Page 5 of Hitman

The man standing to Julian’s right was the vice president, Alex. I only knew his name because of his attachment to Grim and the club. Otherwise, I didn’t know a single thing about him.

This had been thegroupmy father had mentioned Julian was tied to. A fucking biker club. A biker club with more connections than the president of the United States himself.

Fuck.

Grim strode forward and removed the bandana from my mouth, tossing it aside. I rolled my jaw around and licked my lips, trying to relieve the ache in my face from my mouth being forced open for so long. He crouched in front of me so we were eye level with each other. His dark eyes were unnerving and sent a trickle of fear rolling down my spine.

“Solace Dukes…” he drawled. I swallowed thickly. It sure as fuck hadn’t taken him long to find out who I was. I’d been careful not to reveal my identity to Julian. “Your father is dead. You know that, yes?” When I nodded, he continued. “Do you know why he was on my hitlist?”

I shook my head. Julian grunted. “He financed a sex trafficking ring in Washington,” Julian answered for Grim. My gut churned, and my face paled. My dad was a piece of shit and a real bad work of art, but he hadn’t been that low of a human being, had he? One look at Julian’s face, then Alex’s, confirmed he was, in fact, that much of a piece of shit.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. This information was coming out of left field. Stewart had been the kind of man to stick to a routine and never deviate from it. He never seemed to do anything shady.

“I take it you had no clue,” Alex said as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“No,” I rasped, my throat too dry for comfort. “I only worked for him because my mother needs the care. He tried cutting her off when I graduated high school. She’s not well.”

“We know,” Grim said. I gritted my teeth. I didn’t like them having information on my mother I hadn’t given them. She was innocent in all of this. “So, now, you have a choice.” I looked back at the president, who was still crouching in front of me, those dark, unnerving eyes locked on my face. “One, we can put abullet through your skull and wipe our hands clean of this whole mess.”

I immediately shook my head. I didn’t care about dying. Death never frightened me. I bathed in the blood of my father’s enemies on a monthly, sometimes even weekly, basis. But my mother could not live without me. Who would take care of her? Who would make sure she didn’t end up in an institution or hurt herself?

“My mother?—”

“I’m not done,” Grim snapped. My jaw shut so quickly, my teeth clacked together. I didn’t bow down to anyone, but Grim wasn’t just anyone.

He was a monster, andeveryonewas a pawn on his chess board.

“You can pledge your allegiance to us, agree to work for my club, and we will take over financing your mother’s care.”

“That’s it?” I asked. Seemed too good to be true, especially coming from a man like him.

“Our list grows daily of people we need taken out,” Julian said. I lifted my head to meet his dark eyes. They were a beautiful shade of brown—almost black. That haunting darkness in them called to me, even when I wanted to hate him. But I was finding that hard to do now that I understood why he’d taken my father out and why it’d been necessary.

Couldn’t hate a man for trying to protect the innocents in this world.

“You were trained by the same government agency I was—” Julian continued— “which means your skills are top-tier. We can use that.”

“What do you say?” Alex asked. “We’ll give you a trial run. Prove your loyalty to us, and you’ll never have to worry about your mother again.”

“And we’re not in the business of breaking our word.Butif you betray us, we’ll make you disappear,” Julian warned me. “So, don’t do something fucking stupid.”

“What’s it going to be, girly?” Grim asked impatiently, drawing my eyes away from the beautiful man who’d taken me captive.

“I’ll take the job,” I answered without hesitation. Being an assassin was what I was good at. It was what Iknew. And if I had to continue dropping bodies to take care of my mom, then that was what I would do.

Grim stood, nodding his head. “Smart girl.” Heading for the staircase, he called over his shoulder, “Release her. Alex, get someone to take her home. Julian, get your fucking ass back in that chapel. Copper will be calling soon.”

Julian sighed, his lips tightening. “Fuck,” he finally muttered, heading for the stairs.

Alex clapped a hand to his back as Julian passed him. “Toughen up. You fuck up, you pay the price. Just be glad it’s a phone call and he’s not riding his ass down here.”

Julian just grunted. Alex walked over to me and began undoing the bindings around my wrists and ankles. I breathed a sigh of relief once I was free, moving my extremities to get the blood flowing back to them again and relieve the stiffness in my muscles.

Alex held a hand out to me. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home. No sense in waking up anyone else when I’m available.”

I eyed his offered hand with distrust for a moment before I grabbed it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.

I had no idea what the future held for me as an employee of the Savage Crows MC. I just hoped I hadn’t made a huge mistake.

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