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GUNN

S carlet’s green eyes lock onto mine as I squeeze her throat. She’s fought a good fight, harder than anyone I’ve ever taken out. Has forced me to push myself to the limits just to keep her from flipping the tables on me. If I gave her an inch, if I fucking took a millisecond to catch my breath, she would have done it. I have no doubt.

Truly, it could have been either one of us. Her speed and skills match my sheer brute strength perfectly. So, I knew it was imperative to get my hands on her and not let go.

I dig my thumbs into her windpipe as she does everything in her power to break free. But she’s growing weaker by the second, her attempts more ineffective with each try.

Even when her arms fall limply to the floor and her entire body becomes slack, her fingers twitch. A fighter till the end.

Beneath my thumbs her heartbeat slows. And just before her consciousness visibly fades, she winks.

I stare at her reddish purplish face, stunned. She fucking winked at me.

That’s when it hits me like a fucking hammer to the chest, and suddenly I can’t breathe either. I’ve just taken out my greatest adversary. The one I actually look forward to sparring with. I’ll never again see that pretty mouth curve up so evilly that I can’t help but smile back. Or the glint in her green eyes when she tugs out those big knives she’s so fond of. Or the outfits that fit her like a glove and make me hard just thinking about it.

Or the fact that the last thing she did was wink.

What was that for anyway? Was she flirting? Was that some last way of saying she thinks I’m hot? Was it an I’ll see you in Hell ? Most likely, it was a fuck you and you’ll be wondering about this for the rest of your life .

Her heart pulses once more beneath my hold, and I release her neck.

“Fuck.” For several moments, I remain there, staring intensely at her chest, waiting for it to rise and fall. I search for signs of life—a breath, a smile, another wink. Hope for one.

I watch so closely, I’m actually scaring the shit out of myself because I never let anyone come back from the brink. I’ve never been more desperate to know what someone’s last thoughts were.

I’ve never regretted killing someone.

Suddenly, Scarlet sucks in a breath and the red of her face begins to fade.

“Fuck,” I repeat when I scramble away from her, my stare still glued on her as she coughs and stirs.

My last view of her as I slip out the front door tells me she’ll be in pain, but fine.

As for me, however, I think I’m fucked.

I sit on the edge of the bed and stare at my hands, though what I’m actually seeing is Scarlet, my fingers around her ivory neck, squeezing.

Fuck me, she has soft skin. Softer than any assassin has a right to. Smelled good too.

Never in all my years of dispatching scum have I been so fucking turned on by one, but I couldn’t hide the raging hard-on that hellcat gave me when she wrapped her legs around my waist and started grinding herself on me. I was choking the life out of her and she was trying to get herself off!

Fuck. I should have listened to Carina when said it would be a bad idea for me to come down to New Orleans.

A few days ago, some members of the Sinacore Alliance met at Luca and Carina’s home in New York. Arran Maxton discovered Scarlet and his teenaged sister-in-law, Maisie, have been keeping in touch via text messages on burner phones. Messages that have given the alliance information on her whereabouts.

“If Gideon helped Gavin take back The Red, he did it without that cunt,” Carina said regarding Gavin Alexander, suspected traitor to the alliance.

“Where is she?” Luca asked.

Carina slid her fingertip over the messages as she read. “He sent her on a mission a week ago. She’s in New Orleans. Alone.”

We all looked at each other.

“What’s in N’alins?” I asked. “Or who, I guess?”

Luca frowned as he mulled it over. “Enzo Marcone controls that area.”

“You think he’s working with Gideon?” Arran asks. “His family has ties in New York. Maybe they want to take over part of our territory.”

“I don’t believe so. We’ve never had beef with them.”

“Or maybe Marcone is the target,” Carina suggested.

“His name isn’t on the list. In fact, I don’t recall seeing anyone from that area involved in The Ferryman’s business.” Luca sat back in thought. “I’ll put in a call to Enzo. He should be aware that she’s there.”

“I could go and check it out,” I offered. All of their eyes turned to me. “What? I’ve been itching to take that female out for a while now. This could be my shot.”

“As much as I’m sure the thought turns you on,” Carina chided, “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“She’s alone in a city far from her boss.”

