Page 7 of Claimed By the Villain

And the last.

In my line of work, I don’t usually take contracts personally, but I have a special kind of disgust, deeper than the one I carry for most of humanity, for those who abuse children.

Sell your drugs. Your guns. Kill your enemies. Unless I have a contract against you, you’ll never even see me. But if your business is profiting off children, there’s a chance I’ll show up at your door one day.

Free of charge.

I take pride in cleaning pedophiles off the planet. Being the reaper. The one who sends packages down to Satan, until it’s my time to meet him myself.

The money I’ll get for this contract could buy two farms like the one I own in Colombia, but I’d have done this one for free.

It’s my first time working for Beau’s[2] mentor—an old friend. I’ve never worked with the Russian mafia before.

The former Pakhan who hired me doesn’t want his Organization—now run by his grandson—linkedto this death. That’s why I’m here.

Funny thing is, Ruslan only started digging into this bastard because he was poking around the Brotherhood’s[3] business. It wasn’t personal, until Ruslan uncovered what he did. And since Ruslan lost a granddaughter to pedophiles… Clyde Barnes sealed his own fate.

But if the bastard was killed and the trail led back to the Organization[4], it’d be a shitstorm.

So I got the job.

Before stepping out of the car, I glance once more into the dark and think about the last time I saw Jackie, a week ago, as she left work in New York.

She knew I was there. She always knows. I made her a promise. I imagine she feels alone. Everyone’s gone, and I’m all she has left—a silent killer acting as her guardian.

Martin’s sister is angry and hurt because I keep my distance. What she doesn’t know is that I stay away to protect her. So many times I’ve wanted to go back. Jackie is the last piece of home, of family, that I have left.

But I can’t.

She would be my weakness. And I would possibly be her death.

“And not just that,”a voice warns.“When she finds out the truth—about everything—she’ll hate you forever.”

And one day, she will have to know.

As I’ve told myself for years, someday, when she has her own family, her own support system, her own safety net, I’ll tell her the truth. And then I’ll walk out of her life forever.

Jackie, and the promise I made to protect her, is what’s left of my humanity.

She is what’s sacred to me.

For her, I would die. To keep her safe, I would turn the world upside down.

I get out of the car, double-checking my gear—knife, guns, ammo. Just two guards tonight. Neither is in the watch post; they guard the main house. Probably to stop anyone from catching their boss in the act.

But not tonight. Tonight, he’s alone. It’s his“rest”period, when he waits for his next “delivery”. A twelve-year-old girl that Ruslan, by now, has already rescued.

Wrapped in shadow, dressed head to toe in black, I’m nearly invisible in the dark countryside.

The main house is surrounded by trees. I noticed during my walks around the area that it’s unusual. Most farms in Mississippi have open land, sparse vegetation. But here, it’s almost like a forest, and the house sits in a clearing.

No doubt that’s intentional. He needs privacy.

He didn’t think that, one day, his attempt to hide what he does would make it easier for someone like me to get in and out unnoticed. I don’t need people watching what I came to do.

Every job is unique to me. I remember them all. I refine my methods like a sculptor chasing perfection.

But this one?