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“Why the hell is that man still alive?”

“Which one?” My eyes map out the stars dotting the sky as I listen to my father’s heavy exhale.

“Don’t play with me, Adonis. That man is living in the lap of luxury while you’re over here defending his sister’s honor.”

I wouldn’t call rehab the “lap of luxury,” but I don’t have the energy to correct him.

Antoine takes my silence for something it isn’t. “Don’t think I’m not aware of your hobbies just because I’m letting you have your fun without interference.”

“Don’t need your permission.”

“Don’t need my permission but you want my protection.”He scoffs after a brief silence. “Don’t forget you’re only doing what you’re doing and getting away with it because of your last name. I gave you permission the second your mother gave birth to you, and I signed your birth certificate.”

Shaking my head at his weird ass flex, I sit in my car wishing I’d parked behind the house so I could see if Delilah’s light is still on.

The only way I’ll know is if I get off the phone with this man rambling in my ear. I tune out his words until he takes a pause long enough to interrupt.

“I said I would take care of Weston, and I will,” I remind him, casually clipping my words to keep them even. Calm. Cool. Unemotional. The Samson way.

“Do it faster.”

“I gotta go.”

“You always do but let me tell you something before you hang up. Whatever spell that woman has on you that has you out here wearing a fucking cape and killing members of The Society, you need to take it off and come back to reality. I told you not to let what she has between her legs distract you from the goal.”

I almost want to correct him. Because the truth is so much worse. I haven’t even kissed Delilah, yet the mountains I’d move for her would make everything I’ve already done look like child’s play. But the thought of explaining myself slicks my tongue with a bitter taste. So, I let silence envelope the line when all I want to do is go in the house and find the woman who feels like home and chaos wrapped up in one.

“…You’re an airline exec. Not a serial killer. Let that shit go, Adonis. I mean it.”

“Hmm,” I hum noncommittally.

The call ends and I spend the minute after in silence.

Tonight had been easy, more of a waiting game than anything else.

I waited until the lights went out and walked in through Kenneth Vale’s back door undetected because Alonzo hacked his alarm system before I got there.

Kenneth was in bed, CPAP mask in place until I took it off and waited for the inevitable. The fear in his eyes when he opened them and saw me standing above him still makes me smirk.

Plain and simple, Kenneth was a coward. A reckless one.

He thought his status as one of The Society’s lawyers made him invincible when it came to the shit he did every day. And he would have kept getting away with it if he had just left Delilah the fuck alone.

Six months after his wife passed, he was in Marcellus’ house trying to draw up a contract for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

One clause stood out. He wanted Delilah to see a doctor to confirm her hymen was intact before he agreed to the price Marcellus had put on her head.

That never happened because he barely made it past the first interaction with Delilah.

Just like with Jimmy, her dad made introductions, but this time in the kitchen where Delilah was making lunch.

The conversation started with Kenneth advancing on Delilah, his fingers running through her hair until she flinched away from him and told him to stop. He didn’t. In fact, Marcellus had given him a nod, encouraging him to go on as if she was just a pet that needed to warm up to him.

The conversation ended with Delilah putting a knife through the back of his hand the instant Kenneth propped it on the counter to talk to her.

Once I turned on the light, I saw the keloid scar. Stared at it so long, I memorized the shiny grooves of it before I jabbed him with a syringe that would give him a heart attack before I made it back downstairs.

One thing Delilah had done was leave her mark on both of the men I’d killed so far. And fuck if that didn’t make me fall even harder for her.