Page 14 of Vengeful Lies

Fucking idiot.

“What else did Will find on her?” Ford asks, once again pulling his dumbass brother out of the line of fire.

I clear my throat, reiterating that this is a serious matter. She’s got a hit on me, for fuck’s sake.

So why the fuck didn’t you kill her?

I’m irritated by my own logic.

“She’s been on her own since she was a teenager, and her father was a sniper for the Air Force,” I tell him, distracted as she walks back out with a tray of food and delivers it to the table next to us, not once glancing our way. The old woman who overheard our conversation is quick to ask for the bill and a to-go bag.

Jewel doesn’t seem affected by our presence, and that irritates me more than I thought it would. Men fear and revere me. Women worship and throw themselves at me. This woman treats me with such contempt even with the knowledge I could and should kill her. Shouldn’t she be more grateful to me?

“Oh, look, pretty boy made it,” Hawke exclaims dryly as Dutton enters the restaurant. Dutton looks around the place as if it should be blown up immediately, and admittedly, I share his sentiment.

“Why are we here?” he asks, taking the seat Jewel was leaning against. The chair looks far too small for his broad shoulders.

“And she’s back,” Ford mumbles as Jewel comes over with a slice of chocolate cake and sets it in front of Ford.

“Oh, that’s why we’re here,” Dutton remarks, unimpressed.

She folds her arms over her chest, unenthusiastic at the newcomer. My nostrils flare, and I think it has more to do with the hint of her musky floral perfume that wafts in my direction than anything else.

She smells like fucking dessert.

“Dutton, anything I can get you?” she asks, her hand going to her hip.

“Besides an explanation, no, dear.”

“You and me both.” She sighs miserably and then walks away, and he arches an eyebrow and watches her go.

“Stop staring at her ass,” I grit, and the group falls silent.

“I’ll have it known I was staring at the tenacious sway of the hips of the woman who clearly does not give a fuck that you’re in her workplace. Do you want to explain why we’re here?”

I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to invite these fuckers. I should’ve come on my own. We have other business to attend to afterward, though, so I thought a pit stop was a brilliant idea.

“I came here to give a distinct warning and make an evaluation of little miss assassin, but then these fuckers order dinner and dessert before I can finalize my threat.” I cut Ford a look. “Are you seriously stupid enough to eat that? What if she poisoned it?”

“No problem, my dude,” Hawke says nonchalantly. “One of the first things Anya taught us was to have a resistance to poison.”

The table falls silent before Dutton daringly encourages him to explain. “Pray tell.”

“Well, we built an immunity by poisoning ourselves over time, obviously.” Hawke looks dumbfounded that Dutton even asked.

“You know, you really put into perspective how great my upbringing was,” Dutton says casually.

Hawke chuckles. “As if any of us had a normal upbringing. Maybe that’s why the only woman to make boss’s cock twitch is the same woman who’s trying to kill him.”

“You just really don’t know when to shut your mouth, do you?” Ford berates under his breath as he puts a spoonful of the cake in his mouth.

CHAPTER 8

Jewel

Iconsidered poisoning them or, at the very least putting laxatives in the cake, but I must confess out of the group of them, I probably despise the twins the least. Mostly because they have a sense of fucking humor.

All four of them command the energy in the room. Other people stare, and the elderly couple beside them all but ran with their food but left a great tip on top of the one already billed, so I don’t give a fuck. The other waitresses, however, have been watching them ever since the hot assholes walked in.

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