A man I recognized paused at the entrance, glancing over his shoulder in the direction I waited. The absence of my headlights made him uncertain of my presence, and with the harrowing sounds of the weather camouflaging the low rumble of my car, I knew I was nothing more than an eerie feeling, crawling up the divots of his spine in a sensation he’d have to shake off later.
He slipped past the crooked archway, likely battling his paranoia as he approached the circle of men I already knew were inside. A nearly implausible combination of this city’s men stood poised between those walls—forming allies with an absence of decency and the promise of money.
Scum.
All of them.
I rarely judged a man for omitting ethics, but there were arbitrary lines a human did not cross, and the fuckers inside that building had poured gasoline across each one of them, covering them in a crowd of flames.
Little did they know that simple, symbolic flick of a match signed their death warrant and pinned a ticket to hell straight to their forehead.
With the flick of my hood, I wrapped my hand around the handle of my car and pushed open the door with the heel of my boot. Gun to my chest, I stepped out into the rain. The droplets felt like icicles piercing my previously heated skin, saturating the cotton of my sweatshirt and filling the boots I wore. The feeling was unpleasant, but I’d taken shots in worse weather, with less protection and an older gun.
This?
This was child’s play, and the modest challenge the weather posed did nothing but make cock hard as I maneuvered myself on the roof of my car, stomach down. Elbows digging the metal, I positioned my gun in front of me and stared down the scope. The rain obstructed my vision, but still I wrapped my finger around the trigger, ready and waiting.
I’d surveillanced this meeting nearly three times before, and if the habits of my target remained accurate, he was seconds away from approaching that crooked doorway.
One…
Two…
Three…
Target in position.
He hesitated, and in turn, so did I. With a flick of his chin, the man I’d come to kill looked fully in my direction, as if he sensed my muted presence more than the last man did.
I gave myself a single second to memorize each feature of his face as he peered in my direction, eyes narrow and forehead sloped. His chest fell beneath the jacket he wore, and before another thought could swell inside his brain, I pulled the trigger and blew it to pieces.
The door opened,and through the haze of my memory, I saw the face of a man I used to know—one possessing features far too reminiscent of the man I’d killed years ago.
The similarities weren’t a fucking coincidence, and now that I was truly looking, they were like a hard slap to the face.
“Elijah.”
Ezra’s lip was busted, the old wound nearly reopening as it curled upward. Steel, frigid eyes roamed every inch of my body, logging my stance and the gun I held in my palm. He brought his fists to his chest, popping his scarred knuckles as though he was preparing for the moment he sent them flying across my jaw.
Yeah. Fucking. Right.
He glanced over my shoulder, anxious eyes darting over the length of the hallway, likely confirming whether I’d come alone.
My brother rarely thought before he spoke, but the silence, and the way he kept his eyes from touching mine, told me he was choosing his words carefully.
He swept a thumb across his battered lip, stepping aside just slightly. With a dip of his chin, he gestured for me to step inside. I kept my gun trained on his chest as I did so, maneuvering myself in such a way that my eye gaze stayed level with his.
I wouldn’t put my back to this fucker.
Not again.
“Elijah,” he said again, finally looking up at me. His soft, conversational tone didn’t match the corrupt glint that shined through his hard gaze. “You found me.”
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” I cocked my head, studying the way his pulse throbbed against this neck. “You used Hugh’s name to lure me here in an effort to confirm what you already suspected.We know,Ezra. We know you hired Hugh, and we know you got scared after I put a bullet in him.”
“Scared?” Ezra’s eyes widened, and he let out a laugh so chilling it sent shivers down my neck. “Is that what you think, Elijah? You think I fear you?”
“I think your fucking kneecap has been vibrating beneath your jeans since the second you opened that door. I think you’ve got sweat dusting the back of your neck. I think you’ve been avoiding my gaze in favor of looking at my gun, andI thinkyou’ve run out of time.” My teeth clicked together, my fingers tightening around my gun. “You were too slow, Ezra, and you weren’t fucking smart enough.”