Page 46 of All Your Pain

“Really? She did?”

I nod. “You’d be surprised how many rich socialite assholes know the shadiest guys.”

“So why does she want him dead then?”

“Because he beats the shit out of her.” I pull up the wife’s medical records. They show only a handful of the injuries her husband has given her and of course none of them relate back to him.

“How many times do you think is normal for someone to fall down the stairs in a year? Not fucking five.”

“Why doesn’t she get the police involved?” I close the tab, go back to Mellow’s social media and scroll until I find the picture I’m looking for.

“Because that’s one of his closest friends.” In the photo Mellow stands with his arm around the shoulders of a shorter guy with white hair and a thin mustache. “The chief of police.” I feel the shiver that runs through Willow as she looks at the two men smiling on screen. “If she went to the cops, I’m sure she’d be sent straight back home and I don’t think she’d survive the next fall.”

“Is everyone you kill like this?”

“No,” I say, giving her the truth. I’ve never claimed to be a good person and I never will, not even to Willow.

“But—”

“Don’t ask things you don’t want to know the answer to, Willow. I want to be truthful with you but I know you won’t like the answers.”

She stares at me but I can’t get a read on her expression.

“Would you stop?”

“Why would I do that? I’m good at this and it pays better than any normal job.”

“If I asked you to, would you stop?”

Something cold trickles down my spine. Is that fear? No way. She’s not actually asking and even if she was it’s not up to her. Of course, I wouldn’t give it up, I love my job. I get to make some of the worst of humanity suffer.

“I don’t know if I can stop,” I say, avoiding the truth only slightly. It’s all I’ve known for years, being able to kill people and actually get paid for it is what’s made me happy for so long.

But now I have something else that makes me happy.

Since taking her, Willow has taken over my every sense. I can’t function without her close by or knowing she’s safely locked away here for me to come home to.

If she gave me an ultimatum of her or the job I know what I’d have to do and she really wouldn’t like it.

She turns back to the screen like nothing’s wrong but I can feel the tension in her body and the way she moves ever so slightly away from me.

If I was a decent person I’d give her space but I’m not so I wrap my arms tighter around her and bring her side flush to my chest.

“What do you do next? Now that you have all this information.”

I show her the tracking apps I use and how I’ll hack into Mellow’s work and private schedules so I know exactly where he’ll be for the rest of the month. I only need the information up to the end of the week but for Willow's sake I’m showing her how far I can take this. I really did only intend for her to keep mecompany whilst I did this but now that she’s here I can show her just what I’ll do to find her if she ever leaves me.

“It’s that simple? So you just pick a time to go kill him?”

“Yes, baby. It’s easy. Once I have someone’s basic information, I can track them down to the ends of the earth. I’ve had a few targets find out they’ve had a hit put out on them before and they’ve tried to hide but I’ve always found them.”

I watch closely as her pupils dilate and her breathing picks up. She knows exactly what I’m getting at. Even as my fingers dig hard into her sides, she doesn’t flinch. Instead, she stares me down and her face starts to soften.Fucking soften.It’s almost like shelikesknowing I’ll always find her.

“You finished with work now then?” she asks, her voice low and breathy. I nod and smirk at her as my fingers trail under her shirt and over her stomach, lightly tracing the lines of her healing cuts.

A bright smile spreads across her face and something mischievous twinkles in her eye.

“Is there something my little kitten has in mind?”

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