Sophia

SOPHIA

"You look incredible," Makar whispered to me under his breath.

I smiled, glancing away from a group of Dargun passing by us on the Promenade. "You probably shouldn't comment about your assistant's looks like that, sir."

"Mmm…" He smacked my ass, and I whirled around quickly, staring at him with daggers.

"You're gonna blow this if you're not careful!" I whispered angrily.

Makar chuckled. "No, sweetheart, you're going to blow this if you're not careful." He looked down at his pants, then back up with a ridiculous smile.

Idiot.

I rolled my eyes, adjusted my fake glasses, and followed him. Part of me wanted to grin. Part of me wanted to throttle him.

How could his humor be such a turn-on and at the same time, also be incredibly annoying?

I had to admit, though, he was smart to ask me to come along with him. Also, due to my abandonment fears, it helped with my anxiety.

Having an ‘assistant' would mean he was well established, and it would also have made him less suspicious to anyone who might have questions about his qualifications. Also, it would give me more time with him in the kitchen. I was grateful to be outside of that bedroom and by his side.

I found myself wondering why he actually needed me there, though. As I watched him walk in front of me toward the restaurant, I began to get suspicious of his intentions again. Tugging on his arm, I dragged him behind a nook in the wall around the corner from Orbitus. He looked at me with surprise and a little excitement.

"Is there an urgent message I need to see, Miss Sophia?" he asked while running his hand up my thigh.

I quickly swatted it away.

"Are you sure I won't mess up?"

He explained the problem with Conii and Goran. I understood it, at least, the basics. But even though I was the one who insisted I wanted to help, I was still worried that I'd mess something up.

He scoffed and looked around while shaking his head. Then, his eyes met mine, and he sighed. "I'll never turn away from the opportunity to have such a pretty lady at my side."

My heart fluttered at his words, but I wasn't about to show it. "Lady?"

"Well," he grinned. "At least outside of the bedroom." After another eye roll of mine, he continued. "It does help with a certain level of status. Also, I really did want to see you in that outfit."

I glanced down at the pencil skirt and suit top he had made for me and smiled. I didn't know how many credits he spent on having it tailored to my measurements, but it did fit me perfectly. If I was being honest, I didn't mind wearing it for him, either. It was more of a secretary outfit, but he clearly wanted me to wear it for more personal reasons.

"Why are you asking?" He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Oh, you know, I'm just sleeping with an assassin and caught in some missing weapons investigation for a high-end Vinduthi mafia of sorts." I shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary."

He nodded slowly and held up his hand. "Okay, okay, I get it. Look…" He wound his hands around my waist, and I glanced around, nervous that passersby might have seen us. "You're not in any danger."

His eyes pierced mine once I stopped surveying the area. I was caught by his gaze, his hands, the smell of him, everything. Moreover, I was stunned that he didn't seem to care about anyone seeing us together in that small nook. "I would never let anyone harm you, all right?"

His eyes said more than his words. It looked like what he meant to say was that he would kill anyone who even tried to harm me. The protective nature stunned me into silence and made my gut twinge a bit.

How long will this take? Can I just whisk him back to the bedroom right now?

"Come on." He nodded toward Orbitus and slid out of the nook past me.

I watched him walk away and sighed, my heart racing from being so close to him in public. I was on an adrenaline high from the mission, and my feelings for him flourished. I didn't want to admit that the inside of my mind was as chaotic as it felt, but it was hard not to.

The Orbitus was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

I tried desperately not to gawk at the opulence all around us as we strode through the front of the restaurant. In the bar, shimmering lights above us were crafted to look like a nebula, followed by a galactic vista in the dining room that was a replica of the view outside.

And everywhere was filled by beautiful sentients, hair and makeup done perfectly, their skin or scales gleaming, their bright laughter ringing like crystal all around me.

They'd probably never seen anything like the Under.

This was an entirely new station, revolving around people who were part of a different universe than the one I lived in.

I glanced at my feet while we approached the kitchen doors, trying to soothe myself. To my surprise, I bumped into Makar's chest when I wasn't paying attention.

I cleared my throat as he steadied me with his arms, almost making me melt into him. The view over his shoulder was what brought me back to reality very quickly.

We walked past the main part of the restaurant and were now in a long, dark hallway. He looked at me with a grin while I tried to collect myself from the embarrassment turning my face red.

"We're headed to Goran's reception area, and behind that is his office," he said in a whisper. "Now's not the time to blow our cover."

I nodded and gulped as the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. We were undercover, and if I so much as stepped the wrong way, Goran could figure out everything.

Makar pushed the doors open, and he almost bumped into someone. I stood on my tiptoes to peer over his shoulder and saw the waiting room was packed with other sentients. There had to have been at least twenty other applicants standing around the room and holding their papers in their hands.

"Wait outside," Makar said with a sigh.

"What? But the…"

"Outside," he growled under his breath, shooting me a dirty look.

I threw my hands up and raised my eyebrows before backing away and shutting the door behind me. When it was closed, I looked down the hallway and saw no one else coming, so I took the opportunity to take off the shoes he picked out for me.

Unlike the new outfit that fit beautifully, the shoes were just slightly off. It wasn't enough that I noticed it back in his quarters, but now that we'd walked for a bit, I wanted nothing more than to throw the black and cream stilettos away.

Maybe burn them.

While massaging my feet, I sighed and looked at the doors.

He's an assassin, Sophia. What are you doing? He could kill you if he wanted to. But he said he wouldn't hurt me.

Do you know that he wouldn't, though? Well, no, but…

But what? You're being a fool, falling for a Vinduthi.

I'm not falling for him!

