Page 9 of A Past Too Broken (Bloodstained Love #1)
Five Months After Kidnapping
C ontrary to what I’d led Zay to believe, I actually do work for a living sometimes. I might not have all the contacts and shit he does, but I can get things done. Which is how I find myself breaking into the vacation home of some investment banker.
I don’t know who they are or what they did to piss the client off, but so long as someone pays for it, I’m happy to take care of their little problem.
Especially when the mark is someone stupid enough to have a house steps from the beach and doesn’t even bother to lock their sliding door. Gated community or not, you can never be too careful.
The glass door slides easily on its track as I close it behind me. Staying still, I listen for any movement before soundlessly making my way through the open plan kitchen and front room to the back hall where the bedrooms are.
Getting plans for the house had been a bit difficult, but in the end, I’d managed, so it’s an easy trek from the kitchen to the mark’s office.
Despite the fact she’s on “vacation,” I’ve observed her spend more time in the office space here than sitting on the beach chairs right outside her kitchen door.
The hallway isn’t that long, as this part of the house only holds a guest room, the office, and the main bedroom at the very end, but I still take my time going down it. I’m not nearly as good as stealth as I pretend to be. Every once in a while, I can hear the heels of my boots hitting the tiled floor, but my slow pace means it’s barely audible.
Pausing just outside the open office door, I listen for a moment to the sound of rapid keystrokes. I almost feel bad for her—not enough to not do my job, but anyone who comes to the beach just to lock themselves in their office lives a sad life.
Oh well, good thing it’s about to be over soon.
There’s a lull in the typing sounds coming from the office, so I take my chance, stepping into the doorway just as the window behind her breaks and a bullet hits the back of her skull.
I watch wide-eyed as she falls forward onto her keyboard. Not much surprises me anymore, but I did not see that coming.
Backing out into the hall, I try to calm my racing heart. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I fumble to pull it out. Staring at the screen, I watch as it rings, the display showing an unknown number.
Too stunned to think properly, I answer as I stand in the dark hall. Before I can even say hello, a voice I’ve only heard once before but will be hard pressed to forget comes over the line.
“How’s it feel, Min?” he asks.
Gripping the phone tightly, I say his name between clenched teeth. “Zay. How’d you get this number?”
He chuckles. “As if I’d tell you that.”
“Did you call to gloat?”
“No,” he says and, for some insane reason, I believe him. “I just wanted to let you know that it’s your turn.”
He hangs up. I bring the phone down from my ear, only to stare at it, as if that’ll give me the answers I want.
My turn? I smile as I put my phone away and finally make it out of the mark’s house. If Zay thinks this little show of his will put me off, well, he hasn’t been paying attention.
He wants to play? Fine. He hasn’t seen anything yet.