Page 19 of Claimed By the Hitman: Codename Cupid

Not even the gods are watching.

"Do you think all of the people you killed were bad?"

Alexei hums into the crook of my neck. "It's not that simple. I think they were all living at a level of society that requires bad acts to reach. Do you think Olympia is good?"

"I used to. But I don't know why. I just believed in the mission. I believed in them."

"To rid the world of evil," he mimics their words. "You had faith, like gods. All I knew was that I was good at what they asked me to do, and they paid me insane amounts of money to do it. When you're born in the dirt, morality doesn't get in the way of a paycheck."

I turn on my side, examining his muscular silhouette before the fire. After countless bouts, we’ve opted to remain on the floor in a pile of blankets. Sweat glistens over every inch of him, casting a heavenly glow.

"But love does?"

Alexei flashes me an obnoxious smile. "Are you saying that you love me?"

"I'm saying that those big paychecks are about to stop." I playfully smack his chest and let my fingers linger over the curved scar near his collarbone.

"I have plenty of money."

"Stashed? They'll vanish our bank accounts, all of our identities. I have some money hidden..."

Alexei mischievously arches his eyebrow.

"Shut up. It's common practice," I say. "But I wasn't planning on running. I don't have much."

He sighs as if he doesn't have a care in the world and lies flat on his back. "I've been planning on running for quite some time."

"How much do you have stashed?"

"Millions in the states." He glances at me. "Tens of millions abroad."

"Shit," I laugh and lay my head on his chest. "Not bad. But it won't matter if they kill us. It's only a matter of time before they realize both of us are off the radar, or until Ares resurfaces and tells them everything. They'll dispatch Hades and Cerberus, Alexei. You know what they are..."

"Bogeymen. Assassin hunters.” He wiggles his hands in the air. “I'm not afraid of them."

"It's not just them," I say softly, thinking of the unlimited resources at Olympia's disposal. "They'll never stop sending assets after us. They'll find us. I know it sounds romantic to die together in a shootout, but I don't want to. Not now that we're together, that you found me. I want to live... with you. I want to see what life together could be like."

He sits me up and faces me, running his fingers through my hair like he's reading a story in braille in each strand.

Every time he looks into my eyes, I'm calmed. For a brief moment, I feel like I was never a part of any shadowy organization, never an aide to killers, and never on the run. I feel as normal as a woman head over heels in love can feel, which isn't very normal at all. It certainly isn't safe, but a different sort of danger.

Alexei smiles and stretches his words like he's a ghost haunting our cabin. "Then maybe we should become the bogeymen."

He tickles me. It's crazy how innocent an act has such an effect on me. I can't remember the last time I let someone get close enough totryto tickle me.

"What? The two of us can scare Olympia?" Giggles bubble out of me as his touch becomes more tender. "How? We don't even know who they are."

"Rose," he says gravely. "I've been planning on running for averylong time."

His hazel eyes are full of light, beaming with all the secrets of this man—Cupid and Alexei both—that I've yet to uncover.

"What if we didn't have to run? What if I had a plan?"

"A plan like stabbing yourself in the gut and knocking on their bedroom window?"

Alexei bobs his head from side to side. "Sort of. A little bit crazier," he says in an accent that ironically leans Greek. "This would involve letting their hunters find me, and going with them without a fight."

"I think you've overlooked the fact that they'll kill you on site. They’re quite good at that, I’ve been told."

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