Page 6 of Burdens

After coming for many key players in his territories, I’d finally been able to put myself on Barrera’s radar and he’d requested a meeting. He didn’t meet with anyone unless they made themselves valuable and hard to kill.

And that’s what I’d been across every region in the country.

Feared and respected.

Even if that came with a price.

My morality.

After that, the only thing I had to do was charm him off his feet and make sure no one else would take the position I’d worked years for. That ended up being easy because who would expect a woman to be behind all those murders?

Bringing Barrera down would cement my career and I needed to prove myself. Especially after rumors of me sleepingwith a superior started roaming around the Academy while I trained there.

Cries grated against my ears and I snapped my attention back to my latest prey. Tears stained his bloodied face—a result of the previous session he’d had with Hamza—and snot dripped down his nose and over his mouth, landing on his soiled clothes.

My mouth twisted in disgust at the sight and annoyance pricked under my skin.

“Stop fucking crying. You know you’re dying, so just tell me what I need to know.”

“Allah y hafdek Lalla Ines?2, please… I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” he sniffled, desperation coating his voice.

My ears perked up because desperation always led to bargaining and he was about to finally reveal what I’d been looking for.

“I can even get you information from Zak—” He slammed his mouth shut and my lips twitched.

There he goes.

“Did you mean to say Zakaria? As in Alaoui’s underboss?”

Thinking he finally had bargaining power, Mehdi said, “J-just let me down. I’m sure you can be reasonable and we can discuss this.”

I didn’t answer right away. I pretended to think about his offer, even though there was no way I was trusting him. The audacity he had to think him snitching to rivals then turning on them would make me consider keeping him alive and giving him a second chance.

There was no such thing when it came to the cartel,especiallyBarrera’s.

Besides, if you couldn’t be loyal to the hand that fed you, you could never be trusted again.

He must have taken my silence as his saving grace because when we locked eyes, hope swarmed in his brown irises.

But I gave him a cold smile and that same hope instantly faded. His eyes widened as blood pooled out of his lips.

Mehdi was lucky Barrera wasn’t here today and I was hungry because his death would’ve been a much lengthier process otherwise.

I left my knife inside his chest cavity until his head slumped forward and the stench of urine filtered through my nose.

Thank fuck I don’t have to deal with cleanup.

When the room quieted down and Mehdi took his final breath, I pulled my knife out of his body. A warm gush sprayed across my front and I looked down at my once white tank top, now painted in red.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed in annoyance—I’d just changed.

I reached for the pocket of Mehdi’s tracksuit pants and retrieved his phone with the tips of my fingers, avoiding the large stain soiling the front. Using the tip of my dagger, I lifted his face and let the device scan it.

Once it unlocked, I let go and his head bobbed down. Zakaria didn’t need to know Mehdi died yet, so might as well use it to my advantage.

I wiped my dagger onto the fabric of his pants before sliding it back into its sheath strapped to my thigh. After I stepped out of the cell, I ordered the two soldiers guarding it to call the cleanup crew.

Once I was back in the courtyard, I plopped back into my seat and reached for my untouched tea glass. The now cold liquid had barely touched my lips when Hamza’s voice chimed behind me.