Page 54 of Bad Guys Need Love Too

Neal threw his hands wide. “It’s the truth! That’s what she said. I told her we needed to keep things professional because I was marrying Lark. She apologized, and I thought that was the end of it. How was I to know she’d hire a hitman to kill my fiancée?”

“Ex-fiancée,” Lark and Ren said in stereo. But Lark added, “And you didn’t think that was something I had a right to know? That your assistant was in love with you?”

He gave her a mulish look. “I didn’t do anything wrong, so I didn’t think it mattered.”

She sighed. “It doesn’t. I should’ve ended the engagement long before then.”

Nico scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Wait a minute. What’s this woman’s last name?”

“Franchetti,” Neal answered. “Why?”

“Jesus,” Nico muttered. “Isla Franchetti. She’s my boss’s niece.”

Lark frowned. “So…the mafiadoeswant me dead?”

“No,” he said. “My boss would’ve assigned me the job if he wanted you dead. She took out the contract on her own, which would not go over well. Mario will kill her if he finds out she took out a hit and put the entire family at risk without his OK.”

Tenley frowned. “He’d kill his own niece? What a shitty family.”

“You have no idea,” Nico said dryly.

“This is good news,” Ren said. “All we have to do is tell Mario about the hit and let him deal with Isla. Nice and simple.”

Lark bit her lip. “I mean, I’m not a big fan of Isla’s, and the thought of her ending up in a landfill doesn’t exactly fill me with grief. But still…isn’t there some way to end this without killing her? Can’t we just threaten her into canceling the hit?”

Nico shook his head. “She’d probably just agree in the moment, then hire another hitman.” Then his eyes lit up. “But I mighthave a way to get her out of the picture that doesn’t involve death.”

Ren suppressed a groan. What were the odds that Nico’s plan was going to be anywhere near asniceandsimpleas his had been?

But one look at Lark’s hopeful expression made his concerns irrelevant.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 25

Islareallymust’ve wanted to see her dead, because she did the twenty-minute drive to the warehouse in ten.

So, Lark took an inordinate amount of pleasure at seeing the shock and disappointment on her face when Nico let her in the back door and she realized she’d been had. Lark crossed her arms over her chest. “Have a seat, Isla.”

Neal straightened in his chair as she sat down next to him with a disgusted sigh. “Isla, what the hell? What have you done?”

She tossed her hair over one shoulder and pouted at him. “She never appreciated you. I told you that at the Christmas party, but you wouldn’t listen! You deserve someone who loves you as much as I do!”

Nico frowned as if they’d lapsed into a language he didn’t speak. “You would hire me to kill someone forthisman? Why?”

Lark couldn’t help but feel like this was yet another metaphor for their entire relationship. She could’ve died because of this idiot she didn’t even love because she’d been too weak to walk away when she should’ve.

Well, she’d be damned if she was going to ever letthathappen again. In a weird way, she supposed she owed Isla the same thank you she’d given Nico.

Not that she’d actually ever give it to her. Because fuck her.

But that was beside the point.

Isla turned a nasty scowl on Nico. “I’d doanythingfor him.”

Ren cocked his head to one side like a confused terrier. “Forhim? Then why frame him for the hit?”

She shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I never would’ve let him take the fall for the murder. I’d alibi him, of course. But I needed to have something to hold him over him in case he was angry at me.” She bit her lip as she looked over at Neal and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

---