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I bite back the urge to snap at him. He may not care about what he’ll have to do, but Monroe is worthy of dignity. She’s not just some faceless target to be eliminated…

“She lives in Seomyeon,” I go on. “The concrete towers. Ninth floor. Apartment 9D.”

“You said for fifty million?”

“Yes. Twenty-five up front. Twenty-five after.”

He readjusts his glasses again. “I can have it done tomorrow night.”

“But you will do it my way. No pain. No violence. Make it quick.”

“I will do my best.”

“You’re not listening,” I snap, teeth gritted. “I said my way. Not do your best. You will do it how I want it—you willnothurt her.”

“If she fights back, I will do what I have to do to get the job done.”

I snatch him by the front of his windbreaker and slam him against the brick wall behind him. He takes in a sharp breath but otherwise doesn’t react.

“You don’t seem to understand. You will not hurt her. You will not inflict any pain. I… I don’t even want you touching her.”

“But you want her dead?” he asks quizzically, lifting a brow.

I realize how crazy what I’m asking is. It sounds ridiculous even to my ears.

But I know what men like In-soo are capable of. They will commit the worst acts of brutality for laughs and think nothing of it. No torture is too extreme for them, from cutting off eyelids to skinning someone alive. Women are often brutalized before killed.

Monroe deserves none of that.

“Make it quick. Make it painless,” I repeat. “Use an injectable.”

He holds up both hands. “Alright, okay, okay. I have some lethal poison. It doesn’t even have a taste or smell. Just one prick of a needle. She will be dead within a minute of being injected.”

“If you lie to me—if you hurt her anyway—I will kill you.”

“Understood,” he says as I finally release him. “Tomorrow night. Eight o’clock.”

We exchange the final details and I pay the deposit before we part ways. He goes in one direction and I stride off in the other, like two strangers in the dark. My pulse is thrumming fast as it sinks in what I’ve done.

I’ve hired someone to kill Monroe Ross.

But it’s what has to happen. When I tried to do it… I ended up kissing her. I can still feel her lips and the small gasp of air she’d released in surprise.

Honestly… I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

It’s probably the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done. It didn’t cross my mind before I did it.

There was no consideration. No thought.

I just bowed my head and crushed my mouth to hers. I didn’t even want to stop once I did.

Kissing Monroe was the first spark of pleasure I’d felt in a very, very long time. A luxury I usually don’t afford myself.

That’s what makes her so dangerous, and that’s why she must go.

Hours later, I can’t sleep.

The clock reads 3:42 a.m. when I jolt awake drenched in sweat. It takes me a few blinks to realize the dream I had wasn’t real. I came by Monroe’s apartment to assess In-soo’s work and found the place gleaming with her blood.