I used my elbow to dispense the lavender-scented hand soap, noticing it was the same kind I used to use in my kitchen.

  More of Judas’ mania.

  “You know there is only one you and she doesn’t hold a candle. No woman does. You’re incomparable.”

  I smiled at the suds being sucked down the industrial drain until I remembered something he’d said. I started to look around the room, checking each corner. “There’s not actually cameras in here, right?”

  I glanced back just in time to see him slip out the door with a devilish grin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I pinned another flower arrangement and then tossed my phone down onto the lounger. I should have taken Judas’ advice and hired a wedding planner two weeks ago.

  It was too late now. I had the women of his family and Audrey fully invested in making this a huge event despite my objections. Now that Maisie had somehow reeled Santiago in, they were all full steam ahead. She, Brianna, and Nova had all left maybe twenty minutes ago.

  I’d never had a ton of girlfriends but these women were quickly becoming some of my favorite people.

  Even better was not having to hide who I or Judas was around them.

  “Are you still on birth control?” Audrey abruptly asked.

  “Where did that come from?”

  “I’m just curious. You two fuck a ton. By that, I mean a lot.”

  I smiled up at the sunny sky. She and I weren’t close to being back to where we were before Gavin stole her heart and divided her loyalty down the center, but she was still my best friend. I couldn’t make her choose one or the other when I wouldn’t be able to do the same.

  Judas was vestigial. I could survive without him, but the quality of life would never measure up to the one I’d have with him. I wasn’t going to try and make sense of it anymore. We were a conundrum of love, obsession, passion, and madness.

  Yet, there was no way in hell I was doing life with Judas without Audrey.

  I didn’t want to be alone here. Judas’ friends were trying to worm their way in, and his family was growing on me. Santiago was persistent too, but Audrey was the only thing I had left to remind me where I’d come from.

  She’d been the only person with me at rock bottom. I wasn’t sure what Judas held over her, so he got consistent notes on me. Neither of them would say. I’d find out one day, but until then I was comforted by the that if it had been something sinister or meant to come back and hurt me there was no amount of begging on my or Gavin’s end that would make Judas keep her alive.

  “He says we’re making up for the lost time.”

  She sat up and swung her tanned legs over the side of the lounge chair. “You should have seen Cookie’s face when he realized it was an imprint of your ass cheeks on the fridge the other day.”

  We both burst into laughter at the visuals.

  “I can’t believe we’re here right now,” she said after we’d both calmed down.

  “Yeah. I can still remember the day I was ready to fight him on Dax’s behalf.”

  “That guy was such a pussy,” she sniggered.

  Oh, if only she knew. He’d died like one too. I couldn’t tell her, and she didn’t need to know. It was the others that wanted to test her and see how she handled this lifestyle before throwing her into it headfirst.

  She’d been pretty damn understanding of everything she was aware of thus far, but that could all change the moment Gavin came home to her covered in someone else’s blood.

  I pushed myself into a sitting position and checked for Romeo and Juliet, spotting them beneath the poolside bar in shade. I didn’t blame them.

  I’d come out here to try and relax before I had to leave. Judas hadn’t texted me yet, which left me with no idea when that would be.

  Since being here I’d learned he worked his ass off.

  From sunup to sundown, he stayed busy but still always found time to work out and for me. We ate breakfast together most mornings unless I slept in.

  He randomly appeared to fuck me throughout the day. There wasn’t a night that had gone by without him in bed, even if it was after I’d settled in.

  “I’m taking my birth control,” I responded to her earlier question. The subject of getting it refilled hadn’t come up between me and Judas yet, but it was on my to-do list.

  “So, no babies for you then,” she quipped. “Where is he, anyway?”

  “Good question.”

  I reached for my cell to check the time and got distracted by the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Are you sure about tonight?”

  I should’ve known that’s what had her looking so depressed all of a sudden.

  “Audrey, I’ve never been more certain about anything.”

  “It’s dangerous, Rhia.”

  “Every day of my life will be considered dangerous. I’m marrying Judas Barron and my father is Santiago Saldaña.”

  “And who are you?”

  I felt like this was a trick question, so I answered as honestly as I could. “I may have been born a Saldaña, raised as a Clermont, and I’ll die as a Barron, but I’m always going to be Rhiannon.”

  This seemed to be the right thing to say. She visibly relaxed and smiled at me. “You’re a badass. I’m so proud of you.”

  “I’m definitely not.” I laughed and picked up my cell just as it vibrated. “I just make tequila when life hands me lemons.”

  Seeing the text was from Judas, I opened it with bated breath, my stomach knotting when it confirmed tonight was the night.

  I toyed with the charm on Romeo’s collar watching for any signs of the sports car we’d been tailing in a roundabout way.

  There were eight of us in three separate vehicles, nine if you included the Doberman, all with the same destination once Evie bit her bait.

  Rochelle had made an appearance at a club to be seen and then gotten into a similar Bugatti to Judas’ with a man playing bodyguard.

  I hadn’t seen anyone following her aside from us every so often, making me wonder if this was even going to work. What did I know about tailing someone, though? These were the professionals. Had it been me I’d probably have gotten spotted almost immediately and had my cover blown to shit.

