Hitman's Bride (Bad Boy Empire)

by Vanessa Waltz

  “Promise me you’ll behave like a perfect wife.”

  “Micheal—”

  “Do it for me.”

  He turns me around and his freckled green eyes paralyze me like they did the first time we met. I wonder if he suspects my feelings for him. If I behave like a perfect wife and we win this thing, then what? Where the hell is this marriage going?

  A swift pain hits my lungs because I can’t figure out exactly where I fit in with his roaming lifestyle. Is he going to leave me here when everything is over? He can’t leave, but he never said he’d play by the syndicate’s rules.

  Silas’s eyebrows knit together. “What is it?”

  “You’re going to leave this place, aren’t you? Even if they hunt you down.”

  The longer I keep staring into his hardened eyes, the more I ache.

  “Fawn, you knew this was temporary from the beginning.”

  “I know, but…” I let my sentence trail off as he gently holds the side of my face, and the hurt pounds in my chest.

  “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, Fawn. You’re selfless, brave, and sexy as fuck, and whoever you end up with will be a very lucky man.”

  My eyes glaze over with tears. “But I want to be with you.”

  “Baby, we can’t. I wish I could keep you with me, but I would never forgive myself if you got hurt.”

  “So that’s it, huh?”

  “Fawn—”

  “No. You come in here and bulldoze over my fucking life, uproot everything I’ve ever known, and then you just walk out?”

  “I’m not one of your syndicate men. Call it a gang, a cult, whatever the fuck you want, but I always avoided them.”

  His thumb strokes my cheek as tears roll down my face. It’s such a tender gesture, and I hate him for touching me like this, making me think that we actually had a shot. “Only because of what happened when you were a kid.”

  “It has nothing to do with that,” he says, eyes flashing. “It has to do with being owned by someone I can’t fucking stand, being ordered to do something I don’t want to do.”

  “What if you were doing the ordering?”

  A tentative smile staggers over his face. “What?”

  “You could replace Viper.”

  It sounds insane when I say it out loud, but the more I think about it, the more it takes root in my head.

  “I haven’t been here long enough, and besides, I’d never want leadership of this place.”

  “You have to take it! What if Viper is replaced by another psychopath?”

  His jaw clenches shut. “I didn’t come here to save this place.”

  I back away from him, horrified as the truth blows up in my face. Once he’s gone, another violent bastard will take Viper’s place, probably one of his men. The killing won’t stop, and I’ll be back where I started. Just another syndicate slut.

  “Why did you even marry me?”

  “Fawn…”

  “Was it all bullshit? Do I mean anything to you?”

  “Of course you do. You know that.”

  “No, I don’t!” I scream at him. “All I see is the man who killed my father to fuck me. Now you’re done and you’re just going to leave.”

  “Really?” he shouts back. “I killed your pathetic excuse for a father because that man gave me no choice, and Viper wanted him dead. He was the one who put me up to it.”

  My skin freezes and I clutch my arms as though a sudden chill breezed through the apartment. So he’s the one responsible—of course he was. My body crushes against his as he grabs my shoulders and pulls me into his warmth. I succumb to it, hiccupping a sob as his jaw slides over my head.

  “I’m not going to leave you. Not until I know you’re safe.”

  My eyes burn again and I ball my fists into his dress shirt, seeking out his heat. I knew he wouldn’t, because he cares about me. Anguish chokes my voice, shuddering through my body.

  I love you, I want to scream at him. Don’t leave me!

  Another sob racks my chest as he wraps his arms around me, hugging me almost tight enough to suffocate me.

  * * *

  The lobby looks like a jewel. There are golden garlands draped down the staircases, and the syndicate whores are dressed in subdued golden dresses as they float among the crowds, balancing trays of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Pristine white tables cover the marble floor, and each one has a set of golden candles with a glass centerpiece. There’s an orchestra playing classical music, and the musicians wear black tuxes. A savory, delicious smell wafts through the air, and I see wooden boxes filled with steamed dim sum. There are fucking cupcakes with white frosting and little black dragons. People are laughing. Having a good time. It’s as though a few weeks ago, Viper didn’t slaughter the leadership of the Black Dragons. Jesus Christ.

