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Swatting my hand away, she kept moving deeper into the room, staying out of reach. “When did you know? When did you realize it?”

Laughing, Virgo leaned against the table. He didn't seem phased that I had just gotten out of his trap, it was almost as if he expected it anyway.

“Tell her more, tell her the truth. You want to play the good guy, but we both know that's bullshit. Tell her how your father gave her sister and brother away, how he was the man who brought her to me. Tell her how your father hunted hers down like a fucking animal. How he cornered him and slit his throat, and how he loved every second watching him beg for his life . .” Pausing, he lifted his hand to his lips and grinned happily. “Tell her how you were there.”

“Oh my God,” she groaned, clawing at her throat. “I can't breathe, I can't breathe.” Her lungs lifted and fell with labored urgency as her face went pale gray. “I can't see, I can't breathe.” Tumbling backwards on shaky legs, Berlin shut her eyes, trying desperately to not pass out as she planted a palm on the wall.

I wanted to run to her, I was ready do what she wanted me to all along and whisk her away from all of this pain.

But the anger inside had reached its boiling point. I felt numb from head to toe as the adrenaline surged through my muscles, releasing the monster that lived inside me.

I honestly didn't know it was her at first. But when she said her full name it all came rushing back.

Memories of that day flooded my head. I was still new, only turning eighteen a month before. It was my second job with my father and his crew, and I was just doing what he told me to. There were no real details, just that we were looking for a single man who owed a lot of money.

My role was to check the house, to go in and see if that guy was there. If he was, my father wanted me to bring him out. I wasn't allowed to kill him, because our client wanted him alive. But the house was empty. Her father had gone into hiding, abandoning his family, not realizing the true danger he had put them in until it was too late.

It all happened so fast, and was done before I could even stop my father. I never expected him to kill the woman or take the kids. I only knew the information that he gave me.

But who I was to against my father?

I remembered when we got home that day and the look of disappointment on his face as he realized what he had done. And I remembered the blindfolded little girl that was sitting in the backseat of his car.

I never knew what happened to that little girl, or where the other two kids ended up, and I never asked. It wasn't until Berlin told me her full name that I was able to put two and two together.

What she didn't realize was how that day changed my life too. It was the day I knew I had to do things differently. I had to make sure only the right man got what was coming. I wasn't going to kill the innocent. I wasn't going to use the innocent to get back at the wicked.

It wasn't right, it was wrong.

I didn't care who came looking for a job, if they said they wanted everyone in the house dead for one person's betrayal, I said no.

That was only time I could say I honestly felt hate for my father, and was able to see the man my mother saw. The greed and power had taken over, he had lost his ability to separate his values.

She hated him, and for a little while, I hated him too.

After that day, things changed, he did things differently. It was as if he had looked in the mirror and saw the same person my mother did. I don't think he liked the image he saw peering back.

So, we had laid out plans, we weren't allowed to deviate from it. If it didn't seem like it would work, we pulled back until the timing was right.

I know he felt remorse for what he had done, and I often thought he still felt that remorse up until the day he died.

Because his last words to me were, 'I'm sorry, tell her I'm sorry.”

I never really knew what he was talking about, not until right then as I watched Berlin collapse to the floor.

Was he talking about her?

“Nice job, dip-shit, you killed her.” Virgo was softly caressing the flower, pulling the petals between his fingers with a tender force so that they didn't pluck free.

Growling, I whipped my body around and lunged forward. Gripping his throat in my hand, I squeezed, cutting off his air supply. “You fucking asshole,” I said, digging my fingertips deeper into his skin. “I should fucking kill you right here.”

“Then do it.” His lips moved in soundless words as his held his gaze on mine.

“It's not for me to decide if you live or die, it's hers.” Looking at Berlin, she was starting to come to, pushing herself up off the floor. Drawing back my fist, I let it go easily.

Connecting with his face, I watched the blood as it started to trickle out of nose and over his lip. Virgo smiled, his teeth bloody and tinted red.

“You fucking pussy, you're not even strong enough to kill me. You want to leave it up to a stupid fucking whore. You are just like your father, you're weak.”