“Exactly. Suspicious as hell.” She arched a brow.

“Carina is right.” Luca took the phone from his wife and read the texts. “If we send someone, they will also be alone in a city far from here. I smell a trap.”

“Or maybe she’s not alone at all. She might have Sofia with her,” I suggested. “Think about it. If you’re hunting Gideon, why would he have her with him?”

Luca narrowed his eyes on me. As intended, the mention of his little sister is all he needed to consider my offer. It’s been a couple of months since Gideon captured her, something Luca can’t forgive himself for. If he’d never attempted to send her to California for her own protection, Gideon wouldn’t have had the chance to take her. And though he hasn’t used her as collateral yet, not knowing her whereabouts or if she’s dead or alive, is far worse torture for Luca. Which is probably exactly what that smug fuck, Gideon, wants.

We might have come close to finding her recently, when Rowan Kane, a member of the alliance until recently, discovered he’s Gideon’s half-brother. But if he ever learned of her location, he didn’t tell us. And after helping Gavin retake his casino, we lost touch with him.

Luca is getting desperate. Desperate enough to let me come to New Orleans and take on my blonde nemesis.

It made sense to him too, I suppose, the possibility that Gideon could have placed Sofia in Scarlet’s capable hands. She did hide Maisie when he was using her sister, Skye, to force information out of Arran Maxton. Why wouldn’t she do it again?

“Fine,” Luca said after a moment of consideration.

“Luca!” Carina exclaimed, but he patted her arm.

“If Scarlet took Sofia to New Orleans, we have to find out,” he told her.

“I’m a big boy, Carina.” I winked at her. “I can take care of myself.”

“What you are is stupid,” she rebuked. “But I’m not going to stop you.”

“Your mission is to determine if Sofia is with Scarlet,” Luca said to me. “If she is, get my sister to a secure location. Then do whatever the fuck you want with that bitch.”

Whatever made me believe I’d be able to fight and capture Scarlet is beyond me. There was never any way it would end in capture. Never any way to find out if Sofia is with her.

Death or sex. Those were the only two options. Carina knew it.

“Fuck me.” I drop my head into my hands. I am so stupid.

As if Luca can sense this is a shit time to call, my phone buzzes. I want to ignore it, but it might raise suspicions if I don’t check in tonight.

“Yo.” I answer.

“You go into the city?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Find anything?”

For a moment, I hesitate, unsure how he’ll take me letting his enemy’s main assassin slip right through my fingers. Quite literally.

“A strip club,” I reply instead.

There’s a grunt on the other end. “Of course you did.”

His disappointment is palpable through the phone and it bothers me that he’d say it as if I’m the family screw-up. I never fucking screw up. Except for this time, of course.

“I didn’t go in there for kicks,” I clarify. “I saw Gideon’s minion. Followed her in. But she vanished once I got inside.” Partly true.

“Fuck. She is there, then.”

“Would seem.”

“Did she see you?”

“No.” Fuck, I hate lying.

Luca stays quiet for a breath, as if he’s considering his next order. “She might be a creature of habit. Go back to the same place. But if you see her, don’t engage. Follow her. I want you to stalk her ass until you know what fucking hole she crawls out of every day. If Sofia is with her, that’s where she’ll be.”

“What about Marcone? Can’t he take her out now that she’s in his city?”

He scoffs. “I thought you were itching to take her out yourself. Besides, you know the deal with the Marcones.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The thing with the ruling family in New Orleans is, they have famiglia in New York. Famiglia who’s had territorial “disputes” with the Sinacores in the past. We might be on friendly terms now, but we’re certainly not friends. Which means, they will allow me to hunt down my enemy in their territory, but they will not intervene if shit hits the fan.

“You should have told Marcone that he was on Gideon’s hit list,” I say.

“I’d rather have him as a potential ally. He might reconsider helping us find her.”

“Might be more willing to if you concede some Sinacore territory to his wife.”

He sighs. “If you don’t find Sofia, I might not have a choice. I’ll do anything.”

I rub the goose egg on my forehead and wince. It’s only one of many. “I’ll find her.”

And this time I won’t let her go. I have no choice.