29. Neco

I t felt good to have a new target again. Momma was still sick, and I was getting closer to having to suck it up and ask my father for help. I didn't have much to offer him to keep Rowena out of it permanently. He'd want me in his army because of my size. I was good at killing and shit at following orders. I couldn't exactly brag about my skill set as an assassin because I was just a Guttertown bastard and expendable. I'd hang, and he'd take his payment from Rowena.

And Lance Fucking Argent was everywhere lately. I could usually avoid him and he kept popping up like a bedroom disease. Everyone was raving about the Whispering Raven's new drink. It sounded pretty weird, but it was delicious. I couldn't even get my whiskey because Lance crawled out of his basement to help out in the tavern.

I was on edge and really needed to kill someone.

Daegal Highmore came to the brothel early and fell right into my lap like a present. Panas might have been the one to catch him and kick him out instead of me. Beck was taking his bath, and I was going to walk Rowena to school. It was usually slow first thing in the morning.

But no, that prim fucker decided he was going to go after my little sister. What an idiot. If he would have hurt one of the adults, Panas would have eventually told me and we still would have ended up here, but he touched my sister and spat on her right in front of me.

Rowena punched me in the stomach and put several curses on me on the way to school because I didn't let her punch him in the dick, but my baby sister didn't need to know I'd be slitting his throat later. She looked up to me enough that when I told her it would be handled, she trusted me and stopped putting it out there that my nuts should grow pustules and fall off.

When she was older and could handle it, we'd get a good laugh about how I slit his throat for laying his hands on her.

They didn't give names at the brothel and if they did, they were fake. That didn't stop me. Keeva taught me well. I knew who he was, what he did, and how to get into his house before I went back to the brothel for lunch.

I also gathered a little intel on my competition. I'd eventually kill him, too. I wouldn't usually care if someone else was killing rich prats outside of Guttertown. They were awful. I wasn't stupid. Their wives were probably awful and their kids were probably snotty little shits.

Their wives and kids didn't have the power to be as big a shit as the men. That's just how things were outside of Guttertown. You didn't hurt women and kids. They would probably spit on me, too, if they heard me speaking with a Guttertown accent, but if those men were hurting women in Guttertown, they were probably doing it at home, also. They needed my protection as well.

Daegal was the typical rich merchant, but he was on the richer side. He puffed up his chest and liked to pretend he was just as important as the Barons, but he was licking their boots just like the rest of the Trulos District. The Barons weren't going to pay him just like they weren't going to pay anyone else. They were probably taxing him within an inch of his life and lying to his face that he was getting a better rate.

He was definitely the dumbass for believing it.

I went home with a sense of satisfaction. I wasn't all that sold on the nickname they gave me, but people were afraid of the demon sneaking into their house and slitting their throats without leaving any evidence.

It was this other man who was killing in my territory who was pissing me off. It was wrecking everything. I killed for a reason. Men in the Trulos District could do what they wanted to women because they were considered their property, but there was always the risk of a father or brother taking offense. In Guttertown, there were no consequences.

If this interloper wasn't murdering on my territory, someone might figure out why the Blight was slitting throats. They'd never catch me. Keeva made damned sure of that. But if they knew why the Blight was killing people, they might stop being utter shitheads.

It was genius. Don't hit people who didn't deserve it because you needed to feel like a big man and the demon wouldn't slit your throat. It was a big motivator. Maybe I should write a manifesto.

I probably should. I managed to catch gossip on my way out of the Trulos District. They thought we were the same person which was just fucking insulting. That other guy was messy and he would eventually be caught. Whether it was by the law or by me was anyone's guess.

I went straight to the kitchen when I got back to the brothel because I was starving. I never ate when I was in the Trulos District. I only spoke when I had to because I wasn't all that confident in my fake accent. Beck was just finishing up, but stayed to talk to me.

"I heard some arsehole assaulted Rowena this morning."

"Right in front of me. Guttertown might not have his fancy education, but we aren't that stupid."

"Right? They don't even know my aunt was giving you serial killer lessons as a kid and Guttertown knows better than to mess with Rowena."

"I'm not a serial killer."

"Oh, Ronan and I were with Keeva earlier. Ronan is going to be painting murals on the wall and I had about a million questions for my aunt. She smacked me upside the head when I said serial killer instead of assassin. Fair warning, you aren't my aunt. If you hit me, I will hit you back."

"That could be nice. I had a lot of fun the last time we hit each other," I said, winking at Beck.

"It was fun. I asked Keeva to teach me what you do, and she told me I didn't have the constitution to be an assassin. It was insulting."

"There's a difference between being a warrior and slitting a man's throat. You've never killed before. Honestly, I don't want you doing that any more than Keeva does."

I was glad Keeva told him no. Beck could kill a man with his fists if he wanted to, but Panas trained him not to unless he had no other choice. The Madame raised him to use his wits and Beck grew into a caring, gentle man. Beck was the one the girls talked to after a man hurt them. Beck helped them with their trauma and I snuck into the men's houses and killed them.

We had designated roles here and I don't think anyone wanted Beck to change a thing about himself.

"It just seems like I could help the girls more if I did that."

"You are helping the girls, dumbass. Me killing them just solves the problem of them coming back here and I pass their secret gold stashes along. I obviously can't tell them I'm doing that. That's where you come in. You talk to them about what happened and reassure them that those men were total shits, but there are still good ones out there. That's not me, but it's definitely you."

Because seriously, I was beyond damaged. I knew that. I'd never make anyone a proper partner and if Momma ever got grandkids to spoil, they would be from Rowena. Because I was going to make damned sure she never ended up like me.

"Ah, Neco. You're one of the good ones, even if one of your hobbies is slitting the throats of abusive men. When are you going to do it?"

"Three days. The Trulos District is having some fucking festival. Too many people around."

"Good."

Yes. Good. That man touched my sister and deserved everything he had coming to him.