Page 18 of Brutal Collateral

I meet his eyes with a cool glare. “You don’t need me, you’ve made that clear. You have Ares, Atlas, and Ambrose.”

My father gave us all names that start with A out of some superiority fetish.

“You have skills I need.” He tugs me a few yards into a chow tent that has been miraculously emptied. “Sit.” He points to a table and snaps his fingers.

A woman brings over two trays of food. But Alexander pushes my tray away.

“That’s cruel. I’m technically your prisoner and not feeding me is a violation of the Geneva Convention. I can have you charged at the Hague.”

Alexander throws his head back and laughs. “You definitely need food.” He pushes the tray back at me.

“Fine.” I stare down at more food than I’ve eaten in the last three days.

“How did you get so tough?” He digs a spoon into a cup of soup and looks ready to spit into it.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” I sip the same soup, not caring what it tastes like. The warmth brings me back to life. “To make me a badass?”

“A badass for me!” He slaps his chest. “Don’t make me get Ares involved. Our psycho brother would have backed Father’s plan to sell you to get us out of debt.”

I put down my spoon, and shudder, thinking of howthatlife could have been forced on me.

“Things are bad in New York. I won’t lie, Ava.” Alexander grips my hand. “I know what you’ve accomplished. And I’m proud of you.”

I swallow down his pandering compliment. I failed to become a SEAL. That’s all I see when I look in the mirror. “What do you need me for now? I’ve been gone almost eight years.”

He grips the plastic spoon and snaps it in half. “I don’t know if the kind of fighting and bloodshed with the Irish can last much longer without the Feds descending on us with indictments.”

My throat goes tight. “What’s the plan?”

He pushes a thumb drive at me. “It’s all in here.”

“Alex, I don’t even own a computer.” I push it back to him. “Just give me the cliff notes.”

“I’ve done serious tracking of Troi Keller’s top captains, where they live, their routines. I know better than to take out Keller, or his son, Devlin. Cut off a head and another one grows in its place. I will decimate them from within, weaken them, and maybe they’ll destroy themselves.”

Diabolical.

“What do you needmefor?”

“I need you as the tip of my spear. You’ll be my second.” He sits back. “Assassins are more feared than kings.”

That wars with the work I’ve been doing with the Navy and the RAVENs. We’re trying to help people. I guess my family counts as people.

“What about Ares, he’s your second, isn’t he? What’s he going to say when you put me in his position?”

Alexander and Ares have always clashed. I never felt close to Ares, who’s cold and calculating. Alexander is hot and blustery, he’ll let you see his rage when he slits your throat. Ares will stab you in the back.

Alexander smiles. “I can wait one more month. I will give you time to wrap up your work here. In thirty days, you’re coming home and killing for me, whether you want to or not.” That chilly bastard who dropped me off without looking back eight years ago returns. “I can call Cherise and have your contract revoked. You’ll have nowhere else to go.”

“That’s fucking low.” I kick him under the table.

He grabs my foot and squeezes my ankle. “I’ll sweeten the deal. Come home and you get to see Ares lose his shit when I tell him he’s being pushed down in the ranks.”

As exciting as that sounds, I don’t want someone as dangerous as Ares mad at me. Even if he is my brother. Sounds like I don’t have a choice. Eight years laterI still don’t have a choice.

Fuck this...

“Okay,” I give in, but my wheels are turning.

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