Dirty Secret

by Chelle Bliss

  The vault door opens, and Grayson’s guard walks back in. My stomach sinks when I see he’s holding my lipstick.

  “We found a bug in this, sir,” he says.

  “Can you trace it?”

  “I’ve got Wolf working on it now.”

  I close my eyes.

  “Do you know the history of this building, Kennedy?” Grayson asks me.

  “No, but I know that in the present, it’s owned by a douchebag drug dealer who thinks he’s a bigger deal than he is.”

  He punches me full in the face, and I fall back. Hassan catches me and wraps something around my wrists, binding my hands behind my back.

  I feel Hassan unzipping his pants and rubbing his erection against my ass. The sick fuck is turned on right now—how disgusting.

  “This vault was built by a bank, and it’s impenetrable,” Grayson says. “It’s fireproof, bulletproof, and soundproof. So feel free to scream as much as you want.”

  Hassan pulls my hair back, and I steel myself for what’s to come. My end doesn’t define me. This is just a sliver of the life I’ve led.

  I tell myself that again and again as Hassan pulls at my clothes and I fight him off. Then I feel another set of hands holding on to me. I can’t keep both of them at bay with my hands tied up.

  The vault door opens again, and we all turn. I’m expecting to see one of Grayson’s security guards, but instead, I see the dark, intense gaze I dream about every night.

  “Nix.”

  26

  Phoenix

  It takes me a moment to fully understand what’s happening as I open the door to the vault. Grayson has Kennedy pinned, and Hassan is behind her with his dick out and he’s tearing at her clothes. Their eyes are on me, waiting for me to say or do something as I close the door behind me.

  Fuck.

  When Kennedy disappeared with Hassan, my gut told me to follow. Part of me figured she had whatever they were doing coming to her. But the part of me that still loves her told me to go after her.

  Hassan is ruthless and will stop at nothing to ruin a woman like Kennedy.

  I don’t speak right away, weighing my options and thinking about how to get both of us out of here alive. From the blood trickling down Kennedy’s face, she’s already taken a few blows.

  My gaze travels between Hassan and Grayson, and I try to keep my eyes off Kennedy. I can’t let on that I’m here to rescue her. “What’s going on in here?”

  My life is tied to hers. No matter how hard I want to deny it, I love her. But the fact that she has me under her thumb until the case is over adds another layer to our already complicated relationship.

  “We’re dealing with a problem,” Hassan says casually, like he doesn’t have a half-naked woman bound in front of him. Maybe this kind of shit happens in his world all the time, but it sure as fuck doesn’t in mine.

  Grayson stalks toward me with a severe scowl, and I ready myself. I know what’s coming before he even speaks. He made a promise the last time we were in this room, and he’s looking to cash in. Someone’s not getting out of here alive.

  “You vouched for her,” he growls, waving his hand in Kennedy’s direction, but my glare stays pinned on him. “You made excuses for her, and I let it slide.” He comes to a stop right in front of me, the tips of his shoes touching mine as his eyes narrow into tiny slits. “I told you that I’d come for you if you were wrong.”

  “I’m here, motherfucker.” I have no fear of Grayson or Hassan. Neither of them usually gets their hands dirty. They hire men to do that. But with the vault door closed and locked behind me, there’s just the four of us.

  Hassan’s eyes widen in disgust. “You knew? You fuckin’ knew this cunt was working us the whole time?” He yanks on Kennedy’s hair, snapping her head backward.

  Kennedy cries out, pleading with her eyes. She’s terrified. Not just for herself, but for both of us. Knowing her like I do, I can’t mistake it for anything other than raw terror.

  Squaring my shoulders, I figure I might as well fuck with his head a little bit before I have to take him out. “I knew nothing except for the sweet taste of her pussy on my lips.”

  I can almost see Hassan snap. The realization that the woman he’s being trying to fuck for months with no success wasn’t a cock tease to everyone, just him. He wraps her hair tighter around his hand, causing her to cry out louder. “Take care of him, Grayson. Let him lie on the floor bleeding to death while he watches me fuck the little bitch.” With his other hand, he strokes his cock, making sure to touch Kennedy’s bare ass with every swipe.

