Page 81 of Rivals & Revenge

"No complaints here, just an observation. If anything, your hot-headed, paranoid tendencies are keeping me above ground and breathing, so by all means, carry on."

Tierney laughed, but didn't reply, instead continuing to comb through the file line by line. Meticulous. That's another adjective Connor failed to mention. Most of the time, survival was in the details.

My phone chirped, vibrating against the table.

The blank display mocked me. This was my private number, the one I only used for about five people.

I swiped to answer, reaching over Tierney's shoulder and flipping to the last page of the file, scanning until I found the name.

"Lucia Ynesco."

"Aww. You remembered my name. I'm touched."

I scoffed. "Of course I didn't remember your name. I had to look it up."

"You are a rat bastard," she sighed dramatically. " I guess it was too much to hope for. After all, I'll never be able to forget you."

"I'm flattered." I drawled, doing my best to cover my irritation with the sound of boredom.

"I can't wait to wipe that smug smirk off your face," she hissed.

"So come at me. Why are you dragging all these other people into this?"

"Why did you bring me into it?" she asked, her voice softening for a split second before returning to its saccharine tone. "Killing my father was a job for you, right?"

"Yep. He was nothing more than some dude on the wrong end of my scope."

"Was fucking my brains out and leaving me standing in the rain part of the job too?"

Connor and Tierney both turned to me expectantly.Shit.

"No. Just a perk. Also, I left you in your driveway. And I sure as fuck don't control the weather."

"And I walked inside and found my father's body."

“You would have preferred to find him the next day?”

"I would have preferred you didn't kill him, you fucking asshole." She screamed, the mask of sweet civility falling completely.

"Not possible. He was dead the moment the order hit my phone. If not me, someone else would have pulled the trigger."

"That may be the only true words you've ever spoken."

I scoffed. "I didn't lie to you. Hell, you were trying to suck me off in the club. The only promise I made was to fuck you so hard you couldn't breathe—and I fucking kept thatpromise."

"Irrelevant. I've worked out a trade. You took what I loved, so I am taking what you love."

"It's funny. I thought killing off the little blonde assassin would fuck you up. But I couldn't have imagined how delicious it would be for you two to actually acknowledge your feelings and get all mushy and sweet with each other. Killing her will be even better this time around."

My eyes slid shut, and I fought to slow my racing heart. I needed this bitch dead.

"So why attack Connor?"

"The lady doc?" she asked. "Funny thing, when I first found you, I thought she was your girlfriend. It took a while to understand she was only a friend—one of the few people you cared for. That's when I saw blondie leaving you roses."

"So what?"

My phone chirped a notification, but I ignored it. Whatever it was, it could wait.

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