Page 41 of Mine to Keep (Bloody Desires #10)

twenty-seven

payback’s a bitch

From my seat in the sitting room, I see the man enter his home and make a beeline towards his kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and pulls out a beer, cracking it open and taking greedy pulls of it right there in front of the open fridge.

When he stops chugging, he wipes his mouth and lets out a long breath, saying, “Who are you and why are you in my house?”

I grin. I figured he’d know I was there. He might be old, but he’s still sharp.

“Nice to meet you, Director.”

His back goes ramrod straight, the hand holding the bottle tightening. “Viper.”

“In the flesh.”

I click the light on just as The Director turns around.

He looks exactly how I suspected he’d look—older with graying hair and wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, dark eyes with no emotion, and a no-nonsense air.

He looks like a man that deals in death and doesn’t give a fuck about collateral damage.

He tips the bottle up to his mouth and stares at me. “Who’s your friend?”

Olivia leans forward with a grin, her dark brown fro framing her face. “Oh, Director, you don’t remember me?”

He starts and his eyes grow wide. “Nyla,” he breathes.

“Not anymore. You can call me Olivia. My real name, not that bullshit you assigned me.” She rolls her eyes. “How you been all these years? Scared I’ll rat you and The Void out?”

“Of course not,” he scoffs, “you’re loyal.”

“Not after you tried to have me killed, I’m not. I should have blown the whistle on your bitch-ass years ago.”

“Well, you didn’t,” he says, rounding the kitchen counter to come into his sitting room. “So what now? More empty threats?”

I smile and straighten up in my chair. I let him see the HK in my hand. His eyes zero in on it and I recognize the look of a man that thinks he can still get out of this. “Nah, no more threats. You’re being retired, Director. Or should I just call you Jake?”

He bristles. “You will show me respect, Viper or?—”

“Shh, shh, shh,” I say, motioning with my gun. “That’s enough of that.”

He looks at the pictures over his fireplace. “What happened to my family?”

I turn around to look at them, not worried about taking my eyes off The Director. Olivia has him in her sights.

“Beautiful family. Do they know what kind of monster you are?”

“I’m a monster?” he scoffs again. “You’re my deadliest asset. And Nyla was right behind you. Guess we’re all monsters.”

“Yeah,” I say, “but I know what I am. Does your wife know who you are? Your kids?”

“Of course not. To them, I sell insurance.”

Olivia laughs. “How does selling insurance afford you this?” She waves her hands, indicating the house.

He has a beautiful home: a large four bedroom, four bath with a sitting room, a living room, a game room, and a fucking theater room. He also has a wine cellar with one of those three thousand dollar bottles of wine in it. I took that one for myself.

He waves her off. “So what’s your plan? Kidnap me so my family will wonder what happened to me?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Oh, no. They’ll find you. I have to confirm my kill with the new Director.” My smile widens. “I’ve been told that the kill can only be confirmed if your head is no longer attached to your shoulders.”

He nods grimly, but instead of accepting his fate, he throws his beer bottle at Olivia and launches himself at me.

I spring to my feet, bringing the butt of the gun down on his head, causing him to drop to the floor.

Olivia growls and strides over to him, kicking him in the belly until he’s wheezing, then she kicks him in the face hard enough to make his head kick back.

“Now I’m gonna smell like beer,” she says, irritated. She kicks him again for good measure.

He gasps, rolling to the side and holding his middle.

Olivia and I stand over him, watching him struggle to catch his breath. She tsks in disgust and hands me the machete she has in her hands. “You wanna shoot him first or just chop his head off?”

“One question,” I say to him. “Who took the contract out on me?”

He rasps out, “It was…anonymous.”

“Was it, though?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. “You gotta know something. You’re The Director.”

“He was The Director,” Olivia chimes in.

“True. As the former Director, you know every contract that comes in. Who wanted me dead…and my head removed from my shoulders?”

The Director spits at my feet. “I’ll never tell you.”

I shrug. “Doesn’t matter. The new Director will find out. Any last words?”

He opens his mouth to speak, but I raise my gun and shoot him twice in the forehead and once in the chest.

“Damn, no last words. That’s crazy,” Olivia quips.

“You can do the honors.” I hand her back the machete. “You earned it since you smell like hops.”

She scoffs as she snatches the machete from me. She makes quick work of chopping his head off, nudging it next to his body with her booted foot.

Pulling out my phone, I snap three pictures from different angles and send them to the new Director.

Seconds later, my phone rings and I smile before I answer. “You got it?” I ask.

“I did,” Peggy says. “Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome, Director. Congrats on your promotion.”

While we were at the safe house, Peggy was able to crack into The Void’s mainframe and got all kinds of information, namely how many contracts The Director took out himself to have other assets of The Void killed.

Some because they wouldn’t take assignments, like Olivia, and others because they wanted to get out and live their own lives.

After Peggy made her escape from the assets sent after her, she started her takeover of The Void.

She'd been in contact with other assets, ones she'd been handler for in the past, and they were all getting increasing threats to be retired from The Director.

