Page 35 of Reaper

I throttle the bike, guiding it through the gate with a steady hand. When I reach her modern farmhouse-style porch, I park. The door doesn’t open, so I knock.

“Out back,” Nina calls from somewhere behind the house.

I find her standing on the back porch with an iced tea in her hand. Her gaze isn’t on me; it’s focused on the yard, where Ace, my son, plays unaware of the storm brewing just a stone’s throw away.

“Apparently, Ace is mine,” I say, the words feeling foreign on my tongue. They hang heavy in the air, weighted with a significance I’m still grappling to understand.

“Are you sure?” Nina turns sharply, her eyes widening.

“Figured Matrix texted you already,” I mutter.

“No. Do you need a drink?” Her voice is steady, but there’s an undercurrent of something else—something that sounds a lot like joy. It’s fucking weird.

“Not right now. I’m only swinging by for a minute.” I shove my hands into the pockets of my leather cut. “Matrix called me with the DNA results. He says there’s no doubt about it. But I’m making him run the DNA again.”

Her eyes flicker to Ace, who’s now laughing, caught up in the simple joy of play. I follow her gaze, watching the boy with a curiosity that isunnerving. If he’s really mine, which is probably true since Matrix doesn’t fuck up, then God help him. Looking at him, all I see is possibility, a life untainted by my darkness. He could be everything I couldn’t be.

“Reaper,” Nina finally says, her voice pulling me back from the edge of the abyss. “He’s yours. Just look at him.”

“I know,” I whisper, dropping my chin slightly.

“What are you going to do?”

I stare at her, the answer lodged somewhere deep inside me behind walls too thick to break through. WhatamI going to do?

“I can’t even begin to imagine that.”

“What?”

“Being a father.”

“Why?”

“You know what I am.” I scowl. “I’m a killer, not a dad.”

“You think you’re too fucked up, right?” Nina’s voice is gentle, probing.

“Exactly.” I nod, feeling the darkness in me like a living thing, coiling and ready to strike. “I’m not cut out for fatherhood.”

She steps closer. Her presence is calm, grounding. “There’s darkness in you, Reaper, but there’s light too. Don’t lose sight of it. You’re not the devil—you’re a man who’s been to hell and back, yes, but you’ve also got a chance to be something more now.”

I scoff at the idea. “A flash of light in a world made of shadows doesn’t mean much.”

“Sometimes, a single flicker is all it takes to guide you through the night.” Nina’s conviction pierces my armor of cynicism. “You’re not the devil, Reaper. The only devil I know of is Blackstone.”

The name sends a cold shiver down my spine. “Lexi doesn’t know about him.”

“I still can’t believe she was working for him. What are the chances?”

“It’s so fucked.”

“At least she found her way back to you before Blackstone killed her. Did you figure out why he wants her dead?”

“No. She told me she left because saw something fucked up. Blackstone tried to lure Ace into the basement.”

“Jesus,” Nina breathes out, her face paling. “Did she stop Blackstone in time?”

“Yes, thank God.”

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