Page 36 of Betraying Family Vows

I kill the engine and pocket the key.

Athena won't stop looking around.

"Hey, can I give you some advice?"

She looks at me and rolls her eyes. "Like I'd take advice from you?"

I smirk. "Maybe you should. Your friend, John G., probably has people looking for us."

Her eyes widen slightly before she can control it.

"You," she says quickly. "They'd only be looking foryou."

I laugh. "You think they'd let you walk away? After what you know? After not even being able to finish the job they brought you in for?"

The realization hits her. I can see it in her eyes. She turns away. "Whatever. Think what you want."

I open the door and look back at her one last time.

"Okay, don't take my advice, but listen to me now," I say and pull my gun out. "Be a good girl and stay in the car. If you run, I'll shoot you."

I get out and shut the door before she can answer.

I look around, and it's too quiet for my liking. I cross in front of the car and look through the windshield. Athena sits with her arms crossed, giving one of her dirty looks.

I don't understand how such a pretty face can give off such a mean stare.

The convenience store doors slide open with a soft hiss. Inside, fluorescent lights buzz overhead. There's no other customers inside. I stop and look around. Something seems off, but maybe it's me being paranoid.

The cashier, a man in his fifties with thinning hair and dead eyes, doesn't even look up from his phone as I come in.

I spot a basic first aid kit next to some protein bars, and as I walk toward it to grab them, I see it.

A dark sedan pulling in, moving too slowly for my liking. I abandon the supplies and walk right up to the man at the counter.

I slap a hundred on the counter. "Fifty on pump three. Keep the change," I say, already turning toward the door.

That tingling feeling starts in my hands, and I prepare myself. It's the feeling I get right before I'm going to kill. Right before I'm going to do exactly what I've been trained to do since I was seventeen.

Take people off this earth.

I step outside, and the sedan has parked directly in front of where Athena waits in our car, blocking it.

Two men are already out, another still behind the wheel. Their body language is off. Talking low, trying not to look at me. Both armed, I can see the bulges under their jackets.

None of this feels right.

My hand slides behind my back and finds my gun.

I scan right.

Another SUV pulls up. More men.

Shit.

A fucking ambush.

My blood turns to ice. My mind goes clear.