Page 34 of Promised to the Demon King (The Demon Brides #1)

Reaper paced his room, lost in thought on what he should do. He didn't trust the woman who hired him to do the job. There was something about her; it screamed venomous. He'd seen her type before, and it was always messy. Blonde bimbos who want to marry rich and keep the cash to themselves. They’re all the same.

Reaper hated working for the rich and shameless, but they paid the bills. Before he fully accepted the job, he informed the venomous woman that he would look into the matter and gather details first. He didn't want to commit to the job just yet; something about it didn't sit right with him, and the envelope she tossed down contained next-to-no information. Who was the mark? Did she even know? He has never had a civilian offer so little on the end they want tied. Why wouldn’t she supply more on the person she wanted gone? No civilian pays a fee to remove a stranger. Something was wrong.

He'd been in the business long enough to know the signs. He was a trained mercenary, an ex-marine with a particular and unique set of skills that most were willing to pay top dollar for. His abilities branded him the name Reaper for a reason. No one got away once the Reaper set his sights on his mark.

This, however, was the first assignment in years that he felt unease about.

All she had was a bank account number, a cell phone number, and a first name: Jason. The photo included was too pixelated and fuzzy. It looked like it was taken in some type of shopping mall parking lot, but it was a distant shot. Ultimately, it was useless. Given, he'd had worse starting points, but when he looked into things, he noticed that the woman's husband had recently paid the mark a lot of money. The deeper Reaper dug into it all, the bigger the mess became.

Things weren't lining up, and he almost felt as though he were running around in circles chasing a tail that wasn't there.

He wondered why he had been hired to remove someone from her husband's apparent payroll, but that wasn't his concern. Ensuring that he wasn't being set up was.

It's been a while since he felt repulsed by a beautiful woman. That is what this woman was, attractive, but I could tell right away that it was only skin deep. Inside, this woman was rotten to the core.

Carol Elizabeth Carter.

That was her name. He held her entire dossier. He had a detailed record of this woman's entire life, and it wasn't inspiring. She was forty years old, hadn't worked a day in her life since her grocery store clerk job nearly twenty years ago. She was a professional spoiled housewife to the man she tore her first marriage apart by having a full-on affair with. He could only imagine how happy that second marriage was. How could you trust someone who has affairs with married partners?

Reaper shook his head. This was why he preferred brief moments of pleasurable release. You can't trust anyone these days, and his occupation confirmed that regularly for him.

He chuckled in disbelief as he stared down at the information before him. He had more information about her and all those around her than he did on the mark.

'psst—' a female voice whispered in his ear.

"Hello?" Reaper frantically looked around him, trying to find the intruder. He checked his monitors; no one was on the cameras. Who was in his territory, and why didn't the alerts notify him sooner?

The was a woman's giggle echoing in his head.

"Who's there?!" Reaper demanded. Roz watched from her perched position on the bookshelf next to him. She loved messing with mortals when her missions allowed her to do so. This was one of those particular assigned missions. Interaction was her favourite thing. Mortals were so easily led. There was too many misconceptions within the war to not allow an easy breakdown of ones mind and will. The Catholic church was to blame. They preach so much against the strength of evil, it instills immediate fear in ones heart. A Demons greatest allow was a church. They did have the mental work for the evil monsters they preached about. Mortals solemnly used their common sense to figure their own route out, why else would they accept the preaching of someone permitted to violate innocence in worse ways. The hypocrisy was a Demon’s greats victory.

'The mark is a close colleague of yours. Contact Jason Nell. He is being betrayed by Carol. He is your mark, the job she hired you for. Once you remove him, she will remove you just the same.' The female whispered in his head.

"Who's there? Come out!" he yelled again. Despite his frantic searching and viewing of his footage, he found no one in his home.

'Find Jason Nell. He has the information you need to understand,' the female whispered again. Reaper shook his head, trying to shake the intruding words out.

"I said come out!" He yelled in anger. He didn't like the runaround.

There was no response. Somehow, he felt she was gone, whoever or whatever she was.

"Jason?" he muttered. He went back to the fuzzy picture and tried to picture his old colleague in it. It was a stretch, but it might have been Jason Nell.

Interesting, he thought. Carol Carter hired him to tie a loose end; that end was a colleague in the same line of business as he was. Was that why her husband had transferred the money to him? Had Jason been hired to do a job, and now they were trying to silence him by hiring another contract?

Reaper shook his head. Like he thought when he first saw Carol that day at the abandoned warehouse, messy!

He took out his phone and dialed the only number saved on his phone.

"Yeah?" a deep male voice answered.

"We have a problem," Reaper said.

“…”

"There is a serpent in the grass, looking for Nell. I need his contact information," he said. There was a pause; he could hear the person on the other end moving around.

"Are you sure?"

"I was hired to landscape the field."

After Reaper received a number, they disconnected the call, and he sent a message to Nell.

[Storm cloud overhead. Meet at Barney's 6.]

[Who is this?]

[Reaper.]

[See you at 6.]

Meanwhile, Carol sat excitedly in her attorney's office as he reviewed all the proof she had collected. She watched as he navigated and clicked through the files and images that she had on the USB stick from Patricia.

After a long while, he nodded with a smile.

“You’re sure this is real?”

Craig Parks asked. Carol nodded eagerly.

"This will definitely help our case, Carol. Are you sure you wish to go through with the divorce? There is still a chance you would get nothing, leaving you penniless and divorced."

Carol tossed her hair back and smiled. "I am confident that with the embezzlement issues, his being let go from the company, and now this evidence, I will be prosperous. We need to have this resolved before he loses it all with the company matter. Push this case; I want it finalized quickly."

"Carol, I must remind you that court matters can take time. This isn't a pressing matter in the courts; it could take longer than you realize."

"Don't give me that crap. I pay you enough to expect you to perform a fucking miracle. Now make it happen immediately!" She snarled.

After speaking, Carol stood up and grabbed her purse. She gave her attorney one final glare: "Handle this quickly. I want to be out before he crumbles." With that, she turned and left the office, leaving her attorney's jaw slack at her expectations.

Craig Parks sat there, he could feel his emotions boiling. He hated being spoken down to, there was value in his position and she should be respected; especially as her lawyer. Taking a deep inhale, exhaling Craig reminded himself that Carol pays well and to focus on the fees and not the woman's horrid character.

After Carol stepped out of the lawyer's office, she confidently walked to her car. Her smile was big and brilliant. Everything she wanted was right in front of her for the taking.

Finally, she thought. Everything was coming to her. She'd waited long enough, having to rely on the handouts of the men in her life, but she was done with it.

Now, she would be the one with all the power. The one calling the shots.