Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

MINA

Reuben flipped through the photos, his expression quietly thunderous. He seemed determined to look at every one of them. Not because he wanted to see them, but because he needed to know what I went through. So I wasn't alone in this. He needed to understand, no matter how difficult it was to see.

Finally, he rose from his seat far enough to hand the phone to Gianni, who nodded.

Gianni carried the phone over to the kitchen benchtop beside the stove. He opened a drawer, pulled out a meat mallet and smashed the phone screen with it.

Terry, who stood stirring a pot, grunted. I presumed he approved. He met my eyes for a moment, inclined his head slightly and went back to his cooking.

"You could have deleted the photos," Damon pointed out.

"Chances are, there's a tracking chip in here," Gianni said. He went on smashing the phone until it was nothing more than a mess of plastic and broken glass.

There wasn't, I'd looked. There was nothing useful on the phone, just the photos and video. Seeing Gianni destroy it was almost as cathartic as doing it myself. He would have let me if I asked, but I didn't want to touch the phone again. Not even the scraps of it.

"Damon was right," Reuben said. "About you being a distraction. I was so distracted, I didn't see what was right in front of my fucking face. You're an assassin."

His whole body was tense with anger, but much of it was directed at seeing those photos. The rest, I suspected, was directed at himself. None at me.

"That's the point of me being the Sparrow," I said softly. Part of me was relieved all of this was out in the open, but in some ways, it complicated the situation even further. "Who would have thought I'd be a cold-blooded killer?"

Gianni raised his hand. "I thought it was possible. Not necessarily cold-blooded, but a killer. All the best people are."

Damon snorted softly. "And some of the worst."

Gianni pointed a finger gun at him. "Good point. But in this room, it's the best."

Reuben ignored them both and kept his eyes on me. "You didn't mention this until you had to. Until Damon figured it out."

"No, I didn't," I agreed. I wanted to look away, but I forced myself not to.

"How did Kurt Lasalle end up with the Sparrow chained and caged?" Reuben asked. "You have skills."

I took a few moments to collect my thoughts and figure out the best way to articulate them. In the end, I decided the best was to jump right in.

"As far as I can tell, my father slipped something into a drink he gave me. When I woke up, I was in that house. Kurt was there with the woman from the ice cream parlour, Stefan and a couple of others. I remember them talking, then Kurt jabbed a needle into my arm. When I woke up, I was in that cage."

Sticky and sore, with no doubt of what Kurt did to me.

"He left me there for three days before he came back to give me something to eat."

He'd taunted me, laughed at me and told me how much he enjoyed fucking me. Reminded me of what I did that night and why I deserved to be there. Guilt kept me from responding, or accepting any food. He'd thought that was hilarious.

"Fucking asshole," Gianni muttered.

"He was obsessed with you. He took the opportunity to have you in a place he could keep you," Reuben said.

"I gave him the opportunity," I said reluctantly. They had most of the story, they might as well have the rest of it. If they turned their backs on me now, I'd manage on my own. I had money and contacts and, like Reuben pointed out, skills.

"I was on a job," I said slowly. "There was a kid. She shouldn't have been there. I saw her standing in the doorway and then, she was dying in my arms." I shook my head. "She had nothing to do with any of this. She was supposed to be with her mother, not her father. He was the one who was supposed to die that night."

"That explains why you looked so upset when you saw Frank's kid," Gianni said.

All I could say to that was, "Yeah"

"I don't understand," Damon said. "You said you saw her, and then she was dying. You killed her?"

I shook my head slowly. "I had to have. I don't remember doing it, but it was only me and her there. Kurt was in another room." I briefly explained his mission was to find information.

"Think back," Reuben said. "Is it possible he did it?"

I frowned. I'd thought about that night a million times. It lived in my nightmares. Her blood, my guilt, were the only things I was certain of.

"If he did, I should have been able to stop him," I said finally. "If I just gave him what he wanted, he wouldn't have forced my hand like that. She'd still be alive now."

"You'd voluntarily sleep with him in return for the life of a child?" Damon asked.

"I'd do anything to erase that night," I said quietly. "What happened to her was my fault. What Kurt did to me, I deserved every moment of it."

"Sweetheart." Gianni slid into the chair beside me. "You did not deserve any of that. The only one to blame for this was Kurt. He's a fucked up monster who used a kid to get to you." He carefully slipped his arm around my shoulders. "Her blood is on his hands."

I shook my head. "I should have seen the extent he'd go to. I should have insisted I do my job alone. He could have come in afterward. He shouldn't have been anywhere near there. I misjudged him and she paid the price."