  According to Judas’ informant that was fucking Evie regularly, she’d nearly had a meltdown when our engagement was leaked through the underground and had been plotting ever since.

  I didn’t know she despise my entire existence so much.

  I knew she hated my mother.

  I suppose my resemblance to her could be triggering, but I didn’t hate the hundreds of blondes that looked like her.

  It was such a weak fucking excuse I knew there had to be more to it, but honestly, I didn’t care. I shouldn’t have to die because she couldn’t let go of a years-old grudge that had nothing to do with me.

  That same mindset could correlate to my everyday relationships.

  It would be easy to hold onto the feeling of hate, but I found hatred was exhausting. It tainted every area of your life and hung like a dark shadow over the thoughts inside your head. I just chose to never forget or forgive if they didn’t deserve it.

  And Evie really didn’t fuck deserve it.

  Her brain had to be lacking all rationality to think she of all people could take out two of the most prominent crime families around.

  I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized I was the one that held her fate in my hands.

  “Mercedes is back,” Owen’s voice carried through Judas’ speakerphone. He’d been tracking everyone’s movements since we’d left home hours ago. “Hill and Glacier, going right for the intersection like Judas’ predicted.”

  “That didn’t take long,” Gavin muttered.

  “Hang tight,” Theo warned, taking a sharp left turn.

  My body tilted, but Judas kept me mostly upright by banding his arm across my midsection.

  “Right, babe,” Owen directed Brianna.

  The sound of squealing tires erupted through the speaker as she maneuvered the SUV she was driving. “Damn that was close!”

  “Where are Saint’s men?” Judas asked.

  “In-route to Evie’s,” Owen replied, adding a second later, “Closing in.”

  “Us or them?” Gavin asked.

  “Both.”

  “Pull over at the end of the street,” Judas instructed Theo.

  I had no clue what was going on, so I remained silent. I definitely needed that crash course Judas had mentioned. I was only here for Evie to see my face before I decided what needed to be done with her.

  I wasn’t going to partake in the logistics I had yet to understand or turn into a lethal killing machine overnight. That would be highly unrealistic for anyone to expect that.

  I needed to learn the ins and outs but as for showing to peoples’ homes and taking them out, fortunately, that would never be my role. I could take a life when or if it was necessary, but I wasn’t meant to get my hands dirty.

  This part of their lifestyle—our, was rarely Judas’. He had people to do this for him but sometimes like now, it was a special occasion or personal request.

  Theo pulled over, parallel parking in front of a simple middle-class home. He turned the headlights off and for a few minutes all seemed quiet, nothing happened.

  “They’re there,” Owen stated a split second before a loud bang followed by a popping sound shattered the silence, echoing through the neighborhood.

  “Go,” Judas commanded calmly.

  Theo flipped his lights on and pulled away from the curb, turning right at a stop sign just as a few porches lit up.

  “Owen?” Gavin called his friend.

  “He’s working on pulling up the house already. It’s DOA for the decoys,” Bri answered.

  I knew what that meant, it just wasn’t coming to me right then. Judas reached over and took my hand. He’d been silent the whole ride when he wasn’t asking for updates or giving an order, his eyes focused and glued to a tablet.

  Theo approached an intersection, and I saw exactly what DOA meant. The Bugatti had curb hopped the end of the road at a two-way turn and come to a stop at an awkward angle. Bullet holes littered every inch of the car’s surface.

  The windows were all shattered, revealing two nearly unrecognizable bodies covered in blood.

  Pieces of them had been completely pulverized from the number of hits they took. All I could make out of Rochelle was a tuft of brown hair.

  My stomach twisted with the realization that was supposed to be me in that car and not her.

  This is what the woman who’d claimed to be my mother wanted to be done to me. Theo or Gavin would’ve been the one driving, finding themselves in the same position as the man currently missing half his face.

  We found a quick exit out of the neighborhood and began the journey to Evie’s as Owen began tracking the Mercedes to ensure none of us crossed paths with them and blew our cover.

  “We’re going to get her,” Judas promised, tightening his hold on my hand. I nodded, swallowing down a bubble of nausea.

  “What about Rochelle?”

  He gave me a questioning look. “What do you mean? She’s dead.”

  “You don’t care?”

  “Do you?”

  I slowly shook my head. Why the hell would I care? I didn’t even know her. I’d spent all of four minutes in her presence. Judas had her gone by the time I left our laundry room. I didn’t think she deserved to be riddled with bullets, but it was above me.

  “I kept telling everyone she was a means to an end. Back there, that was the end.”

  “So, was the cocaine and Cancun, real?”

  “Of course, it’s real, but how is she going to make use of them now?”

  “Judas…”

  “I know, you don’t need to say it.” He flashed me a grin before returning to a serious state again.

  “Evie will probably be busting out her best wine right this second,” Gavin commented. “Rochelle did an honorable thing.”

  “She gave her life for the greater good,” Brianna agreed from the other line.

  There was no way they were being serious. “Am I supposed to be the greater good?”

