Page 4 of Blood Ties

“So watch her for a bit longer,” he offered with a shrug. I’d stopped by his office to see him, and he immediately knew I needed to talk.

“After that, I followed her forfour more days. V, I was on her every move. Walking around town, grocery shopping—you name it. She gave money to the panhandlers, and she bought them food and water. She volunteers at soup kitchens and at animal shelters. Then also finds time to create high-demand art. The woman is practically a paragon,” I grumbled, glancing over to stare out the window at the city of Chicago below.

“Maybe it’s all an act. Like an illusion to throw people off.”

“Maybe. That’s why I made the decision to wait. Maybe I’m missing something.” Before I completed my mission, I needed to be sure. Yet my client was on my ass. Another thing I didn’t like.

“Um, then—”

Stuck in my head, I continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “This job has rubbed me wrong from day one, but I had been exhausted after returning to the States and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

My brother lifted his brows, and I knew he was thinking what I was. Despite a nine-day assignment over in Japan, I couldn’t afford to be less than razor sharp. I’d been sleep deprived and my brain hadn’t caught up with me. In a particularly cold and dead space in my head, I let the client talk me into something I never did.

That’s where things got me in trouble. Facet had told me he got a weird vibe off this case, because the client wouldn’t say who the target was until she talked to me directly. But because he had told me the client wanted her husband’s murderer eliminated, I had no qualms. Hell, I thought it would be an easy job. After all, the person lived right here in Chicago.

It would pay well.

Quick cash. No travel.

It was a no-brainer. What I hadn’t realized until she called my burner to discuss the details of the job was that the target was her stepdaughter.

That made me initially pause, though I didn’t hit the brakes.

I mean, I had two rules.

Number one, I didn’t work for my family. Like ever. If they wanted someone dead, they had their ways. Not to say I wouldn’t put a bullet between someone’s eyes if I needed to—because I had and would again in a heartbeat. Because let someone threaten my family… what’s that saying? Fuck around and find out?

Number two, I didn’t kill kids. In the Army, I’d had been forced to do just that and I hated it. But that was a situation where I was faced with the impossible choice to take out the kid with enough explosives strapped to him to level a small city, or my entire team was dead. That was the day I learned to shut off my emotions.

There was one more thing—and this was where this job became a problem. If one wanted to get technical, I had a third rule, but it was… flexible. I didn’t kill women. Unless they were straight up evil cunts—E.C.’s. And believe me, they existed.

But this chick? After watching her—seeingher—she wasn’t one. No way.

I liked to think I had incredibly accurate instincts—they’d kept me alive on numerous occasions. Every single fiber of my being knew something wasn’t jiving.

The woman that hired me? If what I was thinking was true, I’m pretty sure she fit in that E.C. category.

I didn’t like being lied to. In fact, I hated it. I especially didn’t like being lied to about a target. It was one reason I was so meticulous with my job. If the target wasn’t easily researched or publicly know, I watched them for about a week. I needed to know their habits—their routines. I didn’t like being caught with my pants down. Well, unless my cock was out and in a woman’s mouth.

But I digress.

The E.C. who hired me had sent what she claimed was email traffic between the target and another person discussing how to kill her biological father. Then pictures of a raven-haired beauty that had called to me in a weird way that I’d ignored—or tried to. In the still photos, she was definitely slipping something out of her bag and into Justin Santino’s drink while he had left the table for a phone call.

It made me question my gut feelings, and I hated it.

Facet had verified that the emails originated from her condo.

The problem was, Justin’s death had been ruled a massive heart attack. But he’d been cremated before any toxicology reports could be run. Supposedly, it had been his request that he be immediately cremated, but fuck.

“So you think your client is lying?” Vittorio asked. He and Gabriel were the only ones I ever discussed any of my jobs with. And I was selective with that.

“I could be wrong, but yeah.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to check into a few things. Then, I’m gonna get closer to her.”

“The target or the bitch that hired you? Either way, are you sure that’s a good idea?” He cocked a brow and gave me the look that said he thought I was nuts.

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