Page 48 of Ghosts of Halloween

I stare at him, taken aback. Because that’s not the story he sold us before. When he convinced us to do the job, describing in detail how Vladimir partied and drank every time he got a lot of cash, how careless he was, leaving the money almost unprotected, how easy the job would be…

He had a plan B then. If they ever found out it was us, we would run. He promised us that.

“The fuck, Noah?” Caden asks, anger glittering in his dark eyes. “That’s not what we agreed on.”

Noah brushes hair off his forehead and looks straight at Caden, hand relaxed around the gun.

“This isn’t confirmed. It’s just a hunch I had, and I could be wrong. I won’t run and force Harlow to leave everything behind.”

Jack comes closer, shoving his hands in his pockets, his face guarded.

“So it’s about Harlow? Fuck, man, she’s an adult. She can handle moving. We’ll take care of her.”

“I will take care of her,” Noah spits, his grip on the gun tightening. “She’s my responsibility. And if we know for sure, yeah, we can run. But for all I know, Vladimir was just off his rocker and talking nonsense, so why…”

He breaks off when a loud thud comes from the front door. There’s a sharp crack, and next thing I know, a guy in black leather stands in the doorway, gun with a long barrel trained at Noah. It goes off with a pop, and I see in slow motion as Noah’s body jerks with the impact. His gun falls out of his hand, and he staggers back, mouth open, hand clutching at his stomach, where his gray shirt is suddenly soaked.

Soaked red.

I just stand there. I fucking stand there for what feels like ages, but can only be a second, before I’m knocked off my feet as Caden tackles me to the floor. We crash, another pop reverberating in the old house, and then Noah’s gun is in Caden’s hand, and he shoots, too.

Unlike the other guy’s pistol, this one doesn’t have a silencer. Shots reverberate in the room—one, two, three, four—and then, there’s only a ringing, horrible silence.

“He’s dead,” Caden says, sounding hollow and far away, even though he’s right next to me. “We’re okay. He’s dead.”

And then Noah makes a horrible, gurgling sound, and I know we’re not okay.

We’ll never be again.

28

Caden

Silas finishes his tale, eyes gleaming with a challenge as he looks at Harlow. His throat works, and his fingers curl slightly and uncurl, as if he’s checking the impulse to ball his hands into fists.

“Who… who was it?” Harlow asks, her face pale, eyes dry.

“Some guy,” Silas says with a jerk of his shoulder, like he wants to shrug with indifference, but is too wired to pull it off. “Vladimir’s goon. Don’t know his name and it wasn’t on the news. When they came for us, they took the body away and bleached the floor before the police arrived. Vladimir wanted the crime scene clean of his evidence, and that guy’s body was like a neon sign pointing at him.”

Harlow turns to me, hugging herself, shivers going down her arms and sides.

“But he’s dead,” she says, her quiet voice ringing with satisfaction. “You killed him.”

I nod, and she throws herself at me, cool arms wrapping around my neck. Suddenly, I have an armful of naked Harlow pressing to my body, and despite the solemn mood and grim memories floating in the air, my dick twitches in my pants.

Without conscious thought, my hand travels down her spine to settle right over her ass, and I start planning how to drag her away for a bit, when Silas’s cold voice cuts through my growing lust.

“Don’t you want to know what your brother’s last words were?” he asks, taunting.

“Fucking stop already,” Jack says, and I’m torn.

On the one hand, I always wanted her to know. I wanted the knowledge of everything that led to us becoming ghosts to destroy her as we took our revenge from her body. But Harlow’s grown on me. She’s become… precious, in a way. She’s suffered enough, and she’s still grieving, I can tell.

I don’t want to add to her suffering. But of course, it’s too late.

She turns to Silas, walking out of my embrace, her body vibrating with tension.

“Tell me.”

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