Page 5 of Savage Rule

Present Time…

I’ve heard God makes someone for everyone. For a long time, I wondered what kind of man He’d make for me. Not anymore, though. Now, I know exactly who He’d make. Someone that would give me Hell on Earth.

It’s a good thing I love fire.

I tilt my head as I study the tiny drawing beneath theLa Maison Rougelogo. I’ll never be as good as Maisie, but the tiny red gun I doodled while waiting for the go-ahead from my boss isn’t half bad.

It wasn’t intentional. The red pen is a staple of the hotel that once served as a brothel in the red-light district. At least that’s what the poster above the registration desk says.

I chose to sketch a gun because I quite like them. Then again, I’m also fond of knives, another tool of my trade, but I didn’t draw that.

That’s because a scarlet knife doesn’t sound as catchy as…

“A Scarlet Gunn,” I quip, chuckling. “With twoNs,” I add, thinking of the man that inspired me. Gunn Sinclair. As sexy as his name, just as deadly. My favorite enemy.

I add the title on the top of the paper, the way Maisie does on her cartoon sketches. Tugging my phone out, I snap a picture and attach it to a text.

Me: What do you think, kid?

She replies almost immediately.

Maisie: You have it bad.

I laugh. She might only be fifteen, but Maisie Cameron gets me. I think it’s because of the connection we formed when my boss, Gideon, kidnapped her as blackmail against her sister Skye, and forcedmeto babysit. Me! The woman who has no experience with children. I’ve never even had a puppy for fuck’s sake.

At first, I was pissed as hell. But Maisie kind of grew on me. Now, she’s my secret little sister. A guilty pleasure, I suppose. Something I’m not allowed to have, like that puppy, but I don’t want to give it up.

If Gideon ever found out I basically adopted her, he’d threaten to take her out. Family being a vulnerability and all. Then I’d have to fight him, and things would get ugly. Which I don’t want because as much as he hates to admit it, he’s also like a sibling to me. An annoying, arrogant, evil older brother.

Maisie: You still in NOLA?

Me: Till the mission is over.

Maisie: Be careful. And I do like the picture. I’ll make sure to add it to Rage’s hand.

My heart tightens in a warm gooey kind of way. Rage is the title of one of Maisie’s sketches, one that she drew long before she met me, but resembles me so much it’s eerie.

She says she conjured me into existence. That I’m exactly like the character. But that’s not entirely true.

Rage’s parents were murdered in front of her. Her brother was able to take them out of the house and cared for her for a few years. Then he was found and killed by the same people. She was sent to a home, where she was abused. She ran away and turned to a life of crime and became one of the deadliest assassins. That was until she was assigned to take out a family that had a son and a daughter, and it reminded her of her own family. She saved them instead and became an antihero.

There are definite similarities between Rage and me. Up until the part where she becomes a hero and saves people, that is.

I’ve had my revenge. The rage is still there. But unlike Rage, I haven’t turned it all around. I’m not out there helping innocents.

I’m still one of the bad guys.

I touch a fingertip to my sketch. Is Gunn one of the bad guys too? It’s hard to tell sometimes.

What I do know for a fact is that I’m going to end his life one day. I’m going to know what it feels like to sink my blade into those rock-hard abs. I’m going to hear him grunt in pain.

I bet he’ll smile at me when I do. He seems like that kind of guy.

He’ll flash me a sexy grin, and those dimples that make me clench my thighs will mark his cheeks, and for a moment, I’ll regret it.

Yes, I’m going to kill Gunn with twoNs. Fuck, even his name does something to me. It’s not an actual plan. Gideon hasn’t outright ordered me to, and I’m not going to go out of my way to end him, not when it’s so much more fun to play. Every encounter since the night at Raimondo’s Pizzeria has left me wanting more.

But Gunn is a member of the Sinacore Alliance. The enemy.

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