“Greg?”
Lily’s husband had followed me home. From what I could make out, he was small, maybe five feet six. I had taken down men a lot bigger than him, so it wouldn’t be a hard fight if it turned into one. But based on how he treated Lily, I prepared for the worst. At least the dumbass had made my life easier. I didn’t have to track him down since he had come to me.
“Yes, you dumb bitch. I came to teach you a lesson about getting into other people’s business.” He shook his fist at me.
The sun had started to set, and it was taking away what little light I had. We needed to get this settled before I lost my light and Antonio came home. Antonio would make me call the cops and turn him in like a good Samaritan would.
Automatically, I reached for my gun, but it wasn’t there. When I went to the women’s outreach center, I didn't carry my gun. That would change once I got out of this situation.
“That’s funny. Now, tell me what you want before I kill you.”
“Tell Lily to come home, and I won’t kill you,” he yelled back at me.
Lily was safe. Antonio had texted me to say that Jacob had her at one of AA Security’s safe houses. Until we took care of Greg, Jacob would be her bodyguard. Antonio knew she meant a great deal to me, and he would do anything to make me happy.
“Yeah, not going to happen. She needs to stay the fuck away from you.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I didn’t hear the steps behind me until it was too late. My skills weren’t as sharp as they normally were, and I’d let my guard down. A body hit me with full force and threw me forward onto the ground. The ground came fast, and I used my hands to brace for impact.
The kick to the rib hurt like a motherfucker. The second kick was on its way. I grabbed my assailant’s legs and twisted, which sent the man to the ground with a grunt. I jumped to my feet and side-kicked Greg in the groin. It sent the man to his knees.
Greg wasn't moving for a while. The other man had pulled a gun from his side holster and had it pointed at me. I was used to guns pointed at me. The thug looked over at Greg, who was lying on the ground and crying. I used the opportunity to dodge to the side and pick up a garden gnome Ant had made me buy. I thought the thing was ugly.
I whipped the gnome at the man’s head and hit him dead on. I heard the crack of his skull. When I looked to see if Greg was still on the ground, he was gone. There was no sign of him.
I kicked the gun of the unconscious man to the side, then leaned down to check his pulse, but there was none. “Shit.”
For the next thirty minutes, when I had planned to do research on Juan, I instead had to hide the dead body I’d created. I had made a promise last week not to kill any more people, but this time, it was an accident. I had meant to knock the man out. Who knew the garden gnome would kill him?
* * *
Antonio
Kat’s car was parked in front of the house, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. My heart pounded in fear. Had Juan taken her? Maybe I needed to move us to a safe house and lock her away. She would fight me, but if she were safe, it would be worth it.
“Daddy, someone’s in the backyard.”
I ran toward the French doors that lead to the backyard. The sight stopped me in my tracks. I told Ant to go play in his room or watch cartoons. He didn’t need to see what his mom had done.
I thought I would tan her hide for this one, but it was hard not to chuckle. She was slowly pulling a body across the backyard. It had to be twice her size, and she struggled with each tug. Kat would tug his feet and then take a break. As she pulled the body, the man’s head bounced across the rocks in the flower bed. Luckily, our backyard was fenced in, so no one could see her dragging a dead body.
I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She jumped. I held her tighter and whispered in her ear, “Kitty Kat, why are you dragging a dead body across the flower bed?”
“Don’t sneak up on me like that. I might have shot you!” She didn’t remove herself from my embrace. It felt so good to have her wrapped in my arms, where she belonged. But I had to concentrate on what she had done and not run my hands all over her body. We had to deal with the body on the ground.
“Not an answer. I need to know why there is a body in our yard where I want to put in a pool.”
“Umm, I took him out?”
“Clearly. Why?”
She let out an aggravated sigh. “He’s friends with Lily’s husband.”
“Still not a good reason. You said you wanted to get out of the assassin business.” I waved my hand at the body. “Seems like you’re back in.”
“I am out of the assassin business.” She pointed at the body. “He followed me home. I told him to leave, or I would kill him.”