  Grayson doesn’t move right away. He’s sizing me up. I glare at him, ready for whatever he’s going to try. I’ve dealt with tougher assholes than him. I’ve killed when necessary. It’s not something I’m proud of, but in a world like mine, sometimes it’s part of surviving. I’ve kept my hands clean for half a decade, but tonight that’s going to change.

  The blood inside my body starts to pump through my veins at a feverish pace. My heart races to keep up, and my adrenaline’s already spiking. I can’t wait any longer. Kennedy’s hanging on by a thread, and my anger is about to be unleashed.

  Moving quickly, I connect my fist with Grayson’s jaw, snapping his head backward from the blow. Blood splatters, flying in all directions, from his mouth. Grayson rights himself and comes toward me. He’s angrier than before. Rightfully so. I almost knocked him on his ass with a single blow.

  He swings at me, doing a right and left hook combo, and when I move out of the way of one hand, the other clips me. My head snaps back, the feel of his bones crunching on my chin sounding more painful than the actual impact.

  I laugh manically. I’m a sick SOB, and I want him to know that he’s no match for me.

  I know it.

  He knows it.

  But it doesn’t stop him from coming at me again, swinging like a wild man without any direction. Men like him rarely use their fists. They choose to keep their hands clean like Hassan. Others do their dirty work or else they use a weapon. Hands are too close. Close would expose his weaknesses, and I plan to exploit every one of them.

  I raise my fist, going in for a blow that I know will knock him on his ass, when Hassan comes into view behind Grayson. “Hold it right there.” He’s holding a gun, pointing it right at me.

  “Hassan,” I say, pleading to buy some time.

  If this is the end, so be it, but I’m not going down without a fight. I step forward and Grayson sucker-punches me in the side. I flinch, but I don’t fall. “Let’s talk about this,” I say to Hassan through gritted teeth, winded slightly from Grayson’s bitch punch.

  Hassan’s eyes narrow and he steps forward, ignoring Kennedy. “There’s nothing to talk about, Nix. If you’re trying to save her, then you’re working with her.”

  I glance at her, and she’s inching slowly behind Hassan. No one’s paying attention to her. Their eyes are only on me, and I’ll do anything to keep it that way, even if it means getting shot.

  I drop my hands to my sides and straighten my back, finally filling my lungs with air. “You’ve known me for ten fuckin’ years, Hassan. You know exactly who I am.”

  “You fucked her,” he says, motioning toward Kennedy with his head.

  At least, it’s where Kennedy was when he first pointed the gun at me. But no one has turned around. She’s now about two feet behind Hassan, moving slowly but quietly. One thing I know about her is that she can fight. When she and I sparred in my apartment, she knocked me on my ass and could’ve taken me. For someone so small, she’s skilled. Whoever trained her did a fan-fucking-tastic job.

  I should be scared. I should be a lot of things right now. There’s a gun pointed at me, the woman I love is half naked and inching behind a psychopath, and then there’s Grayson, ready to take over if Hassan fucks up. Most men would be pissing their pants by now. But I’m not most men, and Kennedy isn’t like other women.

  “I fucked her,” I admit willingly and can’t help but give
him a shit-eating grin. “Fuckin’ goooood pussy too, Hassan.”

  He walks forward, shaking the gun in my direction. The veins near his temples are popping out. “You’re an asshole, Nix. You deserve to die just as much as she does. But I’m going to make it a slow death. Maybe a blow to the stomach.” He licks his lips, slowly dragging his tongue across his bottom lip. “You can watch me enjoying her good pussy.”

  The dumbfuck is actually debating where he’s going to shoot me. I want to roll my eyes and tell him to get it over with already, but then Kennedy’s close enough that I know she’s going to…

  And she does. She swings her leg out, knocking Hassan right on his ass. The gun goes off, but it’s pointed at the ceiling. He falls to the floor, and Kennedy follows. Before he has a chance to get his bearings, Kennedy has her legs wrapped around his neck.

