

“Not quite.” I release Steven’s neck, his head sagging backward and staring vacantly at the ceiling. Rounding his chair, I then face his wife, leveling her with a do not fuck with me look.

“My research tells me you’re not innocent in this, Mrs. Charles.”

“I—I—I have no idea what’s going on.” Snot drips onto her tremulous lips. “I’m j-just his wife. I’m on the board of charities. I raise funds for education. I go to banquets with him and talk with his c-co-workers, but that’s all I know about his b-business…”

“The only people I dislike more than embezzlers are liars.”

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Are you?” I tilt my head. “Or are you his teacher on how to skim off funds without getting caught? Tsk, tsk, Mrs. Charles, you got greedy.”

Her eyes widen with innocence, but I catch the flash of temper before they do. “I told you what I am. I participate in social outings, that’s all.”

“Hmm. Rio.” I jerk my chin to my friend. “Finish her.”

“What? No!” she cries.

“Aw, really?” Hunter says. “Can’t we strip her, enjoy the view, and then kill her?”

I clench my jaw, then glance back at Rio. He nods in understanding. Ever since Mila, I haven’t been able to kill a woman, even quick and efficiently. There’s something about their eyes, the abject fear and plea in them. The men possess the same look, but when it comes to females, all I can envision is Mila, and then Ardyn takes her place…

And it becomes a complete fuckup.

“Make it quick,” I say to Rio as he takes my position.

“No! Please! I’ll tell you everything.” Marnie struggles against her restraints. “You’re right. It was my idea to skim off the top of the laundered funds that came through our business. But it was only under the request of Marco B—”

I give a sharp look at Rio, and without hesitation, he shoots her in the middle of the forehead with his silencer.

She flops forward, the opening at the back of her skull spraying blood and brain matter over the walls.

Hunter clucks his tongue. “Now that’s gonna be a troublesome cleanup.”

He is correct, though I won’t tell him. Rarely do I approve of the use of guns down here, even silenced ones because of the mess they make. Unfortunately, they’re also the most effective with instant death, and with Marnie Charles, she needed to be dead immediately while Hunter was in the room.

A sound close to a kitten’s whimper comes from my right. My head snaps in the direction of the sound. I catch movement in time to notice one filthy white sneaker slide into the shadows under the staircase, along with a flash of blond hair.

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