They were sick of his shit and welcomed a change of leadership.

She hired me and Olivia to help her with that.

She giggles in my ear. “Thanks, Viper. Or are you gonna go by Knox full time?”

“Not Knox. Koda. My real name.”

“I knew that,” she says with humor. Of course she does. Peggy knows everything.

My phone dings with an incoming payment. The last payment I’ll ever receive from The Void.

“Knox did good work,” Peggy says, sounding choked up. “It’s a shame he ‘died’ and there’s a grave in California with his name on it.”

I smile sadly. “Yeah, it’s a real shame, Pegs. Listen, if you ever have a day off, you can come see me. Me, not Viper.”

“I would love to hang out with Koda. But I’ll have my hands full getting this organization back on track.

Gotta change up the rules. Did you know that motherfucker was taking out hits on kids?

Fucking piece of shit. But yeah, I’ll have to retire some assets that don’t want to accept the new leadership change. ”

“Good luck, Pegs.”

“Thanks, Koda. I have one more gift for you. I know who wanted you dead.”

“Yeah? Who?” When she tells me the name, a smile spreads across my face. Oh, this will definitely be fun. “You sure?”

“Yep. I saw the contract and I even traced the bank statements.”

“Everyone pays in crypto,” I say, wanting to be sure I kill the right person.

“Yeah, but I tracked keystrokes on a hunch when I saw the date your contract came in. It’s legit, I swear it.”

Good enough for me. Peggy doesn’t make mistakes. “Good deal. I’ll let you know when it’s done, then I’ll let you do your thing with The Void.”

“I appreciate you and Olivia taking care of that for me. I love you, Koda. Take care.”

“Love you too, Pegs.”

I hang up and drop the phone to the floor, stomping on it before gathering the pieces and sliding them into my pocket. Olivia glances over at me, her eyebrow ticking up. “What?” I ask.

“Nothing. Just weird to know this is your last paying job. How does it feel?”

“Good. I’m glad. Now I can start my life with my boys, free of all this bullshit.”

“Feel that. I’m going home to my Mommy. I miss her and my puppies. Two weeks away is long enough.”

It took a few days for me to recover at the safe house, my injuries more severe than I thought.

Olivia made me go to the clinic where she worked and one of her doctor friends patched me up off the books.

Since I had a mild concussion, I couldn’t drive, let alone catch a flight out of the country.

She made me rest up first before we got to work on the former Director.

While Olivia had been in touch with her Mommy, I hadn’t heard from my boys in all this time. I didn’t want to reach out to them until I was sure all this shit was behind me, so I could come to them clean.

Well, as clean as I could get with so much blood on my hands.

I’ve been thinking about them, though. Pretty much every waking hour has been filled with wondering how they’re doing.

I know they made it to North Carolina safely, resting up at Talon’s parents’ house, but I want to know how they’re doing emotionally.

Peggy said they looked okay, like they’re making it, but I haven’t seen them with my own eyes.

Now that I’m done, now that my last paid job is finished, I plan to go to my boys and hold them close for the rest of my life.

I look down at the body on the floor. I guess I should thank him. If not for the job he sent me on, I never would have ran into the fast talking chatterbox and his best friend that made me realize what love is.

Nah, I don’t owe him shit. Fuck him.

“Ready?” Liv asks me.

“Yep. Time for us to get back to our lives.”

“If you’re ever in Canada again, hit me up. My wife would like to meet the man that pulled me out of retirement.”

I laugh. “Don’t blame me. Peggy is the one that called you.”

“Yeah, but on your behalf. So you’re still the bad guy.”

Chuckling, I shake my head as we clean up the areas we touched so we can leave the house. “I’ll accept the blame. And I’m sure me and my boys would love to go back. They had a great time. Besides getting shot at, of course.”

When we step outside, we quicklyhead to a shopping center a few blocksaway where we parked our cars, avoidingcameras as we go.

Once we get to our cars, I give Olivia a long hug. “Thank you for everything. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you.”

She squeezes me in her strong arms, her love and friendship washing over me. She steps back and pulls her keys from her pocket. “I don’t know. I think you would have found a way to get all of this done without me. Thanks for the adventure. I was missing all the action that came with contract hits.”

I grunt. “Yeah, I think I’ve had enough action to last me a lifetime.” I pull her in and kiss her on the cheek. “You’re my best friend, Olivia. I’m glad The Void didn’t off you.”

Her tinkling laugh makes me smile. “You and me both. Keep in touch, Knox.” She stops, then grins. “Sorry. Koda. ” She tilts her head, studying my face. “You know, you look like a Koda. I like it.”

I bark a laugh. “Thanks for your approval. I’ll see you, Olivia.”

She gives me a two-finger salute and slides into her car.

I watch her drive away, my heart full that I have my best friend back and I’m out of the life. I don’t have a concrete plan, but I know one thing—I need to get my boys so I can feel complete.

A smile on my face, I slide behind the wheel of my car and drive in the direction of my boys. I won’t be able to fully breathe until I have them in my arms.