  Grayson’s caught off guard by the entire thing. I knew it was coming, but Kennedy’s strength and acrobatics even shock the shit out of me. Grayson’s eyes sweep to me, and before he has a chance to move, I’m on him.

  The force at which my body collides with his knocks him backward. He trips and falls, but I go with him. I’m sitting on him, wrapping my hands around his neck and squeezing with so much strength that it doesn’t take long for his face to turn red and the blood vessels near his eyes to start bursting. His hands are clawing at my fingers, and his legs are kicking against the floor.

  I don’t know what’s going on with Hassan and Kennedy. I’m too busy choking the life out of Grayson, but since I haven’t been shot in the head yet, I assume she got Hassan under control. My body is on autopilot, and nothing will get my hands off Grayson’s neck except him gasping for his last breath and finally succumbing to his fate.

  His mouth opens and he’s trying to suck in air, but I squeeze harder, bored to death with this shit and growing impatient. His windpipe collapses under my grip, the crunch barely fazing me as he takes his last breath.

  Still on top of him, straddling his dead corpse, I finally look over toward Kennedy and Hassan. He’s motionless in between her legs.

  “He alive?” I ask and take a minute to survey the damage.

  “Nope,” she says, lying on her side with her hands still bound behind her back.

  Fuck. She choked him to death with her legs?

  I’m shocked. More shocked by her ability than the fact that I just murdered a man with my bare hands.

  The woman I love, the sweet little thing I once thought she was, killed a man with her hands tied behind her back. I let that sink in as I climb to my feet and lift her into a seated position.

  “Check him to be sure,” she tells me as I’m reaching behind her to untie her hands.

  I do as she asks, because I should’ve done that first. I press two fingers to his throat, and there’s nothing. “You killed him?” It sounds more like a question because I’m still gobsmacked.

  “Fucker deserved it.” She wiggles, trying to break free from her binding, but she grunts her annoyance at me as I watch. “You going to just watch me or help?”

  I’m turned on and scared shitless. I’ll think twice next time I sink down between her legs to feast on her. One wrong move and she could have me gasping for air and taking my last breath. “Sorry,” I tell her and work at the knot after she turns her back to me to give me easier access. “What the hell are we going to do with them? We can’t just leave them here.”

  “We’re going to need help.” She rubs her wrists once they’re free. “There’s another Greenlight agent here. I’ll have to call in for backup to help us minimize any exposure.”

  My eyebrows shoot up. “There’s another one of you?”

  “Yeah.” She pushes off the ground and brushes off her naked ass.

  “Who?”

  She pulls up her skirt and rearranges her clothing. “I don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”

  I stand over Grayson’s lifeless body, watching as Kennedy places a call, talking in code as she unlocks the door. If this isn’t handled right, we’re all going to be in a world of hurt. Nothing ends a life faster than betrayal, and the fact that Kennedy is a secret agent and I’m caught in a fucked-up tangled web doesn’t help shit.

  Her fingers move across her cheeks, wiping away the tears and mascara. “He’ll be here in two.”

  I stalk toward her and need a minute alone with her before he arrives. Reaching out, I wrap my hands around her arms and pull her body flush against me. “We gotta talk.”

  “Later,” she tells me. “We don’t have time now.”

  “There’s no time except now, Kennedy. Whatever happened in the past…” I trail off and lean my head forward, closer to her. “None of it matters. When I thought they were going to kill you, I had to come after you.”

  “Thank you,” she whispers with her lips almost touching mine, her eyes wide and dark.

  “I love you, Kennedy. It’s fucked up, but I love you.”

  A slow smile spreads across her face. “I love you too,” she whispers.

  My lips crash against hers, claiming her as mine. Every pent-up feeling comes out through our kiss. Our tongues move together, sliding against the other’s as we moan. I don’t know if my senses are heightened or if the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body has come crashing down, but this kiss isn’t like any other kiss we’ve had before.

