Page 30 of Tempest

Rossi should break my neck. He’d have every right to after I laid hands on him, as our oath so states.

He releases a choked, delighted laugh under my hand. I release him under a pissed-off growl.

“There’s the temper you’ve been hiding. I was worried you left it back in the city over the summer. Use it. I won’t touch your sister, but I make no promises on the new girl. Make sure she’s as innocent as she appears to be because I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“She’s a Kaine. It won’t be so easy to clean up that kind of mess.” And you’re not fucking touching her, I almost bite out. If anyone lays a hand on her bare skin, it’ll be me.

His dark eyes shine like black marbles. “Worth it, in my opinion.”

Rossi would do anything to keep that night a secret from our superiors. Even torturing and killing a broken heiress.

Fuck, just when I thought I was out of the woods, I have my work cut out for me.

“We have a new target coming in tonight.” Rossi spins on his heel and lifts his suitcase from the parquet floor, settling it on the table and opening it. “I assume you’ve cut out the time to be there.” He chuckles at his own joke.

Hell, any girl stupid enough to fall for this man deserves the pain that comes with it. The same can be said about me. I’m Rossi’s protege, after all. Molded to fit into his shadow with perfect, deadly precision.

“I’ll be there,” I confirm.

“Good.” After sticking the papers in, Rossi snaps his briefcase shut. “You’re dismissed. I expect, by the time you see me again, you’ll have confirmation that the girl is a nonissue.”

I nod, wasting no time getting out of there. He doesn’t give me instruction as to how to get that confirmation, not that I need any. I know what I have to do.

Rossi’s fury follows me outside like charred ash and smoke, mixing in with mine until I can’t tell rage from reason.

I’d had it under control. The girls were unconscious, the car a mangled tin can on the side of the road, and under Rossi’s panicked eye, I pointed at the one who saw him kill one of our own. I was so green back then, coming from one body of criminals and being forced into another. All I could think of was saving my sister. After ensuring Clover was alive (there was no way I could order Rossi not to hit the car that housed his witness, not unless I’d chosen for my sister and I to die at a later date) imagine my surprise when I was consumed with an insatiable urge to save Ardyn, too. So I lied. I’d told my mentor it was Mila Hernandez who saw the whole thing. He didn’t argue with me, considering Mila was in the leather jacket he’d described—a blond chick in black leather, FIND HER—too good to be true, in my esteemed opinion.

Mila’s fate was sealed in the same shitty way mine was when I thought I’d escaped the worst society had to offer.

She was still alive when I’d snapped her neck.

The sound of her strangled pleas, clogged with blood filling her throat, and gut-wrenching terror, haunt my ears as I prowl the campus in search of Ardyn. This is her fault. I’d set us up perfectly and what does she do? Stumble into the lion’s den like a fluffy, stupid rabbit.

Ignoring the girls stepping into my path—“Hi, Tempest!” “Are you coming to the party tonight?” “Do you have a date?” “I’d love to show you what I can do…”—I break through the overly-perfumed clusters, willing to stop for one woman only.

I find her on the other side of the quad, about to step into the Arts & Literature building.

“Where you fucking belong,” I mumble under my breath, zeroing in on her sun-bleached strands. It must’ve been said with a good amount of wrath because the one girl dumb enough to trail after me squeaks, then scuttles off.

“What were you doing on my side of campus?” I ask under my breath, my eye on the back of her neck until I’m but a breath behind her.

She her hand stills above the doorknob like she senses my presence.

Ardyn turns—

I lash out, grabbing her by the upper arm and dragging her to the side of the building.

She stumbles after me, too shocked to protest until she suddenly howls, “Hey!”

I slam my palm against her mouth and press her against the bricks. “The next words out of your mouth better be yes, Tempest, do me harder or your dick is so big, but I’d love to dislocate my jaw to blow you because as far as anyone else is concerned, I’ve taken you to the side of the Arts building to fuck you senseless.”

I thought I’d lighten the mood by adding a wink. All she does is narrow her eyes at me. Her lips move under my palm, slickening and heating my skin, and my face breaks out into a smile when I figure out she’s trying to bite me.

“Looks like the asylum’s taught you a few things, huh?”

My hand falls from her mouth. She topples forward at the unexpected release of pressure, but rights herself, scowling. “What do you want, Tempest?”

“Easy. I want to know why you think yourself smart enough to attend a business class.”

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