Page 60 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

“At the hunting cabin. We got stuck herebecause of the snow.”

“You mean you stayed behind because ofTomás. Fox called me and told me what happened. He also said heleft your ass there. He believes you might be compromised. Are youcompromised, Kieran?”

When I was eleven, I killed my first venisonunder my grandfather’s scrutiny. I had used a 30 Cal rifle that hadleft my shoulder bruised. I had cried when we came up on the dyinganimal. A life. The first of many I’d take since then. But unlikethe enemies I had put down later, the deer had done nothing butexisted. It hadn’t died right away. It bled. Dark bottomless pitsfor eyes stared up at me. Cillian had been proud, until I threw up.And then I refused to end the deer’s life. My grandfather had mademe watch it suffer. “You did that. Now you must ease its passing.”He wasn’t wrong.

He gave me a knife and pushed me to myknees. My pants soaked in its blood. Cillian guided my small fistto the deer’s throat. I felt the moment the blade pierced the thickhide. The moment it gave away to softer tissue. Blood had pooledbetween my fingers, saturated my hand. I had cried throughout itall. Afterward, he taught me my first lesson. If I ever challengedor questioned him, I would learn through pain. He’d tied me to thesame post we’d strung up the venison and whipped me. Three lashesthe first time. Five the second. There hadn’t been a third time,the scars a reminder of my failures.

I wouldn’t fail ever again. I couldn’t failin this, even if it meant losing Tomás. “No,” I finally said.

“Good. Don’t make me have to give you timeout.”

I chuckled. Tor going for a lighter mood inhis deadly voice shouldn’t have been funny, but it was. It remindedme that even if I made a mistake in judgement, I was still safe. “Ineed to know if there’s a contract out on me or him. I need to knowif the attack on him was sanctioned or something personal withJack.”

“I’ll get Graham to check. Give me an hour.”He hung up before I could respond.

After walking the perimeter for a few hours,I started to head back when a car entered the path. Quickly, I hidbehind a row of trees where I shrugged out of my bulky coat,remaining in the lining for ease of movement.

I watched and waited until the SUV slid to astop at the start of the narrow path. He seemed to know where thehell he was going. How? A question for later. He hopped off,slipping on the slick surface but holding on to the truck to keepfrom falling. There were a few rules when hunting. One being thatyou should learn about the game you were hunting. In this case, itwas a human. I recognized him as Antonio Esposito. Age: 26: Darkhair, dark eyes. Pegged him at one eighty, average height. And hewas alone. He may have been a prime enforcer back in the city buthere in the treacherous mountains he was nothing but game.

A gun in his right hand. A Beretta M9A3 witha suppressor, if I had to guess. And he was part of the Brennan’ssecurity team. I’d seen him take orders from Cillian more thanonce. What was going on?

Although I preferred guns, they leftforensic evidence behind. The reason some of the best assassins,Tor included, preferred blades. There was something more intimateabout a close assault kill. Tor thrived on that shit. I preferred along-range rifle. The bow had to do.

The snow had begun to taper. The coldsettled somewhere outside my body. I didn’t feel anything but theweight of my bow, the quiver at my back, and the arrow in my righthand. Once I decided on the place for a kill shot, I’d be exposed.There wouldn’t be time enough for surrender. I had to make the shotcount. Twenty yards out, I stopped moving. Antonio caught sound andstopped. His body going rigid, his eyes scanning the tree line.Fucker made himself an open target just for wanting to see. But hecouldn’t see me. Not until I wanted him to. I narrowed my field ofvision to the hand holding the gun. Then I pulled the string taut,feeling my back muscles work, and breathed slow. The releasepinged, the arrow made a beautiful zing sound as it cut through theair.

Antonio didn’t even see it coming. Itpierced his hand clean through releasing him of the weapon. Hescreamed, hugging his hand as he ducked behind the truck. Alreadyon the move, I took position on his left flank. He’d live if Iallowed it.

“Why are you here?” I called out from myposition.

He swore a few times. “Your grandfather sentme, you prick.” I hung low as he scanned the area for me.

“He didn’t call, Antonio. You came as athreat to me. You know how this works.”

“Fuck you! You’re a dead man!”

“I’ll ask one more time. Why are youhere?”

“The boy!” he yelled. I had my sights on himperfectly. I let an arrow loose. It struck inches to the left ofhis skull.

“Be more specific. I know a lot ofboys.”

“Tomás! Your grandfather wants Tomás!”

My blood turned colder than the air aroundme. “Why!”

“I don’t know! He’s pissed off at something.I don’t know!”

I believed him. It also made him useless tome now. If I let him go, he’d notify every son of a bitch in thearea that I was here. With no transportation out of thesemountains, I was an open target.

I stopped thinking and let the darkness I’dtrained into my soul and body take over. On an inhale, I strunganother arrow. This one landed center mass through his chest. Heslumped over. I broke cover and sprinted down the hill toward him.The arrow had pierced his heart. At least it’d been quick. The onlykindness I could offer a threat. I gripped the end of the arrowtight and yanked it out, creating more of a mess at extraction. Thearrow tip looked intact. I cleaned as much of the blood and fleshon the snow and shoved it back into my quiver.

I tried the phone to get back to Tor, butthe jammer was still on. I couldn’t get through. Tomás. Grandfatherfound out about Tomás. About the takeover. How? I grinded my teethtogether. Questions were useless now. I had to focus on the missionat hand. Saving Tomás was my mission now. I couldn’t let anythinghappen to him because of me. No more collateral damage. Grandfatherwas going to regret ever taking me away from the only family Iknew.

He was going to regret turning me into thisdangerous killer.

I didn’t just want his money now. I wantedhis fucking life.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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