Page 29 of A Midnight Romance

River

A brief and unexpected call from Andrew this morning left me with more information than I had yesterday, but he’s still being evasive about what he’s sharing. It was difficult to keep my frustration under wraps, but I had to push it aside in order to get access to Duncan.

“You guys there?” I ask, confirming my team is in place.

Sebastian is the first to respond. “We’re here.”

“We got you covered, River,” Hayden adds.

“Lux?” I prompt when I don’t hear her respond.

“I’m here,” she says sweetly. “Be safe.”

“It’s go time.”

I climb out of the car and throw my kill bag over my shoulder, then take out my phone to follow the directions step-by-step.

Heading up the shallow stairs on the back stoop, I rest my gloved hand on the doorknob.

With a light twist, it opens just as Andrew said it would.

Sliding my gun from the waistband of my pants, I keep it down to my side with a finger hovering over the trigger.

There’s a musty, stale odor which overpowers my senses, almost making me gag.

“This place smells like shit,” I mutter under my breath.

“You murder people, but you’re bothered by a little dust?” Sebastian teases.

I ignore him and continue scanning the house, searching for any sign of Duncan.

“River Thompson.”

I swing around, my gun pointed at a tattered fabric chair in the room’s corner. “Fuck, dude. You scared the shit out of me.”

Duncan chuckles. “I’m sorry. You should have seen your face.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’ve been expecting you. There’s something waiting for us in the basement.” He continues laughing like we’re a couple of friends casually hanging out on a Friday night.

His body language shows no signs of fear or unrest—a cockier man than our last two targets. I hide the smile pulling at the corner of my mouth. I’m going to enjoy ending this prick.

“A woman, I presume?” I slip my gun into the back of my pants.

“Better.” He grins, nudging me to follow him. “A college student. Young and ripe.”

Motherfucker. He already grabbed one.

Andrew never directly stated we’d pick one up together, but I assumed—and was hopeful—we’d take care of Duncan before another woman got hurt.

I slap him on the shoulder, taking every bit of self-control not to wrap each one of my fingers around his neck and squeeze. “My favorite. Especially when it’s one of those sorority girls.”

“I knew you were one of us, Thompson. ”

He leads me into a cement-walled basement, similar to the one I found Lux in that first night.

A low, painful whimper echoes throughout the place as we round the corner to find a naked woman chained to a wrought iron bed.

Not sure if she’s completely coherent or not.

Her eyes are blindfolded and hands are bound behind her back.

She already has bruises spanning the inside of her legs and I wonder how long she’s been in here.

Duncan must have had her here prior to only earlier this evening.

Anger creeps up my neck just as Hayden confirms they’ve cleared the perimeter.

Duncan walks over to the woman, a shit-eating grin on his face with his arm extended like he’s proud of what he’s showing me. “Usually we don’t share on our weekends, but Andrew wanted me to test you out first to make sure you’re legit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hope you don’t mind sloppy seconds.”

My eyes move over to the girl, and all I can think of is Lux being in the same position—the pain she felt, the fear and terror when I showed up.

All I see is red as I slip my gun from my back and lunge at Duncan, hitting him on the side of the head with the handle of the gun. He stumbles back, the wind knocked out of him.

I hear Sebastian scream in my ear, but my rage drowns out everything else as I continue beating the shit out of the man.

“You sick fuck. It’s your turn to die now,” I grit out as he pulls down the curtain trying to brace his fall. When Duncan falls to the floor, I’m reminded of my promise to Lux. This is supposed to be for her and I can’t take that away.

“We’re on our way in,” Sebastian’s hurried voice says in my ear .

“We need to secure Duncan; he’s lost consciousness temporarily from when I hit him. Make sure to bring Lux.”

“Okay,” he agrees, probably going through all the ways of pushing back. “You sure she should head in now?”

“Yes, she needs to be here.”

I grab Duncan’s unconscious body and throw him over my shoulder. Walking him over to the mattress on the floor in the corner of the room, I toss him on top of it. And with a quick removal of handcuffs from my bag, I restrain him to a pipe that runs from the ceiling to the floor.

The sharp creak of the stairs alerts me. I’m expecting Sebastian and Lux, but I can’t be too sure. I draw my gun, point it at the base of the steps, and wait.

Sebastian appears first. “Get that thing out of my face.”

I lower it as soon as I see Lux. Her eyes fly right to the woman lying in the bed. Fear transforms face for only a moment, before it turns to anger. “Is she dead?”

“No, she was moving a few minutes ago,” I reply. “Probably drugged.”

“Oh god,” she gasps, ambling toward the girl.

“Careful,” Sebastian warns. “Even though you have gloves on, we can never be too safe.”

“Okay.” Her bottom lip shakes, but I don’t think it’s from fear. Most likely from anger.

“And that reminds me.” Sebastian lifts a finger into the air. “Hayden brought us something on account of how messy the last kill got.”

My eyebrows snap together, unsure of what he is referring to. “What?”

“Send in the plastic wrap,” he tells Hayden through the SEs.

“Plastic wrap?” I question.

“He said too much blood got onto the wall behind Nolen. ”

“Good call.” I flash him an upside down smile, a little shocked, but also somewhat impressed with his preparation skills.

Lux pays no mind to the conversation or the team around her covering the room with plastic as she gazes at the young woman. “These men are disgusting.”

