And I wasn’t about to ask. Because asking would let him know I wondered; it would give him even more power over me… something he didn’t need more of.
“I have a new Target for you,” G.R. announced, effectively ending my thinking.
“A Target?” I asked, surprised, wondering if I somehow missed the punishment I was supposed to get.
“That is your job, is it not?” he mused, staring at me through narrowed eyes. His cheekbones jutted out and his wide forehead was further widened by the way he combed his dark hair back and away from his face. He wasn’t a big man, but I guess when the merest touch could kill, muscles didn’t really matter.
“I thought we were here to discuss the status of my job,” I replied, looking right at him. I was careful to keep my posture bordering on lazy to give off the impression I could care less about whatever he dished out.
“Active,” he said, irritation flashing through his eyes. “That’s the status of your job. Like it or not, you’re one of the best escorts I have.”
I flashed a smile. I wasn’t one of the best. I was the best. We both knew it. I guess that was the reason my punishment was lacking.
“Here,” he said, holding out a file. I got up and took the folder, opening it up and staring down at the picture clipped to the front of the page. It was a young woman, in her twenties—long dark hair, brown eyes, and full lips. She was gorgeous, which could be considered a bonus. She had the bone structure of fine breeding and about four names, which spoke of old money.
She’d be dead by the end of the week.
I scanned the information, looking for her address, looking for the place I’d be flying off to next. Hopefully it was somewhere warm, with miles of beaches. Or perhaps the dessert where it seemed the sun always shined. I didn’t really care as long as it wasn’t here. Alaska sucked. I hoped I never came here again.
My eyes found the zip code and I stiffened. “Is this right?” I asked, turning to look at G.R.
“Have I ever given you faulty information?”
Here. The woman was here, in this godforsaken, cold, and dark town.
Something niggled at the back of my brain. I looked at her name again. Rosalyn Elizabeth Kennedy Sinclair. Her last name… I’d heard it before. I glanced down at the short paragraph on known information about the Target.
Daughter of Senator Jack Sinclair.
The file slapped my thigh when I jerked and spun around to look at G.R. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I don’t joke about business.”
“She’s the daughter of Jack Sinclair, the Alaskan senator. He’s practically a celebrity around here,” I said, thinking of all the times I watched the news or some show on TV. The press here loved him. They practically camped out on his lawn, just hoping for a glimpse of him.
“Yes. He is. His daughter is worth thirty million dollars.”
“Money. So this Target is all about money,” I said. I don’t know why this irritated me, but it did. It certainly wasn’t the first time I’d killed for money. It wouldn’t be the last. In fact, I killed for money more than I killed for abilities because finding people with some sort of ability wasn’t as easy as finding one with money.
“You have something against money, Charming?”
“No. But you have to know this girl has got to have security practically feeding her breakfast. Not to mention she probably has fifteen financial advisors and lawyers that will make actually getting to her money impossible.”
“So are you saying you can’t do this job? That you refuse?”
Ahhhh. And here it was.
Understanding dawned like the sun of a new day.
He was dolling out my punishment in the form of a job. He assigned me a Target that would practically guarantee failure. Failure would get me Recalled, would get my soul pulled out of my body and sent into an empty vast space of nothingness for all eternity. A place where I could hear the tortured wails of those lost around me, a place where I could think but feel nothing but pain, and a place where I would know no peace ever.
And if I refused this job?
Same thing. So here was an interesting dilemma. I could refuse and get Recalled. I could fail and get Recalled. Or I could pull off the most impossible kill in the history of escorting and I could make Mr. Death himself finally realize who he was attempting to mess with.
Really, there was no dilemma at all.
“You know this job is going to take longer. To infiltrate the camp of this woman, of this family… it isn’t something I can do overnight.”
G.R.’s eyes gleamed. “Yes, I’m aware. I’ll give you six months.”
I kept my face smooth, my posture relaxed as his timeline sucker punched me in the gut. Six months? That was insane. A job of this magnitude would take a year. I underestimated just how angry I had made him.
My eyes slid to the bowl of light-colored stones that sat on the corner of his desk. The stones that he always left in exchange for a life that he took. Once a stone was placed, the death—the end of a life—was sealed. There was no getting out of it.
Except for once.
Turns out if you can manage to break the stone, then you break the claim of the Grim Reaper. One of the new Escorts figured it out. It got him Recalled. It got me into this predicament.
“I want more than my usual cut,” I said. Punishment or not, if I pulled this off I wanted what I earned. “Ten million.”
“That’s a lot of money,” G.R. replied, leaning back in his chair as he appraised me. “You’re in no position to be making demands.”
I shrugged. “You’re convinced I’ll fail anyway. Who cares how much I ask for?”
Again, he rested chin atop his fingers. “Fine. Ten million.”
I resisted the urge to smile.