  I recognize a girl walking up the stairs in taupe heels and a formfitting red dress. Her hair is slicked back into a sleek bun and there’s a dainty golden chain surrounding her neck. She balances a tray of champagne glasses filled to the brim with bubbly liquid. She’s one of the syndicate’s whores. I saw her during my brief stay down there. Her eyes gloss over both of us and then snap back to me. Suddenly she pauses mid step as her lips thin.

  She must hate me for marrying my way out of the brothel. It’s not something that happens very often. Syndicate men will fuck around with the whores, but will rarely date one exclusively. Marriage is unheard of. A pipe dream.

  Silas grabs two flutes from the girl’s tray and presses the glass into my hands. My fingers curl around the delicate stem and my heart does a flutter when he says my name.

  “Remember what I said.”

  “Which part?” I ask in an airy voice.

  “Fawn.”

  “Relax. I’ll do what you said.”

  A slow, sexy smile tugs at his lips. Giddiness rises to my throat like the bubbles in the champagne.

  I’m in love with him.

  It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The way he lightly grabs my wrist, his voice sliding into my ears like silk, and his smile. My eyes mist and I want so badly to tell him because I feel like any minute could be our last in this place. And, yes, part of me hopes that maybe he’ll change his mind.

  The glass rings when he taps his drink against mine. “Cheers.”

  “To what?”

  “To the dress you’re wearing.” His heated gaze looks down my neck until I can feel the skin on my breasts burning with his intensity. His voice takes a feral tone. “I haven’t fucked you in way too long.”

  “It’s only been twenty-four hours.”

  Heat floods my cheeks as he winks at me. Then he tips the glass back and drinks. I laugh and take a small sip, and it’s as though the bubbles make me lighter. Silas flexes his fingers on my side, the small movement making my heart leap.

  All I can think about as we descend the staircase is that I might never see him again, that once he’s left the syndicate he’ll seek out the company of other women. It turns my stomach. I don’t want to imagine him with anyone else but me. Does that make me selfish?

  Whatever.

  The violins swell as we step down to the ground floor, immediately awash in a sea of white and black. My mouth waters as I spot the round, almost pure-white globes of the pork buns, traditionally eaten during lunchtime, never dinner. A woman with a tight black bun, deep-red lips, and a string of pearls around her neck bumps into me.

  “Sorry!”

  I recognize that smile. She’s the syndicate woman who took a bunch of my shit from my apartment after my father died. My stomach clenches uncomfortably, but the surge of righteous anger toward the bitch who took my things and laughed in my face never comes. I don’t give a fuck. None of it matters anymore.

  “Jesus. He’s got a dance floor, too?

  Slowly revolving men and women look like spinning tops over the gleaming floor. There’s not a trace of anxiety on anyone’s face. Everyone is all smiles, enjoying the evening as it was me
ant to be. I pass a mountain of the frosted cupcakes with dragons on them and feel a bizarre urge to laugh.

  “This is surreal.”

  “He’s pushing the PR thing really hard,” Silas mutters under his breath, raising an eyebrow at the desserts.

  And it’s working.

  “How many people actually know what happened?”

  “I’m sure there’s not a man in this room who doesn’t know what happened.”

  “Then why the hell is everyone grinning?”

  “He’s watching.”

  Vertigo seizes me as I follow Silas’s narrowed gaze to the smiling blond man standing among a crowd of people. He’s surrounded by his thugs, of course. There are at least six of them, apelike in appearance with biceps as thick as my neck.

  Silas squeezes my hand and steers me right toward that psychopath, and I feel a weight suddenly bear on my chest.

  “Let’s just disappear in the party.”

  “No,” he hisses in my ear. “We’ve got to say hi.”

  “Why the fuck for?”

  “Appearances.”