I held the sides of my head and let out a deep breath. My mind fought between logic and emotion. Of course, being a dancer, the danger wasn't something I was unfamiliar with. I knew how to handle myself in terrifying situations with men that could have easily killed me, but most of them weren't actual killers.

While trying to calm the spiraling debate fluttering through my mind, I heard a loud crash come from inside the doors.

Uh oh. Someone broke something. They're going to have to pay a shit ton of credits for that.

There was a quick silence before another crash echoed through the hallway. My eyes widened. I quickly put on the death traps called ‘professional shoes' and glanced down the hallway at the opening of the restaurant.

My guess was no one else heard the ruckus over the music in the main eating area. Better for our plan, but maybe not for Makar.

Did Goran figure him out? Is he trying to kill Makar right now? Should I go in there? Of course not. What am I going to do? I'm a human woman.

Another loud sound caught my attention, this one louder than the others. The doors slammed open, and one of the applicants raced past me, screaming.

That won't be good for business.

The paper he dropped fluttered to my feet, and I peered around the door as it closed slowly. All I saw was the wall on one side of the room. My heart pounded as I looked around before gulping and closing my eyes.

Makar might be hurt. You have to help. Come on, Sophia. Get it together.

With whatever bravery I could summon, I walked toward the doors and slowly pushed one of them open. Glancing around the room, I was shocked to see none of the applicants that were waiting in there earlier, except for Makar, standing in the middle of the room and cleaning one tiny spot of blood from his hands with a handkerchief.

He sighed before glancing at me, then froze for a second before looking at two doors on the other wall bordering the hallway. I knew from our prep work those doors led outside, to the back of the restaurant, but still, my eyes darted toward them, as one of them opened. Makar quickly rushed toward it and slammed it shut, but not before kicking a body back through.

My mouth hung open, but before I could say a word, the opening of another caught our attention.

"Welcome!" A tall Xyolxi walked out of the office and my heart stopped. Makar warned me, but there was still something almost elementally terrifying about Goran. The pale, gaunt face, and elongated body made him look like a walking skeleton. The ice blue eyes and needle-like teeth didn't exactly help.

Goran looked between the two of us, and paused. "Well, all right then. Which of you would like to go first?" he asked, motioning to his office.

"He's the one applying," I said, trying for a slight smile, looking over at Goran, trying to squish down the instinctive fear that coiled through my gut. "I'm just his assistant."

Goran tilted his head, the wispy cloud of silver catching the light, before turning his head to Makar. "Have you been a pastry chef before?"

"Worked at Gravitas for two years, then Lune for seven, sir."

"Reason for leaving Lune?"

"Low pay and no ability to grow in the company, sir."

"What's the key to making a flaky crust?"

"Butter has higher water content. An all-butter crust is the best way to go."

Goran sighed and held out his hand. "What's your name?"

"Maddox," he stated, shaking Goran's hand firmly.

"How long has she been with you as your assistant?"

"Since starting at Lune."

Goran smiled and nodded. "All right, let's have a trial service. When can you two start?"

"When do you need us?"

Goran nodded to the kitchen. "Go ahead. Our old chef is out of commission."

Out of commission. That's right. He killed his way to being the new pastry chef of a restaurant. He killed to become a pastry chef.

It was insane that he would kill so many beings just to get a job, but also quite impressive with how quickly he hid the bodies.

I forced myself to relax. Our cover had been worked into the record by Havek, one of Makar's brothers in the syndicate. Right now, others in the gang were probably taking care of ‘disappearing' those bodies.

It was impressive and terrifying how efficient they were at this sort of thing.

‘Maddox' had an entire history ready for anyone who wanted to look him up. No one had thought it necessary to go quite as far as a name change for me.

Probably because not many people remembered the names of humans, unlike the names of dreaded assassins.

"Thank you, sir."

Makar nodded at Goran and walked out of the room with me behind him. I didn't look back at Goran. I was too terrified I would mess something up and blow our cover. As Makar and I walked down the dark hallway, I thought about the peril he was in instead of my own.

"Makar," I whispered.

He turned around, beaming at me. "We did it!"

"Yes, we did it, but now what?"

He stared at me confusedly. "We're going to go make pastries."

"What about the dead bodies in there?" I exclaimed in a whisper, throwing my hand out to the doors behind us.

Makar scoffed. "I told you. We have people for that."

"And when will they be here?"

He pushed me against the wall and kissed me, much to my surprise. I tried to push him off. I was serious. I wanted answers. Fortunately, he didn't let me shove him away. His lips stayed against mine until I sank into our kiss, wanting him more than anything else, even answers.

When he pulled away from me, he grinned and winked. "I've taken care of everything, all right?"

"But are you-"

"Yes, I'm sure."

I sighed as he released me. He nodded toward the entrance of the restaurant while taking his suit jacket off. "Come on. We have desserts to make."

"While I'm in these shoes? Are you kidding me?"

He pulled me close and kissed me. "I'll make it up to you later."

A waiter walked down the hall, and we separated quickly. We walked toward the kitchen before I stopped at the entrance to the restaurant, in a daze from the view out of the windows.

My head turned toward the sounds of the kitchen, and I caught a glimpse of Makar walking through the double doors. He was tying an apron around his waist and laughing with one of the other chefs while his eyes gleamed and a smile stretched to his ears.

His eyes turned to me, and he nodded me toward the kitchen. I couldn't help but smile as I walked in and caught the apron he tossed at me.

I knew the plan was to assassinate Goran and get his files, but there was something in it for Makar as well.

As I watched him, I saw a passionate Vinduthi who was about to do what he loved more than anything in the galaxy.

Even more than killing.