  “You’re the best damn thing that’s ever happened to my world,” Judas answered. “And now we’re going to remove something that’s trying to make it rot.”

  At nearly two in the morning, Evie’s entire home was lit up. I wondered if like Gavin had joked, she’d busted out the good stuff. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had, but I couldn’t imagine her being so stupid.

  Her lack of security measures made it easy to waltz right up her driveway. That’s exactly how I wanted to go in, right through her front door.

  Lucky for me I had a fiancé who made sure that I would get what I wanted.

  Theo pulled into her driveway as if we were a group of friends carpooling to hang out at a mutual acquaintance’s house. Santiago’s men and Owen and Brianna had arrived before us. The sleek sedan was facing the house while the SUV Bri had been driving faced towards the street.

  Theo pulled to the front of the drive and began implementing a U-turn, running over something large in the process. It felt like the whole front end lifted and then came back down.

  “What was that?”

  “Remember what I told you?” Judas asked versus answering my question. “Come here.” He pointed to the spot on the seat right beside him.

  I slid around Romeo and moved closer, eyeing him appreciatively.

  Ironic to think I’d hated everything about this look not too long ago and now I was ready to tear his clothes off.

  Gone were the days he and his friends donned all black. He and Gavin were dressed exactly the same way they’d been when they showed up at my old apartment what felt like eons ago. Brianna had donned a clean-cut woman’s suit that matched Owens’.

  I’d opted for a form-hugging more professional black dress with red bottoms that would allow me to move quickly when necessary. My gun was tucked inside the light jacket I was wearing for life-or-death scenarios only.

  Judas slipped an arm around my waist and held me against him, resting his palm on my hip. “Nervous?”

  “Not right this second,” I answered honestly.

  “Good.” He cupped the back of my head and pulled me in for a kiss. “Stay with Theo. I’ll send for you when it’s safe.”

  He and Gavin exited the truck and disappeared into the house.

  Theo engaged the locks and kept his eyes trained on the mirrors, prepared to take me away if things went wrong.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  There’d once been a time I planned to use Rhiannon to further my own agenda. She would be killed off when I was finished, and life would go on.

  What an absurd fucking notion that was. I’d greatly underestimated the power of the universe and it in turn made me its bitch. I couldn’t get everything one hundred percent right all the time. I came close but I was just a man.

  Walking through her mother’s front door like it was my fucking house and not hers didn’t make up for the half of it, not when this had to do with my sister as well.

  “She locked herself in the room upstairs,” Brianna notified me as soon as I came fully into the house.

  It was so goddamn white I wondered if the theme was meant to resemble Heaven or an Asylum, which were one and the same given who supposedly got sent to them.

  “If everything is clear come with me upstairs.”

  “It’s a small bedroom,” Brianna explained, pointing to which one it was when we got upstairs.

  I eyed the bloodstain on the wall as I made my way to where Evie had taken refuge in. I stopped outside the door and knocked twice for courtesy purposes.

  “Evie, open the fucking door.”

  I eyed the lever-like doorknob and quickly realized there was no lock on it. Why did she pick a room that had no way of keeping anyone out? Stupidity at its finest.

  Gavin was quick to move in front of me when I attempted to open the door and go right inside. With his gun drawn, he shoved the door in and immediately took aim. I was easily able to see around him. I sighed and lightly tapped him, so he knew to move out of the way.

  “What the hell is this, Evie?” I eyed the woman who looked remarkably similar to hell warmed over.

  Her silk robe was barely covering anything, showing one of her breasts in its entirety and her blonde hair was mussed. Shirtless on his knees in front of her was my informant, Kody.

  “Hmm, were you in the middle of getting fucked?”

  Her eyes widened with rage as if I’d said something unreasonable. “You take one more goddamn step and I swear to god I will pull this trigger,” she threatened.

  “Seeing as you swore to God and all, I suggest you do that then. A little brain matter might brighten up this dreary as fuck décor.”

  Without waiting for her reply, I removed my gun from my suit’s waistband and fired right between Kody’s eyes. An arterial spray of blood skipped across the white flooring and his body slowly slumped to the ground.

  Evie’s mouth fell open and I just knew this belligerent whore was going to do something hysterical. I was grabbing her by the throat before she could much more than a low keening sound.

  “We’re not doing this theatrical performance tonight, Evie. I have about a hundred other things to do.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she croaked brokenly.

  Was she fucking serious?

  Had she maybe lost her mind?

  “You really don’t know why?” I questioned patronizingly.

  There were a few sniffles before she replied with a snarl in her tone. “Cut the shit you little bastard. I know that cunt in the car was just a whore. Did you think I wouldn’t know what my daughter looked like even missing pieces?”

  “Gavin,” I sighed, shoving her away from me.

  What sounded like skin-hitting skin preceded a cry of pain as she was flipped onto her stomach. He slammed his foot down onto her back to make sure she stayed in place.

  “Listen, as I tell all of my late-night visits, I have limited tolerance for bullshit. You’re just pure shit, Evie. Looking at your botched face is legitimately pissing me off.” I double-checked my magazine despite knowing it was full.