Page 81 of Brutal Knight

My phone sat on the knee that wasn't bouncing up and down, with the notification of ten unread texts blinking at the top.

All from Knight.

Rook and I had had a long talk, confessing things we’d been hiding, each forgiving the other, our bond only growing stronger for it. Then I'd spent the day berating myself for trusting Knight again, in between catching up with my girls, scheduling in new appointments for my clients, and making cold-hearted plans with Rook. It had been a hell of a day, mostly because my stomach was churning with what I was about to do.

On the seat next to me sat my Maximum 9 pistol.

While Knight and Phee had slept, Rook and I’d placed trackers on every single goddamn car Knight owned, just to be certain. According to the tracker on his Ford Bronco, a vehicle he used to fit into this neighborhood, Knight was here from five to eight p.m., spending three hours withhis heart.

My jaw ached. I'd been gnashing my teeth all day, and I forced myself to relax, realizing that I was doing itagain. Once this was all over, I would probably need new caps.

I looked at the completelyaverage-looking suburban home. It was average sized, with diamond shaped windows, palm trees, decorative rocks, and even some grass, but it wasn’t anything particularly special.

Why the fuck Knight hadn't puthis heartup in one of his mansions was beyond me. If he loved her so much, the least he could do was give her better shit. Not that the area wasn't nice, but the neighborhood was plainer than the daily newspaper, the kind that stayed folded in its plastic baggie in your front yard until trash day.

And now, it was two in the morning, too early for this sleepy neighborhood to notice a deadly woman sitting in a completely unremarkable car in the middle of the street.

The question was, would I really do it?Kill her.I mean, forget tit for tat, was I reallythatjealous?Was Knight worth all this?

She could be innocent. Mafia activity in this area was rare, except for the drugs the teens used when they partied. Nothing special.

And yet, I’d brought my goddamn quietest gun.

I mean,come on. She was probably an addict or married and cheating on her husband or a gold digger or a bitch.

All things that were wholly, entirely, possible.

And yet, not a killable offense.

But still, all day, the image of me knocking her in the head with the bottom end of my gun looped over and over in my head. Or shooting her in the leg or chaining her to a fence or burning her house down orsomethingto make her feel the pain I was feeling inside.

The ache, the throbbing, pounding, burning pain inside me since I’d seen her stupid, fucking, text!

Making a decision, I took the gun, tucked it into the special holster at my side and stepped out of the car. I had my jacket on, so that would hide the gun, if necessary.

I just wanted to see her face.What the woman who'd managed to capture Knight'sheartlooked like.

Making my way across the driveway, I reminded myself: I wouldn't kill her.

I wouldn't even smash her brains in or—I—I wouldn't do anything bad. I would just get a look at her, just toknow.

I had to know what she was like, then I would walk away from her and from this life.

Oh, I was still going to kill Knight.

There was no turning away from that.

If I didn't do it, Rook would.

We'd both wanted him to suffer first but, as I made my way towards her back door, I decided I was done with all that; it was too fucking exhausting. I knew Rook would never walk away from his own plans, but I was tired of this shit.

I just wanted to kill him and be done with it.

I was over this life, and besides, after Knight was dead, I would have to run, far and fast. Rook would take care to cover my tracks but I still held no illusions that Knight'sfamilywouldn't come for me.

Cutting the girl’s line to her security system was easy but picking her lock was a struggle—she had ahundreddouble bolts or something, but it wasn’t anything I couldn't handle.

I opened the back door slowly, listening for any other signs of alarm. When all was quiet, I slid inside, using the flashlight I'd brought to make my way around.

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