Page 27 of The Villain

“I did it,” I tell Andi as my laughter dies down.

I can’t let Evie shoulder the blame for this. She obviously doesn’t know anything about Matthias, me, or the business. If she knew we’re a bunch of contract killers she’d run. I’m not risking that. And I’m not letting any backlash hit her either.

She’s mine now. Nobody gets to touch her.

“You’re admitting it?” Andi shrieks in my ear.

Even that can’t wipe the smile off my face.

“Yup.”

“I can’t fucking believe you,” she yells. She goes on and on about how much money she’s going to have to shell out for repairs and replacements. How Matthias isn’t covering any of it because he just knows this was me. I listen to it all without saying a word, my smile serene and weird feeling on my face. The phone beeps as she hangs up. I wasn’t listening anymore anyway.

Andi will get over it. And no one else will ever know it was Evie. Problem solved.

My phone rings and the smile drops when I look at the caller ID.

“Shit.”

10. Dangerous

South

The door opens and I take in the man in front of me.

His skin is dusky, his hair black and pulled back into a tail. His brown eyes are squinted at me and the scowl on his lips is a vague threat.

Must be Max.

When I don’t react to his ‘welcome’ his brow furrows and his expression turns wary. He slides out of the way and I walk in to look around. He needs to work on his intimidation game. He gave in way too easy.

It’s a nice place. Settled in and homey with little bits of Tera and her men thrown everywhere. It’s a peaceful setting to relax after a hard day. Tera more than deserves this.

Max walks around me, giving me a wide berth to stand next to the two other men in the room. Both are standing and eyeing me with caution.

The blond covered in flower tattoos pays attention to Max for a second before his eyes return to me, his expression turning hard. Asher. He settles his feet back into a fighting stance subtly but I recognize the signs. He teaches a class and it shows. I slowly move my eyes up from his stance to meet his gaze. When I raise a brow he frowns.

The one with dirty blond hair is scowling with his arms crossed over his chest as he takes me in. His right leg is cocked at an odd angle as he stares. Trevor.

“Southie?”

Tera’s voice calls my attention away from the stilted silence in front of me. All three of them go on high alert and I frown at her wobbly tone.

“Could you cut this up? The smell… it’s-”

Her words are cut off by a gag and she rushes out of what I assume is the kitchen with a hand over her mouth as she heaves. She disappears through a doorway and all three men are after her like their asses are on fire.

I walk into the kitchen and take a look around. A simple four seat table and the normal setup. The onion she was chopping only has two slices in it.

I drop off the bags I’m holding and poke around until I find a plastic zipper bag to toss the offending item into. Once it’s sealed up I take it to the trash can on the sidewalk so she won’t be tempted to try again.

I find cleaning products under the sink, lined up how Tera likes them, and scrub the counter down until the smell is gone. I poke around more and find a baking pan for the biscuits I bought and get them started, setting aside what she had been working on. She won’t want to eat it now.

I’m pulling out the rest of what I need when they all come back in.

I glance over my shoulder to see Tera wavering on her feet and looking a little green. She’s braced up by Asher of the tattoos. He’s watching me with a scowl. Tera said the kitchen is his space and I’m invading it. Too bad.

“Sit down and prop your feet up,” I turn back to what I’m doing.

---