“You get six months. Get into her life. Get into her bank accounts. Make sure when she is dead, it’s all yours. And if you succeed…” He paused and looked at me. “Then I’ll overlook your betrayal.”
My betrayal? He acted like I was the one who broke his claim, who bested him. All I did was keep my mouth shut. If I had known I was going to be punished like this, then I would’ve made it worth it.
“Fine. I’ll take the job.” Like I really had a choice.
G.R. clapped his hands like a kid on Christmas morning. “Wonderful.”
Yeah, great. Not only was I given the most impossible Target ever, but I was also being sentenced to this icy, dark prison that was Alaska.
I gripped the file and headed for the door. I was ready to go.
“Oh, Charming,” G.R. called behind me.
I turned.
“You remember the rules. You fail, you get Recalled. You get caught or put in jail, I won’t come get you. I’ll let you rot in a cell until your body dies or you get out, and then I’ll come get you… to Recall you. Basically, if you do anything but complete the job, life as you know it is over.”
I left the room, closing the massive double wooden doors behind me. I took a moment to lean against them, sagging under the weight of this new assignment. I allowed myself maybe thirty seconds of wallowing before pushing away from the door and straightening.
He thought he had me. He thought he had a way—a reason—to finally get the best of me.
He was wrong.
Game on.
Chapter Two
“Hate - to feel hostility or animosity toward.”
Frankie
Sugar. I needed more of it if I was going to make it through this day. The chocolate croissant and caramel latte I had this morning wasn’t near enough to combat the massive lines, the noise, and disgruntled people that filled the DMV. Whatever in hell made me think that working at the Department of Motor Vehicles, here in Alaska, was a good idea?
Maybe it was the good pay. Maybe it was because I got weekends off.
Or maybe it was because I had a moment of temporary insanity that unfortunately coincided with me saying, “I accept,” when I got offered this job.
/> Besides the fact that the lines were permanently out the door, the computer systems were temperamental at best, and my boss was a complete broom rider, my stash of chocolate and Sour Patch Kids was empty.
That meant someone was going to die today.
I glanced back up at the ninety-year-old woman whose head barely cleared the insanely high counters we stood behind and tried to hold on to my patience. “Mrs. Eldridge,” I said extremely loudly. “Like I told you last week, you have to go and get new glasses before I can renew your driver’s license.”
“I have new glasses,” she insisted.
Lord, save me now.
“You got those ten years ago. You need some from this year.” Or decade I finished silently.
She shuffled out of the line like a turtle and I took her slowness as a chance to really search beneath my station and chair for a long-lost piece of sugar. Anything. Even a stray jellybean would likely find its way into my blood stream at this point. Of course there was nothing. I briefly considered hiding beneath my desk until five o’clock. My car. I had an emergency stash in my car. I glanced at my watch. I had another hour until I was able to take a fifteen-minute break.
A pair of black pumps appeared before me and I inwardly groaned. Just what I needed—a run-in with the witch. But instead of being greeted by her condescending, screechy tone, an icy-cold red can appeared before me.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord, it was caffeine and sugar!
I snatched the Coke out of her hand and popped the top, taking a large, satisfying chug. The bubbles crowded down my throat, slightly burning, and I took another swallow.
“I love you,” I murmured to Lela, the girl who worked right beside me.
She laughed. “I know that look when I see it.” Then she straightened and whispered. “Witch alert.”
I shot up, my head bumping into the counter on the way. I wanted to shout out in pain, but I clamped my mouth shut, not wanting to draw the attention of my boss, Satan’s assistant.
I turned back to my line, my eyes colliding with a broad chest. I looked up, and the can slid out of my hand, hitting the floor with a thud while fizzy liquid poured over my favorite boots.
I didn’t even notice.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I growled as I looked around for something sharp I could stab him with.
A thick brow arched. “So is this where you spend your days? As if the DMV isn’t a horrible enough place to visit without the poor people of Alaska having to tolerate you.”
There wasn’t enough sugar on this planet that would save him. I reached out and picked up the black phone. If I couldn’t bludgeon him to death here at my place of employment, then I could at least call the cops. I began dialing, but he reached over and cut the connection.
I slammed the phone down on his hand, which was still pressed on the hang-up button. Breath hissed between his teeth and his green eyes shot to mine. “Careful, George, you’re pissing off the wrong man.”
“My name isn’t George.”
He shrugged, pulling his hand away from the phone. “When you have a man’s name, does it really matter?”
Forget the police; I was going to kill him. “I do not—" I began, but then I stopped. I didn’t have to explain my name to him.
He seemed to take my silence as some sort of victory and smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “Please, like you’re one to talk about names. Charming,” I spat. “You have got to be the least charming person I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
Of course Hagatha the Great chose that exact minute to walk up behind me. “Frankie, did I just hear you disrespect one of the citizens in this building?”
