Page 105 of Innocent Intentions

And I stand there.

Watching.

Reveling.

His screams fill the warehouse, echoing off the walls.

I don’t look away.

I don’t blink.

I want to remember the way he sounds. I want to remember the dance of the flames. I want to remember what happens to people who hurt my Margot.

Eventually, his cries stop. He slumps forward, a charred carcass.

Roman calmly walks over, grabs a hose, and douses the remains.

“You ready to talk now?”

The older one stares at the corpse of his comrade, horror etched into every line of his face. Then he meets my eyes, and for the first time, he’s truly afraid.

“If I talk, you put a bullet between my eyes. No more pain.”

I nod. “Deal.”

He swallows. “We watched Margot Peterson’s house for weeks. Our orders were to bring her in. She knows too much. We do not know if she went to the authorities. We need to question her. Then silence her.”

Silence her.

I keep my expression passive while my world crumbles at the suggestion. At the image of my sweet girl silenced forever.

Roman raises a brow. “Has she been targeted before?”

“Yes. The first team never reported back. Viktor assumes she took them out then vanished. But we go to her house randomly to make sure.”

I stiffen.

The alley. The men. What if they weren’t after me?

“She was the target,” I whisper.

He nods then closes his eyes.

Roman doesn’t hesitate. One bullet flies between his eyes.

“Why the fuck did you shoot him?” I snap. “He might’ve known more.”

“He told us everything he knew,” Roman replies. “You wanted to get back to your girl. Go home.”

I don’t like it. But he’s right.

“Thanks for today,” I mutter.

“It’s what I do. For the Syndicate. And for my family.” With the way he says family, I know he means Margot too.

I nod. “She’s it.”

“What does she know?” he asks. “She’s not capable of making men disappear.”

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