Page 123 of Lady and the Hitman

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My breath caught.

But it wasn’t a weapon. It was a small black case. Simple. Elegant. Unlabeled.

He slid it across the table.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Open it.”

I did.

Inside was a flash drive.

No explanation. No note.

I looked up at him. “What is this?”

“A choice.”

I stared at it. “Ronan?—”

“You want answers? Proof? Something real?” His voice was calm. Too calm. “That’s it. Everything you’ve been too afraid to ask.”

I didn’t move.

“I told you I’m not a ghost,” he said. “And I’m not a liar either. You want to know who I am? Plug it in.”

My mouth was dry. “Why now?”

“Because if we’re doing this in the light,” he said, “you deserve to see what’s in the dark.”

The tension between us crackled like live wire. Every part of me screamed to lean in closer—and every survival instinct I had screamed to run.

“Will it change how I see you?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “But maybe not in the way you think.”

I didn’t pick up the flash drive. Not yet.

Instead, I asked the question that had been whispering in my bones since the night we met.

“Have you killed someone?”

His jaw flexed. He looked down at the table. Then back at me.

“Yes.”

Just that. One word. No justification. No apology.

The air left my lungs like a punch.

“Was it—” I stopped. “Was it your job?”

He nodded once. “It was.”

The truth should’ve shattered me.

But it didn’t.

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