  When the door opens, she pulls away, and I’m left gasping for air in the same way the two dead men on the floor did. Someday, she’ll be the death of me.

  Slowly I turn, wondering who the other mole inside the Loft is, and to my surprise, it’s the last person I ever expected. “Wolf?”

  Never in a million years would I think Wolf was undercover. Maybe he got involved after getting caught, much like me. Either way, I’m sure the shock is written all over my face along with my mouth hanging open.

  He strides in and takes in the sight of Grayson and Hassan before slamming the door closed behind him. “This is some fucked-up shit.” He shakes his head and looks at Kennedy first and then focuses his gaze on me. “You do this?” he asks me.

  “We both did.”

  He grunts his approval. “Let’s get this shit cleaned up. We can’t leave a trace of what really happened to them. We need to make sure to keep your cover here at the Loft, or years of work for Greenlight will be down the drain.”

  “Right. Maybe we can make it look like a murder-suicide?” Kennedy says before Wolf starts to work his magic.

  “Hmmm,” he mutters, scratching his chin. “It could work. Just need some…” He glances up and our eyes follow, noticing an old beam running through the room. “We just need some rope to hang one of them, and then we can stage the other with a gun. We can handle the coroner, but we need the people inside this building to believe that they murdered each other.”

  “Works for me,” I say because I don’t give a fuck what we do with them as long as it clears Kennedy and me from any issues in the future.

  If anyone inside the Loft found out that Kennedy is an agent and that I knew or helped her, there would be a bounty on both of our heads. The last thing I want is to put her in further danger and ruin everything I’ve worked so hard to build.

  “I’m game,” she says quickly and bends over near where she was bound when I walked in. “I have rope, and there’s a gun. Let’s get to work.”

  Who the fuck is this creature in front of me?

  27

  Kennedy

  The next couple weeks are a whirlwind. Killing people isn’t standard procedure at Greenlight, and Nix, Wolf, and I all have to sit through many hours of interviews.

  We pulled off the murder-suicide crime scene for anyone outside the agency. I came up with the idea of leaving Hassan’s pants down to raise the question that it could have been a lover’s quarrel gone bad between the two of them. That was my final middle finger to that motherfucker.

  I should have tried harder to feign remorse over squeezing the life out of him since I’m only supposed to k
ill people in the direst of situations. It definitely qualified as dire—there was no way I was getting out of that basement alive if Hassan and Grayson had anything to say about it. But given that Greenlight sent Olivia and me overseas to save Hassan’s ass because the brass wanted to use him to get to bigger targets, I had to explain why taking him out had been my only choice.

  Nix is considered square with Greenlight now. Saving an agent’s life in the field earns a source the highest of accolades. But I’ve noticed he seems almost disappointed that his brief stint with Greenlight is over.

  Coco has decided to enroll in the trainee program for Greenlight. She’s never given up on her dream of becoming a spy and playing dress-up. In the short time she’s been there, she’s thrived. Nix is proud of her and supports her decision one hundred percent. She’ll be done with training in the next six months, and then she’s going to be unleashed on the world.

  Like right now, when he just fucked me into another dimension after we celebrated the conclusion of the Hassan-Grayson investigation with dinner at his place. I’m sweaty, sated, and possibly a little drunk, and I am almost asleep when he speaks.

  “Do you guys care about sex trafficking?”

  I lift my head from the pillow and furrow my brow. “Greenlight, you mean? Yeah, we’d definitely care if we had a lead on something like that.”

  He keeps tracing his fingertip down the line of my spine, the gentle touch nice right after he ravaged my body. Not that I’m complaining—he can ravage me anytime he wants.

  “But do you look the other way if a politically connected person is behind it?” he asks.

  I sit all the way up now. “Hell no. Are you kidding me? I’d never work for a place that—”

  He cuts me off, a corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile. “Okay, Ken. I get it. I’m talking highly connected, though.”

  I glare at him, just barely able to make out the lines of his expression in the moonlight. “Quit playing coy. Tell me what you know.”