Page 4 of Harvest Maze

My third cousin, twice removed, continued to glare at me. “This wasn’t sanctioned.”

“You have a horde of bloodthirsty killers,” I scoffed. “Do the frickin math, mate.”

We might share great-great grandparents, but this man was from the ruling bloodline and didn’t appreciate being talked to like a child. Pushing to his feet, Lucian dropped the corn stalk unceremoniously on the porch and dusted his hands.

“Let’s go.”

I wanted to punch his smug face for disrespecting my décor. But my fist would be like a fly smacking into an elephant. There wouldn’t be any pain packed in the blow, and it would just make the beast more annoyed than he already was.

I followed the don to his car. As I reached to pull the belt across my body, Lucian leaned over to unlatch the glove box.

“Here,” he grumbled. “Put something on that.”

He dropped a first aid kit on my lap.

I made a face. The subtext was “Don’t bleed on my precious, pretty sports car.” But I took out a bandage for my finger without grousing at him as he backed out of the drive and sped away. I secretly dropped part of the wrapper between the seat and the door. A little present for later.

Maybe if he’d wished me happy birthday, I wouldn’t have felt vindictive. But the teeny, tiny petty act of rebellion made me smile as we drove to Raven Manor.

Chapter 3 – Demyan

The fancy man made her sad.

No one, no matter how nice their clothes were, had the right to make her sad. If I hadn’t already been hired by the Bratva in Trenton to kill that kokot, he would have signed his own death warrant for that.

It was funny, because the reason the pretty-boy don wasn’t dead was because of my next-door neighbor. She was far more interesting than finishing the job. Plus, once I killed the target, I would have to leave. And I didn’t want to do that.

I’d already extended my Airbnb once. It seemed like I would have to do it a second time.

I didn’t want to leave this town without her.

So, a few days ago, I decided to bring her with me. I now had a limited window of opportunity to formulate a solid plan and put it in motion. Planning a kidnapping was surprisingly harder than setting up an assassination.

She would be alive when the deed was done. That concept was mind-blowing. That meant I would have to talk to her. Woo her. Convince her uprooting her life and spending the rest of her days with me was destiny.

That thought was both terrifying and exhilarating.

I stepped outside, ready to begin my recon. I would learn everything there was to know about this rare little gem, what she liked and disliked, and then, I would take her with me once I killed Don Ravello and left the Cove.

As I crossed from the back door of my rental to the backyard of her small house, a paneled van lumbered down the road. I frowned as the plumbing company pulled into her driveway.

What now?

Slipping behind the shrubbery, I watched the men—who were clearly not blue-collared workers—go to her front porch. They didn’t go into her house. Crouching, I peered around the corner.

The four of them were laughing as they wrestled a body into a black bag.

My jaw dropped. “To nie je možné!”

I’d seen a lot over the years. A contract killer was no stranger to death. But this? A dead corpse on this bright, bubbly woman’s front porch? What in the name of all that was holy was something so grotesque doing here?!

The binoculars I’d used this morning had shown a happy woman ambling about her house. But when she’d gone to her front porch with those decorated dead plants, the angle of the houses didn’t give me a direct line of sight. I missed her finding the body. And then, when Don Ravello showed up, I hadn’t seen their exchange until they were in the driveway, getting into his car.

I would give the whole payout for completing the kill to have witnessed that exchange.

“The don will be pissed,” one of the goons chuckled.

The one with glamor muscles from the gym and a skull tattoo on his throat shrugged. “Lucian doesn’t mind when we take out pests.”