Page 29 of Run, Starlight (The Royal Ballet Presents #3)

LUCKY

Rules are rules. No hunting assholes in a nightgown. I give her simple black pants, sneakers, and a T-shirt. It's skintight, and she looks fantastic, but it’s just a happy coincidence. I don't want her clothes getting stuck on anything out there.

My skin feels too tight for my body when I hand her a knife as long as her forearm, and she smiles sweetly, testing the weight in her hands.

“This one too.” I give her the bone knife back.

“Oh, yes, I like this one better.”

“That’s great, but use the big one,” I warn her.

She rolls her eyes.

Marcella thinks I'm just fussing over her, but I'm uneasy with this arrangement. If Enzo already brought this asshole over, why can’t we kill him? This could be done in a five-minute break, and for a celebration, I fuck Marcella’s ass. Done.

She makes a face when I strap a gun around her thigh in a holster .

“That looks badass and all, but I don't know how to shoot.”

“Aim and go boom,” I tell her, crossing my arms over my chest.

She shakes her head and tips her chin up. “It’s unsafe to use a gun without knowing how. I’ll do well with the knife.”

I bite back a chuckle because she's actually serious. “Are you a professional in stabbing?”

“No.” Her cheeks turn red. “But I stabbed you.”

This time, I can't stop my laugh and touch the small stabbing wound from just a few days ago. It’s so shallow I barely remember it’s there. “More accurately, I forced my body into your knife.”

“You guys always have fun without me,” Enzo complains from the bed.

This brings my attention back to my brother and the way he calmly lounges on the bed, his arm bent under his head and feet crossed like our woman going to hunt a rapist isn't something to worry about.

Marcella giggles at his comment, and I realize she finds his craziest behavior endearing. I don't know if she understands that he's dead serious here. Stabbing is his definition of fun.

She touches my arm, and my eyes move back to her. “You’re going to watch me, right? If I need it?”

“Always.” She can't possibly think for a second I'm letting her go without being absolutely certain she's the predator.

“And look at this…” Enzo sits up and turns his laptop.

I watch the real-time map of the property, a blinking red dot moving east from the house. “Is that…?”

“Yes. Kyle. I got him chipped.” Enzo smiles. “Have fun. The next kills won’t be as recreational. ”

The idea is so repulsive that I accidentally growl under my breath, attracting their eyes.

I shake my head and wave them off. There’s no good reason to start this conversation right now.

Enzo wants to turn a ballerina into a serial killer, but I’d like the killings to be few and far between. We’ll talk when she’s done with Kyle.

She’s wearing a determined expression, her eyes certain as we go down the stairs and reach the beach.

“Be careful and use all your tools.” I arch an eyebrow at her. “We’ll be a step behind you at all times.”

“But we’ll give you space to do your own thing,” Enzo says on top of me. “Be creative. Follow your instincts.”

“Okay, okay.” She’s getting done with both of us. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

She winks at us and leaves, and we stay behind, watching her go. There’s a stone in my heart, weighing down the pit of my stomach and filling me with unease. My eyes follow her steps in the sand until she makes her way into the coastal forest and disappears in the middle of the high vegetation.

“How long will we give her?” I ask my brother without taking my eyes off the place she last was.

“Let’s look at the cameras,” he replies, and I’m glad to hear a little more concern in his tone.

We move to the living room. Enzo turns on the big screen, and in a second, we can see the first four cameras. Marcella is on the top right, her eyes narrowed and attentive.

“She doesn’t know how to track,” I say.

“Kyle doesn’t know he’s being hunted. I bet he’s leaving behind all kinds of clues. Give her a chance.”

I sit on the couch with my back straight, uncomfortable with the idea of giving her a chance to do this on her own.

We watch as she moves from one camera to the next.

Enzo flips through them and follows her progress, and it’s not a surprise when she finds a scrap of clothing left behind. Enzo was right.

“Do you think she’ll go through with it?” I ask the question running through my mind.

We understand what it means to kill another person more than most. She’s running off anger, and for a reason.

Enzo exposed everything done to her brother, and the reading was beyond graphic.

I don’t think he was trying to push her over the edge, but rather present her with all the details she was denied before.

While I hate that she had to read those words, I understand why lying wasn’t the right move.

But right now, she craves revenge. She thinks she can do it, but it’s a different game to witness life draining from someone’s eyes.

“Yes.” My brother's reply leaves no room for doubt. “But you don’t. Why?”

I rest my back on the couch as I watch Marcella find his tracks. “Clever,” I whisper to myself. “I think she’ll stab him once or twice. To kill someone takes more.”

More of your soul. Enzo hums under his breath. I’d think he is considering my words if I didn’t know him better.

“If you understood what we are made of, you’d see how she was born to do this.”

“To kill?”

“To avenge her brother. To shed her fears and be magnificent.” His eyes shine as he looks at the screen.

I wish I saw as much beauty as he does. I wish I could shed my fears and judgments too.

“Some people are put in this world to do good, Brother. Angels of light. That was our mama, and she was so good that someone like Dad couldn’t fathom how to handle something this precious.

Other people are here to protect those beings.

We are not made of light. We follow what the universe calls us to do.

The day Mama died, and we couldn’t do anything, something broke inside both of us.

It’s hard to see your destiny so clearly in front of you just to be stopped before you’re able to fulfill it.

Darkness was put inside us, and that’s where we belong, just as Marcella did.

I recognize the essence of her. It doesn’t matter if she never used a gun or a knife. Nothing can stop her from her destiny.”

He finishes his speech, and my heart breaks again.

For our mama, for Enzo. We couldn’t protect her, and we are now doomed to replay the moment that she died again and again until we find any salvation for either of us.

I understand his kinship with Marcella now.

She carried the same weight, and he sees that when he looks at her.

Marcella crouches down to the dirt, her eyes narrowed, when she stumbles into Kyle’s track. “She’s almost at him,” I say.

“Yes.” Enzo breathes in slowly and gets up.

We promised her that we’ll be close. I told myself that I might have to finish the job, but maybe Enzo is right. I won’t stop her from her destiny. I would give anything to kill Dad, but by the time we were old and strong enough, one of his enemies had already taken him.

She deserves this.

I follow my brother out, armed to the teeth, while Enzo just strolls out with a mean look on his face.