Page 18 of To Curse A Knight

“I contacted The Six to set up a target.” I started slowly. “Thank you for their information. Through someinvestigation”—my lips curled at the word. I’d much rather be at the maiming stage than the sitting through bullshit interviews stage—“I discovered that someone has a contract out on someone close to me. I want it canceled.”

“Impossible.” To his credit, Jediah sat up straight, all business now, and looked me dead in the eye. “A contract can’t be canceled once it's initiated. They will follow through unless they can’t complete the mission, but I believe that’s only happened once or twice in the organization’s history. It’s already a done deal.”

“I need a better contact, then.” I growled as my skin heated beneath the confines of my suit. “They won’t be getting my money if they continue their contract against—my friend.”

Jediah’s normally drug-glazed eyes were now lit up with curiosity.

“They aren’t killers, Kellan. I’m sure your ‘friend’ isn’t in any danger. Surely, if they are in your circles, this person can afford whatever contract has been taken out on them?”

Harsh laughter bubbled up in my chest. Hillary was always in danger; the woman was a magnet for mayhem. I almost felt for the poor fucker who’d been handed the assignment to screw her over. When she figured out who it was—definitely a matter of when, not if, because I would find them and deliver them to her on a platter—her revenge would be far bloodier than mine ever could.

“‘Danger’ isn’t what concerns me. The Carlos Cartel doesn’t like it when someone fucks around with what’s ours.”

“I see.” Jediah’s face contorted into a frown—or what would have been a frown if he hadn’t been heavily injected with Botox. “Well, if I had to guess, I would say it’s an item. I’ve heard rumors that a few of our wealthy elite have some artwork that our European counterparts would like to get their hands on. It’s certainly in line with The Six’s reputation.”

The Six were renowned for the theft of high-value items—I groaned inwardly as I considered all the paintings and expensive jewelry my billionaire woman might have all over the state. Shit I had never paid attention to, so now I was heavily behind the eight ball.

I shifted my position in the seat and relaxed my posture as if this conversation wasn’t annoying the shit out of me.

“All of this for some artwork?”

“Ahhhh, I know it isn’t the dangerous drugs and weapons you are used to peddling, my dear friend.” Jediah’s tone brokered the line of mocking and respectful. “But stolen artwork and dealings of said artwork is a billion-dollar black market industry. Quite lucrative in the right hands. Whatever the contract is, it will be for something truly sensational.”

Sensational. Hillary probably hadseven‘sensational’ things, if not seventy. I shifted gears.

“Could I take out a contract on the person who took out the contract on—them?”

Jediah smirked, his knowing eyes seeing more than I wanted.

“You could. In theory.” He cocked his head. “You would need to know what you are after, though. The Six only fulfill contracts for something specifically stated—a tangible. They are not ‘hitmen for hire.’”

“I know plenty of those already.” I waved a hand dismissively, ready to get out of this house and away from Jediah’s simpering energy. I stood abruptly, taking two steps forward to loom over the man in question.

“I trust you’ll use your discretion over this conversation, Jediah. Antonio doesn’t take kindly to breaches in trust. Neither do I.” I stepped in closer and lowered my head to peer into the whites of his widened eyes.

“I won’t hesitate to cut off your pipeline, or slip a little something extra into your own personal supply, if I hear otherwise.”

Nodding, he swallowed his tongue before sputtering, “Yes, of course, Kellan!”

I strode out of the parlor and out to the driveway without another word. Leaning against the headrest in my Jeep, I contemplated the next steps.

I was still investigating the fake HR complaint against Hillary; I needed to report back to Antonio on Aaron’s fake death, and somehow figure out how Lauchlan could be usefulin taking down Marco before I was forced into managing the horrific realities of human trafficking. January was only a month and a half away, and each second ticked by like there was a live bomb hovering above my ear.

Somehow, every aspect of my life now revolved around my Killer’s orbit, and it was getting more impossible by the day to get out of her gravitational pull.

She wasn’t a star—she was a gaping black hole of variables I couldn’t control and decisions I couldn’t protect her from. A hole I couldn’t escape—I wouldn’t escape, no matter how hard I tried to resist.

I was well and truly fucked.

“Load up boys, we’re killingcabronstonight!”

Mical rubbed his hands gleefully at the anticipation of a killing spree The scar across his cheek had healed, but his smile caused his skin to pull in a grimacing twist; the Joker-like rictus suited his darkness perfectly.

I couldn’t deny the statement. We would kill tonight. My brothers, idiots that they were, had successfully discovered Alvarez’s base of operations for their weapons dealings—deals they’d been stealing from us, and Antonio had ordered we take them down by whatever means necessary.

Normally, I would issue the orders, but the Cartel head decided that we needed a firmer hand. Antonio didn’t care if all of Carlisle became a war zone—he didn’t care about its people or its children. Just revenge, power, and more money to be made.

So, I bit my tongue and would channel my rage into the gangbangers who deserved it—the men who preyed on the weak. My body count might double tonight, depending on the blood bath awaiting us, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

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