Page 40 of Sing For Us

“Dude, she wants that. She wants to see you fall.” Adam can go and suck a dick with his weak statement. I shake my head fervently and cross my arms.

“No. Lana needs to wait. Dario–”

“I think I gave out an order, didn’t I?” I stare at them, and sigh. I look at them and feel a surge of pure fury at their hesitation—they are standing there like a row of statues, shoulder-to-shoulder with their jaws clenched. Eyes gone completely dead, and while I can’t fathom why they are suddenly freezing up instead of moving out, I still fully expect them to snap out of it and fall into line any second now.

“Fine. What do you want to do?” Sara solemnly asks me, questioning if I am delusional or in the right state of mind. There is nothing to be discussed about how I am feeling—rage is the only thing that’s coursing through me.

“She took something dear to me. Now I am going to take something dear to her.”

“What do you mean, Noa?” Sara purposefully said my name, probably to appeal to my humanity. But that shit is shot. In this world, you need to leave your morals behind to survive.

“A loved one for a loved one.” All breathing stops, and no one makes a sound. My team frantically cut their eyes toward each other across the room. They check if anyone else is brave enough to speak up, or if they all just heard the same thing.

After a while, Adam speaks up. “Noa, that means war against someone who wants it. Lana will retaliate while your dad is out there plotting to take you both down!”

“Don’t you dare call him my dad.” The trauma is dripping from my tongue. “He is not a parent. I had one parent, and I failed her!” Every time someone mentions Dario being my father, I get irate. He is and never will be a father.

“Please, be good, Noa. Don’t become like your father.” My mama’s voice echoes in my mind, but I have to ignore it. Just this once.

I don’t even wait for their response, and I start rattling off my plan, locking in and getting into the skin of a hired assassin again. “I have observed Emin, and he is a creature of habit. Hana has intel on almost all of Lana’s team members, including him.”

“You can’t go on and just attack him. Emin will suspect foul play.” Adam is right in his assessment. Even though I don’t like Lana’s right-hand man, he is intelligent and will snuff out an ambush. He does everything by the book and doesn’t change his routines. And that last one will be his downfall.

I convey that to my team. “We’ll use that against him.”

“Why don’t you just go and attack Lana at her estate if you know everything about her?” Hana suggests with a weary look. Like she knows something.

“Because I’m not stupid. Lana’s estate is fortified, and that kind of attack warrants an incredible amount of planning and time, two things I can’t afford right now.”

“Fine. You two are so much alike, it’s weird, honestly.”

“Being weird means that you are cool.” I give her a wink. It’s a phrase I haven’t used in a while. Huh, it certainly brings back some memories. But now it’s not the time to conjure up some long-lost memories. I have an assassin queen to take down.

***

We all got back to my estate, and we have almost figured out how to lure Emin out. After Lana let me go, I ordered Hana to gather as much intel as she could on my ex’s team members. While I was pondering over everything, my cousin got to work, and boy oh boy, did she deliver. It’s funny how Lana doesn’t live that far away from me, but I still can’t attack her. Alas, her right-hand man will do.

Lana’s team members walk freely, and so does Emin. The municipality where they live is under an hour away, but it has some shops–not a lot–and two coffee shops. He goes to the one that’s closest to Lana’s estate, which is about five minutes away by car. Probably after he takes his morning dump, he jogs to the coffee shop and sits there for about an hour drinking Bosnian coffee. After that, he jogs back, but stops on his way at a bakery to get breakfast. Then he goes to a park nearby and eats his breakfast there. Even though he is calculated and a killer, you can’t take the Bosnian out of him. Cejf1 is a big part of our culture. He probably does it to get away from the fuckery of my ex.

I will follow him while my team is dispersed at different locations—Josh near the coffee shop and Sara near the park. Adam will be on the lookout with his sniper rifle, and Hana will listen in.

“Why can’t I go with you? Emin won’t hurt me.”

“Hana,” I sigh. “Lana will kill you if she knows that I’m coming after Emin. You need to stay here at the villa.”

“Fine. But who will stay with me if you are all dispersed?” Right on cue, Oliver pipes up and jumps into the conversation. He throws an arm around Hana’s neck and shoulders and pulls her close to him.

“I’ll protect you, gorgeous,” he says in that flirty tone of his. Eugh. My cousin rolls her eyes at him and pushes his arm away, but not immediately. It lingers for just one second. Before I can react, Josh comes and puts his hand on Hana’s shoulder and pushes Oliver away with his other hand.

“Don’t accost the lady.” Lady? I want to say something, but Sara pulls me away.

“Can we talk?” I look over my shoulder at that weird fucking exchange as she is dragging me away. Her question was more of an order, and I follow her into the kitchen, away from prying eyes. We sit on the kitchen chairs and interlock my fingers and put my hands on the table, waiting for what my best friend has to say.

“Noa, you know that I support you, right?” I nod at her. Where is she going with this?

“I will do whatever you tell me to do, but...” She breathes in and out. Shit, she is nervous. “I think you are going too far with this.”

“Why?” Even though I don’t need anybody’s approval, I still want to hear what Sara has to say.