Page 38 of Broken Souls

I am used to being behind enemy lines. Dayne and I have accepted numerous contracts to kill government officials all around the world. So when I head down to make breakfast the next day, and Sau is already there (as she always is), I smile at her as if I know nothing of her animosity towards me.

She smiles back.

And there is no crack in her mask.

Nothing to tell me she hates me.

My skin prickling with just how deep behind enemy lines I am, I grab five packets of bacon out of the fridge.

“Oh, thanks, but I don’t need any bacon out. I’m making waffles,” she says, nodding at the bowl of mix in her hands. Waffles are Varius’ comfort food. An apology for whatever she was planning to do after she blackmailed me – as she absolutely does not need what’s in the ledger to fuck her sons over. She ruled this Family for over a decade, between when Caden left and before Varius was of age, and there are rumors that she ruled before then too – behind closed doors, behind her husband’s face.

The fact that she isn’t dead, though, tells me she wasn’t planning on hurting any of her sons, so I’m not a straight-up bitch to her. I’m just mostly one.

“He wants bacon and egg sandwiches,” I say.

“Did he say that?”

“He likes burgers.” That’s what he told me the first time he tried to flirt with me, andon our first date, we went out for burgers. That ended with him emasculating the waiter and tattooing my pussy.Aw. Romantic, loving times.

I shrug. “These are kind of burgers.”

“He likes waffles.”

I shrug. “Guess you could make some waffles to go with my burgers, but that’ll probably make him feel like you’re trying to make him choose between me or you.”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly.

“And he sure as hel chose me last night.”

Her lips purse. “You know.”

“Yep.” Not quite true. Well, a blatant lie, really. He hasn’t told me shit other than having said her name in answer to my question, but she doesn’t need to know that. I grab a knife and stab it straight into the first packet of bacon, then rip it down the full length of the plastic.

A smile twitches at her lips. “If that is an attempt at a threat, girl, you –”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m making breakfast. What I’mnotdoing is causing a rift between you and him. So –” I smile brightly as I gesture at her with the knife. “Make your damn waffles.”

Her smile falls. She puts the bowl down. Varius must’ve properly ripped into her last night.

“I’ll get the eggs then,” she says.

As much as I want to tell her to fuck off and watch me serve him and be everything he wants, I don’t. One, Varius does not show his affection publicly. And two, I have to live with the bitch. She could have just decided I wasn’t good enough for her boy. Varius is the first of her children to get married as far as I’m aware. There was one other kid of hers who got close, but he got murdered at the venue. Antonio killed him while she was gone – where, I don’t know. Her past is pretty private, and I’ve only picked up bits and pieces about Varius’ siblings in the four months that I have been here. I get the feeling, though, that even her sons do not know most of her tale.

So as much as I want to hate her for blackmailing me, I don’t let myself. It’s not like Dayne and I started off great, and I trust Varius to have actually handled it. His mother or not, she has to be scared of him just a little. He has the ability to shut off even on those he loves.

Like Khalid.

And that fucker terrifies me.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Mmm.”

I turn on the frying pan. Get it hot. And as the bacon starts to sizzle, I decide to break the awkward silence. “You know, when I first met Dayne, he bit me, then stabbed me, the fucker, and now he’s my best friend.”

“By the sounds of it, he’s your only friend.”

“Wooow. Someone really is a bitch.”