Page 54 of The Hitman's Prince

Before he could argue, my phone went off again, and he groaned, rolling his eyes and turning away from me.

“I thought you turned it off.”

“I did.” I reached for the nightstand and picked up my phone, realizing the new alert was a message not an alarm. My heart sank to the floor at the name on the screen. “Fuck.”

Jacob glanced at me over his shoulder. “Not good news, I take it?”

I read the message again, tracing my finger over the letters because there was no way I’d read them right.

V

You’re out of time.

“I need to talk to Vince.”

I scrambled out of bed, tripping over my feet as I ran down the hallway and the stairs. There were lights on in the kitchen, and I found Orion dressed as he always was, black slacks and a white button-up, a black leather holster around his shoulders. The strap stretched across his back as he bent over the counter, pouring coffee into a simple white mug. His head jerked at the sound of my entry, but he didn’t turn to me. He must not find me to be a credible threat, which was ironic but not entirely wrong.

“Where’s Vince?” I asked

Orion turned, coffee in hand, and he leaned his ass against the counter, narrowing his eyes at me. “I truly don’t understand what he sees in you.”

“What?”

“The priest, I get.” Orion made a show of palming his dick and crossing his legs at the ankle. “But you…you must have one hell of a throat.”

Embarrassment burned in my cheeks, and I swallowed, not missing the way Orion’s eyes darted down toward the motion as my Adam’s apple bobbed. He took a drink of his coffee, eyeing me casually over the rim of his mug.

“Where is he?” I asked again.

“Did you fuck the priest last night?” He continued toignore my questions, and a cold sweat began to bead at my temples.

“No.”

“Did you suck him off?”

“What? No.” I scrubbed a hand down my face, looking around the kitchen as if Vince was about to magically appear out of thin air. Instead, I got a bleary-eyed Jacob, shuffling in behind me and heading straight for the coffee pot. He brushed close against Orion’s shoulder, and I hated the familiarity. I hated the stupid bargain I’d made with Vanessa. I hated my life.

But in that moment, the thing I hated the most was my own solitude. The inevitability of my isolation.

“Do you think his hair is that red everywhere?” Orion asked, the question obviously directed at Jacob, not me. “Do you think his skin flushes that pink all over?”

Jacob turned, standing side by side with Orion, the two of them looking far better together than either of them would with me. They both looked better with Vince than I would too. Maybe…maybe the whole thing was for nothing. This sick fascination had gotten me nowhere. It hadn’t saved the restaurant, it hadn’t gotten my family out of debt, and it hadn’t saved Vince’s life. And now, the two of them played word games with me instead of answering the fucking question.

“Where is he?” I asked again, this time through gritted teeth.

If Orion had planned to answer me, I’d never know. The floor-to-ceiling windows in theliving room shattered, the deafening sound punctuated by the unmistakable whir of flying bullets.

“Caspian!” Orion called out for me just as Jake flattened his hand against Orion’s back and shoved him down behind the counter. Orion’s coffee mug exploded in his hand at the same time a bullet tore through my leg. The pain was unlike anything I’d ever felt in my life, and after what felt like a lifetime, the attack stopped.

I heard Jacob calling Orion’s name, and then I heard nothing at all.

Chapter 40

Orion

Silence was loud, but the ringing in my ears from the gunshots was far louder.

“Holy shit, you’re bleeding.” Jacob sounded frantic, half on top of me and rolling me onto my back with trembling hands.