  The music warbles with a slow waltz, violin bows trembling, and the floor slowly fills with people as they pair up with partners and dance. We weave in and out of the crowd, the violins singing in my ears as my heart pounds hard. This is reckless—he’s a man who kills on a whim—and I marvel at the people dancing. They look like dolls, their faces frozen in permanent expressions of amusement. How can they relax?

  My stomach rots as Viper spots us approaching. A wide grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes spreads across his face. He holds out a hand, which Silas shakes with a smile just as friendly as Viper’s. I stare at him, almost convinced by the affectionate smile that he cares about that piece of shit, and I’ve felt the ceiling tremble with his screams about how much he wants Viper dead.

  “I’m glad you both could make it.”

  As if it wasn’t mandatory, you piece of shit.

  “We were happy to come.”

  Viper’s warmth seems to include me in the greeting as well, and when his gaze lingers a bit too long on me, I dig my fingernails into my palms. Damn it. I have to actually pretend to like this asshole, even after he told me he wanted to fuck me beside my father’s corpse.

  I can do this.

  I have to do this.

  “I love what you did with the lobby. It’s beautiful.”

  The way my voice gushes to this bastard makes me wants to hang myself.

  “Thank you. Have you tried any of the food?”

  “Not yet. We just got here.”

  Another handsome smile staggers over his round face, and pain stabs my chest. I can still picture him murdering Mrs. Lee with perfect clarity. Her face whitened as she lay dying on the floor, and Viper stepped over her like he would any obstacle, his face contorted as he snapped back my body when I turned to help her.

  Run away. Run the fuck away.

  I tell that voice to shut up. The syndicate doesn’t raise cowards, and besides, I have Silas. That’s right. He’ll protect me.

  Still, it’s as though I’m looking at Viper through a tunnel, the sound of the party oddly distorted. I glance around, breathing fast as my heart struggles to keep up with my panic.

  Run!

  “It’s nice to see everyone enjoying themselves after everything that happened.”

  I nearly wince as Silas digs his fingers into my side as a warning. Confusion ripples across Viper’s face.

  “After what happened?”

  Oh God.

  He looks so convincingly lost that I’m almost fooled, but of course he wouldn’t ask for anyone’s forgiveness. He’ll pretend the massacre never happened. I look around, heart hammering in my chest, and I wonder how many of these people even know about it. I want to shake their shoulders and scream at them: Look at him! Look at what he did!

  Viper raises his eyebrow, waiting for my response.

  “I—I only meant that the change in leadership might be hard to swallow for some.”

  “Well, they’ll swallow it or choke.”

  Viper gives Silas a quelling look. “I realize that a one-man leadership might be against the Dragons’ tradition, but I think if we’re to survive we need to reinvent ourselves. We can’t stick to age-old traditions just because we’re afraid of change. We need to embrace change.”

  I nod and say nothing. If it weren’t for Silas’s hand at my side, I’d fucking lose it.

  You’re a liar and a snake.

  God, why won’t he stop looking at me?

  “Do you like to dance, Fawn?”

  Not with you, asshole.

  Silas digs his fingers into my flesh, and I can’t tell what he wants me to say. His body heat burns through my dress as Viper gazes at me.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “May I?” He extends his hand, palm up, and then glances at Silas. “If it’s all right with you.”

  Silas lifts his shoulder in a casual shrug and his hooded eyes briefly glance over me. If it weren’t for his fingers nearly gouging holes into my dress, I wouldn’t think he gave a shit.

  Say no. Please say no.

  “Fine by me.”

  Fuck!

  My husband gave him permission, and I’ll look like a bitch if I refuse him. Guessing from the pincerlike hold on my dress, rejecting Viper’s request would be a really bad idea. So I take Viper’s proffered hand and force a sweet smile on my face. Silas’s hand slides out of my desperate fingers as I move to Viper’s side. Silas’s look of calm breaks for a moment when Viper’s back turns, but he gives me the briefest nod.

