Page 25 of Intent to Kill
“I know,” Paul said. “But he thinks Adam is dead. That’s an advantage if there ever was one.”
“Are you sure we can’t just kill him in his sleep?” Carlos sighed.
“No,” Adam said. “I’m going to be the one to kill him. And I want him to look right in my eyes while I do it.”
“Fuck yes!” Dan said, jumping on the spot. “Let’s fucking go, then. Time to fuck shit up!”
Adam had to hand it to himself, he was one lucky son-of-a-bitch. How he’d lucked out with the best, most loyal, family on the planet, he didn’t know. He sure wasn’t worthy of them.
“So we’re all on board?” Paul asked.
Carlos and Dan nodded back. In perfect unison all four boys turned their heads to look at Mercedes, who still hadn’t stirred even an inch, but her evil eyes followed Adam every step he moved.
Looking back at Paul, the two exchanged a worried glance.
“M?” Paul prodded.
At the mention of her name, her eyes jumped to Paul, then to Dan, then to Carlos. Gauging from the tension in the room, Adam guessed her affections toward Blake were not just a mystery to him.
“No,” she said, so quietly it was almost hard to hear.
“M...” Paul said.
“No,” she said, this time sternly.
Rising from her chair, she picked up her coat and calmly walked toward the door. Just as Adam thought she was about to leave, she turned and shot him a filthy look, filled with so much venom that he actually jumped back. She was gone in a flash, slamming the door behind her so hard that it rattled the windows.
Adam’s sense of self-control slowly shed from his body. Like he was physically on fire and steam was rising from his heated flesh.
He chanced a look over at his friends. They just looked shocked, watching him to see what he would do.
Every piece of himself that he was keeping closed in, to remain calm, was bubbling up to the surface, and ready to explode. Two choices. She either loved Dorian, or she was going to kill him. And Adam jumped recklessly to the conclusion that if she wasn’t against Blake, then she must be in love with him.
With that thought, he was gone, all the restraint he gained blew right out the door with him. He charged down the stairs just as furiously as she did, letting out a low rumbling as he chased her.
Throwing the glass doors open, he caught her on the street.
“Hey!” he yelled, the anger consuming him, rising from his gut and exploding out his mouth. “What the fuck?!”
“You want to fucking murder my fiancé?” She yelled right back, the fire from her lips just as passionate and furious as his.
Suddenly realizing his public surrounding, Adam grabbed Mercedes by the arm and dragged her into the quiet, wet and dirty alleyway behind the hotel until they were covered by a shade of darkness.
“You want to kill the man I’m going to marry,” Mercedes seethed, her rabid face twisting with rage.
“You’renotmarrying that idiot,” Adam said, eyes bulging out of his head, feeling like they might pop like a balloon.
She came within inches of his face, until their chests were pressed flush against one another. “You’re asking me to join a murder plot against the man I sleep next to every night.”
“Whatareyou doing sleeping next to him every night?!”
Pushing off him, Mercedes retreated farther into the alleyway.
Adam followed, the embers spitting from his mouth like little flames from a fire. “Hey! You gonna answer me?! What are you doing up there in that fucking mansion? Sleeping next to him? Fucking him? Wearing his ring on your fucking finger? You don’t love him, you don’t even like him!”
“I’m protecting my friends! I’m protecting this fucking family,” Mercedes screamed back, her hair twirling as she turned. “Being next to Dorian in that bed every night keeps them alive.That’show we secure our future.”
She looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. Like she couldn’t possibly loathe him more if she tried.