"The only one responsible for his actions is him," Reuben said darkly. "He let his obsession take hold of him and he did something unspeakable."

Damon cleared his throat.

Reuben's gaze slid to him. "There's a difference between distraction, and obsession to the point of imprisoning a woman to keep her." He returned his gaze to me. "Who was this girl?"

"I don't really know. The daughter of my target. He was some kind of politician. He upset someone and they decided to take him out."

My guess was one of his ex-wives, possibly all three of them, if they could afford me. He had a reputation as a massive asshole. Not to mention a serial cheat.

"Kurt was supposed to find information on his whereabouts on a few nights in question. And details about bribes from some construction company."

I guessed his ex-wives wanted to pin his death on them. That was their business. I was just there to carry out the job I was paid to do. There was no benefit in getting too nosy. It wasn't as though I needed the money I get from bribing them. Killing people for money was lucrative enough.

"Did he end up dead?" Gianni asked. "Sounds like he deserved it."

"According to Kurt, someone finished the job a year later," I said. "Unless that car crash was really an accident." Stranger things had happened.

"That seems unlikely to me," Reuben said. "Once someone takes out a hit?—"

"It's seen through until the end," I finished for him. "Unless the client withdraws the job. But that's a rare occurrence. Once people are committed to having someone killed, they tend to follow through."

"Have I mentioned recently that you're hot?" Gianni squeezed my shoulders. "An actual fucking assassin. I knew you were a badass. I just fucking knew it. You're the baddest of the badasses."

I managed a faint smile. "Yeah, but what happens now?" I looked back to Reuben. "Now you know what I am, and what I did."

"It changes nothing," Reuben said. "You expected us to turn on you?"

"A child died because of me," I insisted. "I expected you to agree that I deserved what Kurt did."

Deafening silence followed my words. Heavier than a thundercloud ready to break apart and release a flood, accompanied by thunder louder than a Wolf Venom concert.

I'd spent too many years convincing myself I was a terrible person. It was so ingrained by now, I didn't expect any other response. I'd readied myself to defend against them. I'd die or kill them all before I let that happen. The idea of being locked away again was my own personal hell. Whatever I had to do, I wouldn't allow that. Even if I stabbed a knife into my own heart.

I hadn't pictured understanding. Words or looks of concern. Of love.

The anticipated waves of hate and threats of violence didn't come. No suggestion I should go back down into the basement.

"Kurt deserves what we're going to do to him," Reuben growled. "Nothing you've said makes you any less ours. Any less mine ."

His expression was more intense than I'd ever seen on him. He was the thundercloud, but he wasn't coming for me.

This was the man people were scared of. The one who decided who lived or died with barely a second thought. The one whose absolute certainty that I was his made my clit throb and my heart flutter.

What was it Gianni said? Some people thought love made us vulnerable, but it made us stronger. We were a family, no matter what any of us did.

"If anything, it says you belong here even more than we thought you did," Gianni said. "You're a fucking assassin. You fit in perfectly."

I finally let myself lean into him and start to relax. "Then you'll understand I have contacts I've reached out to. Contacts who are looking for Leon Graves as we speak. He's next on my shit list. When I find him, I should be that much closer to finding Kurt."

"When we find him," Reuben said. "You're not doing this alone. Between us, we have the resources to find both of these pricks and deal with them appropriately."

"I don't know," I said lightly. "Damon might be a distraction."

Our conversation and connection were surprising, as was the intimacy of his kiss on my fingers. They were all distractions, but they were distractions I needed. For their resources and for them. They'd become my safe harbour in an ocean of crazy.

Damon barked a short laugh. "Fucking touché. Doesn't matter though, you need us. Who else knows who you are?"

"Just Daze and Kurt," I said. "My father did. And the people who trained me. If anyone else knows, I'm unaware of them."

"That debt." Damon's forehead creased.

"I still don't know what it was," I said. "Why my father would drug me and give me to him." I was relieved to get all of this off my chest, but that still hung over me. Would I ever get an answer as to why he did that to me? If I didn't, it would linger in my mind for the rest of my life.

"I'm glad I had him killed," Reuben said darkly. "All right, Leon Graves. Anyone else?"

"Not that I can remember, yet," I said. "I'm hoping Graves will shed some light on them." I explained how I got the information on him from Stefan. Including the way I'd surprised him, literally with his pants down.

Gianni laughed. "Taking out a guy while he's jacking off. That's fucking awesome. I love you, Mina ‘The Sparrow' DiMarco."

"My middle name is actually Jasmine," I said. "But I love you too, Gianni Covino."

He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. He nestled his face into my hair and laughed softly. "A fucking assassin."