Resting a gentle hand on her back, I remind her of the time. “Duncan will wake up soon and we don’t have a lot of time before we need to leave.”

Lux’s head whips around, her eyebrows furrowed. “What about her?”

“She’s out of it right now. Let’s talk about it more when we’ve secured the job we’re here to do.”

She nods, turning her focus to the man lying only a few feet away. Squaring her shoulders, I’m mesmerized at how she evolves from being a compassionate woman to a killer determined to dish out her form of justice.

Fuck, she’s amazing—and she’s all mine right now.

“How long until he wakes up?”

“Her,” Sebastian tosses her the smelling salt inhaler. “This will speed up the process.”

Lux glances at me for approval and I give her a nod, then she turns to Duncan.

He stirs awake a short time later, confused. “Wh-what happened?”

“Hi, Duncan.” I smile.

His head tilts up, noticing he’s handcuffed to the pole. “What the fuck is this?” I’m sure he’s still dizzy from the knockout, so I give a few seconds to get his bearings. “What are you doing, Thompson?”

“Looks like you’re stuck, Duncan,” I say.

“Let me out,” he snarls before glaring at me. “What the hell is going on? ”

I shrug. “Ask her, she’s the one in charge.”

“Who are you?” He glares at Lux.

Lux smiles. She kneels on the mattress, leaning in. I step forward, not liking how close she is to danger, but maintain my distance. Grabbing his face, she pinches his cheeks between her thumb and index finger. “I’m your worst nightmare.”

“What are you going to do?” This must be his attempt at baiting her. “You look like a girl we’d probably pick up. A tight little pussy.”

I take another step forward, preparing to intervene, but Lux maintains her composure.

With a quick lick of her lips, she grins once again, trying to muster up the courage from her darker side. A side of her I not only relate to, but am addicted to.

“You abducted me, you piece of shit.” Duncan’s skin chaps from her leather gloves, squeezing tighter. “But I got away and now I’m out for revenge.”

“A little thing like you? You can’t kill me,” he spits, his eyes challenging her.

Lux clears her throat. “When was the last time you heard from Rich?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What about your buddy Nolen?” she asks.

His gaze searches Sebastian and I standing at the food of the mattress, flanking either side of Lux. A wave of fear slowly transforms his face. Almost like he’s figuring out that he’s not going anywhere. “What happened to them?”

Cocking her head to the side, she watches him like a bird would play with its prey. “What do you think happened to them?”

Panic captures a hold of his limbs. His legs flail and his arms jerk at the metal locked around his wrists. “Let me go! ”

Lux releases her fingers from his chin, leaving red dots from broken blood vessels. She bends, reaching for her ankle, and to my surprise, she removes a large knife.

My arms fly up, worried about how personal a stabbing can be. I’d prefer her to kill cleaner, using a single gunshot wound to the head.

“I gave it to her,” Sebastian defends with a subtle firmness, stopping my hand before I can grab the knife from Lux.

Although reluctant, I step back not sure how to react at the moment because I feel as though my perfectly planned kill is taking a different turn. I don’t care that Lux’s taking charge or doing what feels right, but it irks me I wasn’t the one to give her…

“What the fuck?” Duncan screams. His eyes bore into the sharp blade as Lux holds it to her side. “Help! Help!” He jerks his arms, attempting to break free.

Unfortunately for him, he’s not going anywhere.

If this is how Lux is going to carry out this kill, I need to support her. Although not in agreement on what is happening, I push my concern aside to assist her.

“I’m going to help you, Raven.” The nickname slips out as I lower behind her and wrap my hand around hers which is clutching the leather-bound handle of the knife.

Meanwhile, Duncan’s fear ridden screams fill the room.

Before I can direct any further, Lux sucks in a deep breath and quickly slams the blade down, slicing right through his chest. A guttural groan is all we hear before Duncan’s head falls to the side.

White-knuckling the leather binding, Lux holds the knife in place while blood spills around it. A slow clap starts from Sebastian behind us, as Lux is staring down at Duncan .

Sebastian boots appear from to my side as he points his gun at Duncan’s head and shoots a single shot. “Making sure. In case she didn’t go directly into the heart.”

My eyes glance up at him in approval, then I turn back to Lux.

“Lux?” I attempt to uncoil her fingers. “You can let go now.”

Her gaze slides from Duncan to me. Wide and dilated, her pupils eclipse the darkness of her irises. A light tremble rumbles through her limbs while the corner of her mouth curls up into a smile I’m not sure she was expecting.

“I can’t believe I did that.”

And at that moment, something unexpected happens. Because Lux comes into her self-realization, my job of protecting her has only intensified especially with how she will be in more situations that risk it.

I glide my hand over Lux’s cheek, threading it through her hair. “You did.”

A tear rolls down her face as she nods. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to do or say anything right now.”

“Can you and Hayden drop the girl off at the hospital and keep the guys positioned around the perimeter?” I ask Sebastian. My thumb caresses Lux’s cheek as she leans in. “Give us some time alone, then come back to clean up.”

Drunk on what feels like a regular person would label love , I can’t find the courage to peel my eyes away from her.

My Lux is beautiful, strong, and incredibly brave, and I don’t know how I’ll be able to let her go after all of this is over.