Page 11 of Like a Hurricane

“You don’t want to ensure I follow through with it?”

“Well, I didn’t think I would have to see it.”

“If you’re willing to trust my word, then don’t look.” I shrug nonchalantly.

“Well if that’s all,” His voice shakes, giving away his nerves, “I have a meeting to attend.”

“Having second thoughts, Mr. Lauder?” I ask.

“Not at all,” He straightens his shoulders, “The bastards have to go.”

I nod with a grin, feeling the familiar twitch of anticipation curl my fingers. This was a relatively easy job, in and out, quick and clean, not as fun as some of my other jobs but a good starting point after what went down only a few months ago. It had been two months since I killed anyone, the last one was quick and simple too, some bitch not worth remembering after she fucked with my family.

But after this job, I’d find something a little more complicated and a lot more thrilling.

Leaving Victor’s office, I step back into the hall to find Arryn waiting there.

“How about dinner?” I say to her, coming to a stop in front of the alluring woman, “Tonight. Seven PM.”

“That seems more like a demand than a request,” She replies.

“The choice is entirely up to you. I’ll have a car stop by at seven. You can either get in it or not. The choice is yours.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to wait and see, won’t you, Mr. Avery.”

“I guess I will.” I grin knowing damn well she was getting in that car. Her curiosity was far too demanding for her not to.

It helped that I saw her checking me out and knew she found me just as appealing as I found her.

I feel her grey eyes on me as I make my way out of the prestigious hotel and through the large doors into the snow that just won’t give up. My feet crunch over the thickly padded snow as I head down the sidewalk and pull out my phone, dialing my brother.

“You need bailing out already?” Torin’s deep voice grunts through the phone.

“And here I thought you might miss me,” I sigh dramatically.

“What is it, Rett?” He asks.

“Is that Uncle Rett!?” I hear little Harper in the background, the daughter of my brother’s wife, Maya, and his new stepdaughter, thus making her my new niece. The kid was adorable, even if her choice of pets was questionable. I mean who chooses a chicken as a pet? Last I checked Ruthie, the owner of the only lodge on the small island I called home, had given the girl the chicken and Torin had made her a small coop in the backyard.

“Let me speak to Harper, Torin,” I demand, “She’s the only one who appreciates me.”

“You’re so dramatic, asshole,” Torin grunts but he passes the phone over.

“When are you coming back, Uncle Rett!?” Harper demands.

I thought I hated the island that was home to Ravenpeak Bay, the small little town that Torin, me and our adoptive brother, Kolten had found some years back now. Torin had fallen in love within a few months of moving there and got married, had a son but then tragedy struck, and it seemed to fracture us all. When Torin lost his first wife something changed for us all. Kolten had been acting strange already but that was nothing new for him, he was always a bit of an outcast, as much as I love the broody fucker and Torin became a shell of a man. Well at least until he met Maya, the woman who had completely turned his world upside down.

But after spending time there after so long of being away, I realized I didn’t hate it at all. Sometimes it was nice to go into the quiet, to go back to the little cabin I had buried in the woods even if I wasn’t sure I could ever leave this life behind. I was raised to kill, it wasn’t as easy as just switching it off, no matter how much Torin claimed otherwise.

I’d have to go back soon, I think.

“Soon,” I tell Harper, “I’ll come to visit soon.”

“You better!” Harper orders sassily.

After a ten-minute conversation with the kid followed by a quick talk with my brother, I hang up, taking the steps up to the apartment I owned in the city center. It was kept clean and maintained by housekeepers when I travel, which I do a lot. The job takes me all over and this week was the first time I’d been back here in months.

It was sterile, a place to sleep more than anything else but I’d stocked the fridge with food and beer and used the place as a base for this contract. I head through to the office that was set up with monitors and PCs running twenty-four-seven, monitoring all the feeds for my targets plus the one monitor I had dedicated to Arryn.

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