Page 16 of Assassin

Surprisingly, Zayn was the first to answer.

“If you want that problem solved, I can take a little trip-y-trip and make him disappear for you. Gene, not Ethan. That might raise some questions with the kids.”

She was horrified.

And touched all at once.

“First, I trust my husband, and second, I actually love Gene, so no, you can’t kill him. He’s part of our family, and important to Ethan.”

Zayn shrugged.

“I never said kill. Where did you get that from?” he asked, turning it around so he didn’t get implicated in anything.

Greyson laughed.

“Oh, boy,” he said. “The stories I have about Ethan and Gene long ago when they were working out of the Philly office with me.”

Elizabeth stared at him.

“On your way back to Boston, swing into DC. We’ll do lunch. I want the deets. Ethan is selective with sharing those memories.”

He wasn’t saying no to her.

“Absolutely, Elizabeth.”

Because she had shit to do, she then focused on them.

“Listen, if Thomas keeps putting his nose in this, I’ll handle it. I will sashay my ass back to NOLA, and I’ll make Gene confront him. I already warned him that if he fucked with my people in NOLA, I was going to get mean. I have protections in place.”

They suspected what those ‘protections’ were.

“Spiders?” Maura said.

At that one word, she nodded.

“I figured,” she said. “When Tommy came to the door, I felt like we were being watched. It didn’t feel like a bad guy.”

Well, that was good.

Sorta.

“Reaper is in the neighborhood, and he’s been paid to watch your backs. So rest assured. Now, if there’s nothing else to discuss, I have to get back to making sure my children, the minor ones, don’t wreck a town.”

Dakota snorted.

“Like you don’t make buildings quake.”

She shrugged.

“I do what a girl has to do. Tell Remmy, if he ever leaves his girl’s side, that he needs to be careful. There are still mercenaries tied to the Chinese mafia on the ground. We can’t account for them until after you take out the rest of the trash.”

Rogue clued her in.

“Calyx closed down The Underground temporarily. Right now, he’s likely enjoying Artemis being gone, and having a new focus. As in the lady.”

She smiled.

“Good. I’m glad. He deserves it. I like Calyx. She’s good for him. She’ll keep his ass in line, and as we all know, each one of you needs a babysitter.”

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