I held back my wince. Charming snickered. I will not lose it. I will not lose it. I need my job, I told myself as I slowly pivoted around to face my boss from hell.
“Ms. Toth,” I began, trying to think up some excuse for why I was treating this douche like, well, a douche.
To my surprise he cleared his throat and spoke. “That scarf is beautiful. It brings out the blue of your eyes,” he said, his voice smooth as butter. “You must have exquisite taste to be able to pair it with that blouse.”
Ms. Toth completely forgot I was standing there and her body practically slid into a puddle as she leaned forward closer to him. Then she giggled.
I tried not to gag.
I turned around and saw Charming leaning across the counter, his right elbow planted wide, causing his black leather jacket to fall open to reveal a cerulean dress shirt stretched across his chest. He flashed his perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth at her, and I swear I heard her stutter.
“You’ll have to forgive me,” he said. “I was giving your employee a hard time. I guess I was feeling a little temperamental for being in such a long line.”
“Oh, well.” Her hand fluttered to her neck. “The lines are very long today. End of the month and all,” she explained. He flashed his teeth again and she stopped talking to stare.
Very artfully, he pushed off the counter and ran his very long fingers through his cleverly messy hair, and I swear it made it look even more perfect. If I didn’t know what a complete and utter loser he was, I might fall prey to his… well…. his charm. Damn it.
“I promise to behave,” he said solemnly, pulling a paper from the inside of his jacket.
She was still staring, completely dumbstruck. Thankfully, Lela called out her name for assistance with her computer and Ms. Toth managed to tear her eyes away from the oversized Ken doll and walk away.
His eyes, full of smugness, found mine. “What was it you were saying again? That I wasn’t deserving of my name?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed.
He stretched the paper on the counter before me. “I need to get the registration for my car renewed.”
I smiled sweetly. “I’m so sorry, sir. I’m afraid you’ve been standing in the wrong line. Registration renewals are in that line over there,” I pointed to the longest line in the building and I felt myself grin with evil glee. Who needed a sugar rush when you could torture the people you hated?
“You’re lying,” he growled.
“Nope.” I waved a couple fingers in his direction. “Buh-bye now,”
He leaned over the counter once more, all trace of his fake charm gone. “I know you can do whatever needs done on that ancient-ass computer in front of you.”
I gasped prudently. “Sir, I take offense to your tone. I can assure you that if I could help you with what you need I would.” I batted my eyes at him.
His perfect teeth formed a grimace and he was about to say something very un-charming, I was sure, when an older man with a cane stepped up behind him. “You heard the lady,” he said, “Now quit holding up the line.”
Before he could shove away, he leaned closer, his eyes narrowing. Gone was the charming air he used on my boss. Replacing it was something cold and calculating, more in line with the man I remembered who came into my best friend’s apartment not too long ago with a gun and kidnapped her. I reached for the phone again, fully intending to call the police and turn in his ass.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said low. “You know exactly what I’m capable of.”
Unease slithered down my spine. I tossed the blond curls away from my face and held his stare. “But you have no idea what I am capable of. Get the hell outta my line.”
I watched him go to the other line and insert himself at the end. My heart was beating so fast that I had to gasp for breath. I wanted to demand an early break, to leave this room, which now felt contaminated by his very presence.
I didn’t do any of those things. I picked up my half-empty Coke, took a swig, and called for the next person in line. I worked on autopilot all the while keeping an eye on him as he moved up the line. I should have just bypassed the system and did what he needed. Then he would’ve been gone. And I wouldn’t be stuck in this room, which now felt entirely too small, with a Death Escort.
When he finally made it through and got his stupid little sticker for his license plate, he walked toward the exit, and I swear every single female in the place turned and watched him go. If they only knew what I did—that he was an assassin for the most deadly person on the planet.
Before disappearing into the cold Alaskan spring, he stopped and turned, his eyes spearing mine, and then he smiled, a cocky, arrogant grin. Fury spiked through my limbs, making me shake. I hated guys like him. Guys that thought nothing could touch them. Guys that thought they were God’s gift to the world.
He was right about one thing, though. I couldn’t call the police. Turning him in would only backfire on me and further hurt Piper, who lost too much at the hands of Charming and his boss. But there were other ways to pay someone back for the wrongs they committed.
I felt a smile tug my lips.
Payback was a bitch.
Chapter Three
“Steam shower - a type of bathing where a humidifying steam generator produces water vapor that is dispersed around a person's body.”
Charming
Rosalyn Elizabeth Kennedy Sinclair wasn’t a woman I could just “bump” into at the local grocery store in town. She wasn’t the kind of girl that went to the same coffee place every morning for some frou-frou no calorie coffee drink, either. She had people that got that for her. She wasn’t insecure, unpopular, or isolated—all the things that would make her an easy Target. In fact, she was overly popular, beautiful, and had probably been trained since birth to be cautious of people that weren’t in her immediate circle of friends.
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