Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
She’s too okay with this world. And it’s suspicious as all hell.
She’s the red-haired assassin. I knew it in my gut, but I had to prove it.
Sure, these things aren’t usually something that should automatically make someone a suspect, but I felt it in my gut. Every occasion this redhead has shown up, Lyra has been “busy” with something that gives a perfect excuse to be away from me and Maddox.
Coincidence? I think not.
I’ve been watching Lyra carefully, and when the job for Nathaniel Moretti came through, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to test my theory. I’d given Lyra just enough information for her to figure out who the target was. With that, I left it in her hands, and just as expected, she took the bait.
The second Moretti walked into the private room, he was as good as dead. The woman was sent away while Maddox disposed of the body, and by the time Lyra was pushing through the door, I was already wearing the target’s jacket, just waiting for my girl to show up, and she didn’t disappoint.
Maddox had no idea.
He knew I was setting up the redhead, but he didn’t know I suspected Lyra. If she were anybody else, I would have let him in on the secret, but truth be told, the asshole is too fucking obvious. He wouldn’t have been able to follow through without accidentally giving it away, and then my perfect plan would have gone to waste.
The car ride seems to drag on, every second of agonizing silence only making the tension thicker around us.
It’s a competition of who’s going to break first, but I’ll be damned if it’s me. It’s between Maddox and Lyra, and honestly, I’ve got no fucking clue how this is about to play out. Lyra fidgets with her hands, folding and unfolding them before twisting her fingers, while Maddox just stares straight ahead, completely dumbfounded, as though replaying it over and over again.
Ten minutes turn into twenty when Lyra finally cracks. “Okay, fuck,” she says, twisting in her seat to look at me straight on. “This is killing me. I was too careful. How the hell did you figure it out?”
I shrug my shoulders as I drive, as though realizing that Lyra was the redheaded assassin didn’t completely blow my mind. “You don’t react like other people.”
She scoffs. “That’s because other people are overly dramatic.”
“It’s more than that,” I say, trying to put my finger on it. “At the car dealership, for example, your comments about lining the trunk. Normal people don’t think like that.”
“I was trying to be a supportive girlfriend,” she says, having the audacity to pretend to look offended. “That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Show interest in our man’s hobbies.”
I roll my eyes, a smirk lingering on my lips. “You’ve followed me to every hit I’ve taken over the past few weeks.”
Maddox finally snaps into gear, his head swiveling toward me from the back. “Huh?” he grunts, his gaze then snapping right back to Lyra. “That true?”
She cringes but doesn’t respond, and so I clarify for her. “Every hit, Savage,” I say, beginning to rattle them off. “That first night after I saw you outside Black Velvet. That guy in the alley was shot barely two seconds before I could get to him. Then there was—”
“Woah, hold up. That could have been anybody.”
I scoff. “Don’t try to cover your tracks now. You just happened to be on your break at the time. And besides, there was no mistaking that vanilla scent in the air. It’s the same one I’m smelling now,” I tell her, glancing at her in my passenger seat.
“It’s a popular scent. Many women have it.”
“You can’t fool me, Savage. I’ve been onto you for a while,” I say. “You had absolutely no issue knocking me out cold after we fucked for the first time. People can’t get the drop on me like that, but you did,” I say. “Not to mention, you had no issues trying to beat the shit out of Maddox at Black Velvet. You swing like you’re going for the knockout. You don’t respond to violence the way a normal person would. And you casually drop jokes about killing people.”
She studiously stares out the window, her lip pouting as though not liking that she’s finally been caught. “Like I said, supportive girlfriend.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Nah, nah, nah,” Maddox says, perking up as though finally starting to put the pieces together. “When I spilled that shit in your dark room, you knew there would be an explosion before we did. You moved first. You told us to run. Normal people don’t just know that shit, nor do they respond that quickly.”
Lyra whips around to stare at Maddox. “Oh, so it’s a crime to know a thing or two about the chemicals I need for my own dark room? That just sounds like common sense to me.”