  It’s okay. He’s watching me. And maybe this will be a good distraction for Silas to feel out the other members.

  My hand feels numb in Viper’s clutches as he leads me to the dance floor, which looks like a black lake. I place my hand on his jacketed shoulder, and shudder when he touches my waist. A curious metallic scent invades my nostrils. His skin feels dead, like cold leather. A line of nausea reaches up my throat when I recognize desire blazing through his eyes that normally are so dispassionate.

  “You look beautiful, Fawn.”

  “Thank you.” I have to force it from my lips.

  “I wanted to apologize for what I said.”

  Is this a trick?

  “What are you talking about?”

  Viper leads me into a slow waltz, and my feet shift with him. I learned how to dance when I was a girl, but it surprises me that he would know how. The room rotates in a blur of golden lights. Frantically I search for Silas’s face. My hand slips in Viper’s grasp, but he tightens.

  “You know what I’m talking about.”

  My voice hardens. “You mean when you said you should’ve fucked me next to my father’s corpse?”

  “Yes.” His face breaks with a smile. “I clearly misread you.”

  I’m dazed by the constant movement, and I find myself tightening my grip on his shoulder. What the fuck is he on about?

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you?”

  There’s something secretive about his smirk. Then his hand squeezes my hip, a cold feeling spreading through my body as he spreads his palm and slides around my waist. Nausea hits me hard as my breasts flatten against his chest. We’re close enough to look like lovers on the dance floor. I look for my husband, but Viper fills my vision.

  Let go of me.

  “I know what you tried to do to me.” His grin stretches wider as horror consumes my chest. “In the infirmary.”

  Where I tried to kill him.

  The lump in my throat refuses to go down.

  “The syringe.”

  Oh God.

  “I—”

  “Don’t try to deny it.”

  This is it. He’s going to kill me right on the floor in front of all the guests. I open my mouth to scream, but he places a cold finger over my lips and I fall silent, struck dumb.

  “I’d like for us to talk.” His eyes search my face as his finger nudge
s my bottom lip. I flinch, expecting him to strike me down at any moment, but he doesn’t look upset. He doesn’t even look angry. He’s—there’s no other word for it—fascinated.

  “Meet me in your suite at ten. Make sure you’re alone.”

  The band sings a final, sharp note and his hand drops from my waist.

  “Viper, I didn’t do anything!”

  The applause swallows my voice as he steps backward, still smiling. One of his eyes shuts in a quick wink before he brings his hands together and claps at the stage.

  “Viper.”

  “Don’t make me come looking for you.”

  The warning trembles in the air for a moment before he turns around. My heart lodged in my throat, I watch helplessly as Silas pushes his way through toward me.

  He knows.

  And he wants me to meet him in our apartment—for what? Is that where he wants to murder me? Perhaps he wants Silas to find me there?

  “What the hell happened?” A voice hisses near my neck. “You look—”

  I feel his warmth at my back and I turn around, ready to beg Silas for us to run out the front door, but Viper stands right behind him. Close enough to stab him in the back. He gives me a meaningful look over Silas’s shoulder, and I know I’ll have to keep my mouth shut.

  “Silas,” Viper’s smooth voice interjects. “I need you for a moment.”

  He makes a jerking motion, torn between me and the man who has us all under his thumb.

  “I’m fine.”

  Reluctantly he slides over to Viper, who murmurs something in his ear. Silas bends to listen, a frown darkening his face. My insides twist horribly.

  Fuck. He knows. What the hell are they talking about?

  When Silas turns back toward me and Viper disappears into the party, I clench my stomach against the sour look on my husband’s face.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  “Now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You can’t!”

  He bumps his cheek against mine, kissing me. “Just enjoy the party.”

  That brief flash of heat dies when he steps away from me and gives me a reassuring smile. I could call him back and tell him what happened. The opportunity hangs in the air, marked by the seconds it takes for him to turn around and vanish into the crowd. A pain in my chest prevents me from calling out his name, and then the back of him disappears, the moment lost forever.