Page 11 of Monsters in the Dark

“I’d believe you if you weren’t a liar, Swanson,” the first guy replied. “Now, you either tell us who else is here, or you and your female friend are really going to be in for an exciting night.”

Remembering everything that Cian had ever taught me about the dynamics between predator and prey, I left my earrings on the bathroom counter, then walked out into the hallway, making my way back into the kitchen with purpose and a straight back.

“Am I interrupting?” I asked, and both strangers turned to look at me, an appreciative smile spreading across both of their faces.

“Well, I guess Kenneth really doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie,” the shorter man asked, though short was a relative term. The man was the same height as Kenneth.

The other guy started shaking his head. “Why’d you have to have a fucking witness, Swanson,” he muttered, though there was no regret in his voice.

To his credit, Kenneth said, “Just…she knows nothing.”

“She knows too much by just knowing what we look like if you ask me,” the shorter one said. “While I don’t like killing women, I like prison even less.”

Kenneth’s hazel eyes slid my way, and he really looked sorry, but it was hard to identify with his regret when my life was being threatened. Besides, how good of a man could he be if he was involved with the O’Briens? Granted, that wasn’t to say that every sinner was a bad person, because I had a fair amount of sins of my own, but only a fool would end up on the bad side of an O’Brien.

“You can try to kill me,” I told them. “But I don’t think it’s going to work out too well in your favor.”

Those few words had both men pointing their guns at me, and that’s when Kenneth’s true nature came out. With both their attentions focused on me, Kenneth made a run for it, and I almost felt sorry for these two if he got away. It was rumored that Declan O’Brien didn’t suffer fools gladly, so I couldn’t see him appreciating his men getting duped by the likes of Kenneth Swanson.

“Go after him!” the shorter one yelled, giving me my opening as soon as the taller man took off after Kenneth.

Kicking my leg high, I knocked the gun from his hand, and unlike those stupid female characters in the movies, I knew better than to rest or give the man a chance to collect himself. With him still trapped in shock, my right leg came up, kicking him with enough force to send him flying against the kitchen counter. As soon as he fell to the floor, I wasted no time with grabbing a knife from the utility block, then ramming it into his gut, twisting it as it punctured his stomach.

Blood immediately started pouring from the corner of his mouth, and his brown eyes were wide with disbelief, but that’s what you got when you underestimated your opponent, something that Cian had taught me never to do.

Standing up, I looked around, and with no sign of Kenneth or the other guy, I pulled the knife from the dying man’s body, then stabbed him one more time for good measure before leaving him on the floor to bleed out, taking the knife with me.

After placing the bloody knife in my purse, I grabbed the guy’s gun from where he’d dropped it, then waited just inside the doorway. With or without Kenneth in tow, the second guy would come back for his friend, and he was going to be in for a world of surprise when he found out that I knew how to shoot any gun that you put in my hand.

After what felt like an eternity later, I finally heard him call for his partner. “Ren, where are you? The fucker got away.”

Two steps inside threshold, I jumped out from behind the door, then shot him in the head before he even knew what hit him. His large frame hit the floor with a thud, and it really amazed me how two of O’Briens men could be so easily taken over. Like his friend, he had underestimated me, assuming that Ren would have no trouble taking care of the likes of me.

Little did he know, there wasn’t anyone like me.

Cian had made sure of that, and thank God.

Chapter 7

Declan~

I was pissed, and for a lot more reasons than Cathal taking all of our money tonight. After the poker game, the blonde cocktail waitress had been ready to suck my dick and ease the sting of losing seventy-five-thousand dollars to my little brother, but those plans had immediately come to a halt when Desmond hadn’t been able to get a hold of Ren and Jacob. About four hours into our game, Desmond had gotten a call, Ren telling him that they’d finally found Kenneth Swanson, and that was the last that we’d heard from either Ren or Jacob.

Now, normally, it was James that cleaned up the messes, but there was more at play here, and I knew it. There was no way in hell that Kenneth Swanson could take out one of my men, let alone two of them, so whatever the fuck was going on, I wanted to see it for myself.

When Ren had called to tell Desmond that there’d been some activity at Kenneth’s house, it should have been a simple kidnapping or bullet to Kenneth’s head. Two of my guys missing shouldn’t be a possibility, especially since I only brought in the best. Neither Ren nor Jacob were rookies, so it was plausible that Kenneth had gotten in bed with someone else. My bet would be those fuckers that ran with Klive Simpson, simply because I couldn’t see the Kotovs or Sartoris bothering with a small-timer like Kenneth Swanson.

Luckily for us, Kenneth didn’t live in town. His place was closer to the docks than was wise, but still deep in O’Brien territory for it not to be a problem. Nevertheless, as Noah and I got out of the car, we looked around in case of an ambush. When the second car carrying James and Desmond pulled up next to us, they did the same as they got out of the car.

“That’s Kenneth’s vehicle, and Ren’s car is still parked down the block,” Desmond stated, jerking his head towards a white Mercedes. “So, either Kenneth is still in there, or he took off running.”

“Noah and I will take the front, you guys take the back,” I ordered. “Also, call Kevin and have him check for cameras.” While he couldn’t hack into a security system without getting caught, he could pick up active operating systems in the area.

As James and Desmond made their way towards the back of the property, Noah and I cautiously made our way to the front. Like cops approaching a crime scene, we were looking for anything that could tell us what the fuck was going on here.

“The door’s open,” Noah said as he kicked it open slowly.

I walked in, immediately noticing Jacob dead on the floor. “Fuck.”

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