Page 88 of Sick Bargain

Ghost laughs like the asshole he is. “How’d you leave it with him? He knows where you’ll be?”

I look down.

“Krypt, you fucking bastard. You walk out without a word?”

“I set him free. Our bargain is met.” Once Riot deals with the last name on Remiel’s list. I already had my goodbye chat with my brother. “He’s better off?—”

“No, he isn’t. You fucked him up and made him yours, despite how many times I told you not to. You’re coming back to him.” He stares at me, hatred and respect mixing in his eyes. “I’m gonna kill you for this.”

“Can it wait until after?” Director butts in. “We’re on a time limit.”

“See you tomorrow, yeah?” Ghost asks, trying to make me promise.

“We’ll see.” I let him pull me into a side hug tap thing, and then I turn my back on him and follow Director through the tunnels. “Watch out for Remiel.”

“I always do.”

That’s all I need to know to die today.

Axel Graves is three things.Smart, conniving, and fucking crazy.

He knows exactly who I am, where I came from, and what I’m doing here. I knew it from the moment he stepped out of the vehicle. He’s not walking into a trap. He’s a man who set this trap and sees me as his prey.

But I’m no one’s prey. I’m the fucking hunter.

When I showed up to where the mobile trailer was, all I found was a note taped to the door.The quarry, it said, so here I am, at the quarry. Not thinking about Remiel.

“Which one are you?” he asks, sauntering his business shoes and pleated pants in my direction without ever coming close enough. “Red?” His hair is so black it’s iridescent and silky like raven wings, but his eyes… well, one eye. The other is partially closed, but doesn’t appear injured. His eyelid flutters sometimes when he moves his line of sight. “Pink?”

Oh, he’ll rue the day he meets Kyd in his pink.

“What’re we doing here? I’m not in the mood for a swim.” I look at the tinted windows of his SUV, wondering who else is in there or if he had the balls to come alone.

“A little show and tell,” Axel says with a pretty smirk. “I like to brag.”

“I’m not a good audience.”

“Hmm.” He leans against the hood of the vehicle, slipping his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket. “I suppose not. You’re likely to throw one of the three,” he pauses, “sorry, four daggers in your jacket at me. Perhaps use the pistol? Or if things really come to blows, you’ll reach for your ankle knives.”

There are five in my jacket, but I respect his attention to detail. “Probably.”

“I’m a lover, not a fighter… Riot?” He lifts a brow.

“Know my weapons, but not my name?”

“I know what’s in front of me, not behind my back.”

“Krypt,” I tell him, not giving a shit if he knows it. “Get on with the show and tell.”

“Krypt.” He nods, looking at the quarry. Water has filled it over the years, turning it into a dirty swimming hole. “I’ve heard about you. What you went through.”

“Went through?”

“For initiation. Your tests.”

“How?”

He keeps his gaze on the water. “Did Director tell you who I am? I mean, obviously you know my reputation if you’re here to infiltrate my lab, but did he get detailed with it?”

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