Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
The betrayal hits harder than the taser ever could.
“Well, this is awkward,” she says, tilting her head as if considering the situation, “Surprised?”
I stare at her, my chest tightening so hard it hurts to breathe. “You . . .” My voice cracks as I try to force the words out. “You did this?”
“Of course I did,” she says, a subtle laugh in her tone as her smile widens, sending a chill pulsing through my veins as I finally get a bit of movement back in my body. Though I’m careful to keep still, not willing to give myself away. “I’ve known who you were from the beginning, Kiara. I know we promised not to, but I couldn’t help it. It’s just who I am. But that’s the perk of being a hacker. There are no secrets. Home address, background records, your agency stats, your real name.” She pauses, eyes glittering with something ugly. “Even the little detail about the family who left you on a firehouse doorstep when you were four days old.”
My chest tightens. That’s not something I’ve ever told a soul.
“You and me, we had a good thing going. But you just had to go and ruin it. You brought this on yourself,” she says with a shrug, casually stepping over bodies, as though they’re nothing but dirt on the floor. “You should’ve stayed away from the Iron Viper.”
Raiden. Fuck. Just mentioning his name tells me she already knows too much.
Fear spikes through my veins.
“You should never have gotten involved with him,” Milan continues, almost conversationally. “But you couldn’t help yourself, could you? Always got to have it all. Didn’t take long for you to slip up, and all the pieces started clicking. Once I realized Raiden was the Iron Viper, and that you’d been compromised, everything just kinda . . . fell into place.”
She gestures lazily at the bodies scattered around us before letting out a sigh. “This is going to be a problem, though. I knew you’d get through some of them, but you’ve nearly taken out the whole agency. I’m going to have to start recruiting new contractors, but it’s honestly a shame. Losing you really is going to put a dent in my bank account.”
My hands curl into fists against the floor.
“You left evidence everywhere,” she says, almost sounding disappointed. “Stealing each other’s hits, playing ridiculous little games. You’re better than that, Kiara. Honestly, you’ve left me no choice.”
She’s right, and I hate that. It’s the reason why Raiden had walked away. We were already heading down this slippery slope, but it doesn’t make the sting of her betrayal hurt any less.
Milan’s gaze drifts across the apartment before settling on the only two things in the entire room still intact, and my heart sinks.
No.
Spikezilla and Needles.
“Oh look, the cactus survived,” Milan chimes, picking up Spikezilla, recognizing her in an instant from the hundreds of pictures I’ve sent of all her ridiculous pots over the years, just as I’d recognize her cat, Morris. She looks over Spikezilla before picking up Needles in her other hand, scanning over the penis pot and immediately knowing how it managed to come into my home. “This though . . . This is new.”
Disgust is thick in her tone, and I ease up onto my elbow, fear pounding in my chest. “Milan,” I warn, my heart racing a million miles an hour.
Milan’s gaze sweeps back to mine, and when a wicked smirk cuts across her face, my world plummets, right along with Spikezilla and Needles as she opens her hands, letting them both crash to the ground.
A sharp, pained yelp tears from the back of my throat, watching in horror as both their pots smash into a million pieces, soil scattering across the bloodstained floor.
Oh, hell no.
That fucking bitch.
Rage ignites in my chest, and it takes everything in me not to launch myself across the room. I need to regain proper movement of my body before I can strike.
“Oh,” she says sweetly. “Almost forgot. I brought you a surprise.”
My gaze snaps up toward my broken front door just as a man appears, stepping over a body to enter right into my apartment, a smirk lingering on his lips as he takes me in, sprawled across the floor without an ounce of energy to fight.
Louis Mendez.
What the actual fuck?
“Hello, sweetheart,” he says smoothly, that chilling tone sending shivers down my spine. But not out of fear. I don’t fear this man. He’s vile and wants things I’ll never give him, but he couldn’t touch me even if he tried. The bigger question here is, how the fuck is he related to all of this bullshit? “I’ve been looking for you.”
Not giving Louis the time of day, I ignore him as I sweep my attention back to Milan, my body getting stronger by the second. “What the fuck is he doing here?”