Page 132 of King of My Heart

Sam doesn’t belong to anyone. He is this sort of freelance ‘contractor’ who goes by one rule and one rule only: I don’t hear anything. I don’t see anything. It’s why he’s able to work with all of them.

He used to be stuck with Mateo Bianco, because his dad was loyal to him. But since Bianco was sent to prison, he’s been taking work from everyone. He doesn’t need to know anything about their organizations. They give him a contract, and he kills people. That’s it.

And sometimes, they like their lethal employee so much, they let him borrow their best guys. Like the Lucianos do with Mattia.

“Call him,” Sam urges me. “Ask if that tracker’s moved.”

“Surely, if it had, he would have told you.”

“Malik,” he snaps, and I instantly scroll through the contacts.

“Alright, alright.” The tone rings on repeat, but Mattia doesn’t pick up. “Want me to try Luna?” I know Luna is his apprentice that takes on the easy jobs for Mattia.

“No.”

Silence follows his monosyllabic word, so I don’t insist. I simply keep an eye on the phone to make sure I don’t miss if Mattia calls back.

When I see signs telling us we’re entering New York City, my brain starts ringing the alarm.

“Sam,” I address with conviction. “This is weird as fuck.” His silence riles me up. “Are you listening to me? The last time you found the Volkov brothers, they were hiding in Ontario’s countryside. Why would they move from bumfuck nowhere Canada where they have all the space in the world to hide…to fucking NYC?”

Rachel turns around in her seat to share a look with me. She agrees, despite not knowing anything about our world, about crime organizations, or who any of those guys are.

“Sam,” I insist. No answer. Coward. Hiding in his silence when he knows I’ve raised a sensible point. “You’re taking this job too personally. And I’ll be the one hurting if it gets you killed.”

Rachel gives me sorry eyes when I’m left with yet another motherfucking silence. Does Rose even realize Sam isn’t killing the Volkov brothers for the money anymore? He’s long forgotten he took the job for the enormous amount of cash. He had initially promised me it would be his last, and we could settle down after this.

No, he’s killing them because they stole Rose from him. Because one of them turned her against him.

And I’m terrified that adding love to the mix will be his downfall.

Forty-five minutes later, he parks his white SUV in front of a Manhattan townhouse.

“Stay in the car,” he mumbles low as he grabs his gun.

“You’ve gone fucking insane. This is not how you do your usual jobs. You haven’t scouted the area, the building. You don’t know who’s in there. You don’t know who’s waiting for you on the other side of that door.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re being reckless. You’re not fucking invincible!” I shout, concern rippling through my voice.

He ignores me, opening the door and slamming it behind himself. Then he opens the back door.

“Come with me,” he simply says.

“Oh, now you also want to getmekilled. Great. Turn this into group suicide, why don’t you.”

I grab the gun I had picked for myself and follow him out. I’ll complain, but he’s my ride-or-die. I can’t let him go get himself killed without doing anything about it.

“Get the first-aid kit ready, Rachel. You’ll probably need it to stitch our heads back onto our bodies. That’s if we ever come back out.” I slam the door behind me and follow him to the house.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Sam chuckles. I should shoot him. That would avoid us the trouble we’re about to get ourselves into.

He easily picks the lock on the door, proving further that this is not the Wolves’ hideout. It’s too easy to get in.

He slowly opens the door and looks at me. “Stay close.”

“Insh’Allahwe actually come out of here alive.Betzrat HaShem.”

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