"What the fuck—"
Mira cursed and spun away the second the door swung open.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Nico didn’t flinch. He just stood there, towel in hand, staring at her like she was a rerun he’d already gotten bored of.
"Riddle me that. What else should a naked man be doing in his bathroom?"
He asked, sarcasm dripping off every word, and wrapped the towel around his waist.
"The real question should be why you assumed the bathroom should be the one sensible place you thought to look for me."
Mira opened her mouth like she had a comeback ready. Nothing came out. Her cheeks went red instead.
The awareness crept over her a second later. She dropped the flustered look and forced a small frown in its place.
"I forgot my purse in the car. I need to get it."
Nico let the silence sit for a moment. He stepped toward the bathroom entrance and held her gaze a beat too long before she could look away. Then he smiled and walked past her.
He crossed to his wardrobe, dug through the hangers until he found a night robe, and yanked it free. He dropped it on the bed.
A glance over his shoulder told him Mira hadn’t moved. She was still watching him, close enough that it stopped being subtle. Waiting on an answer, maybe. Or something else. He turned and gave her a knowing look.
"Alright, I’ll go get it. Is there anything else?"
Mira swallowed. Her eyes crawled up his torso before landing back on his face.
"Um, no. No. That’d be... that’d be all."
Nico read her expression for what it was, something caught between lust and mortification. Then she turned and hurried out, slamming the door behind her.
Once she was gone, he dried off and pulled the robe on. He grabbed a comb off the shelf and stood in front of the mirror, rubbing the towel through his hair to work out the last of the water. Then he combed it back into place.
He set the comb down, grabbed his car keys, and headed out of the room. Lucas was alone in the living room, parked in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and a can of coke, half-watching some family drama.
"Heading out?"
Lucas asked without bothering to turn around.
"To get a purse. Woman dilemma."
"Sounds like a nightmare." Lucas said, tossing a kernel into his mouth. "Need my help?"
"I got this one."
Nico stepped outside and made his way to the Mercedes. He hit the unlock button and the headlights blinked twice in response. His hand found the passenger door handle.
Then something cold pressed against the back of his skull.
A gun muzzle.
"Don’t move an inch."
’Shit.’
Nico froze on command. His hand slid off the handle, and he swallowed hard, keeping his voice level.
"Don’t shoot." No panic in it, none at all. "I’ll give you anything you want."
"I want your hands in the air." The voice hardened. "Now!"
Nico raised his hands, slow. But not toward the sky. He spun on his heel instead, knocked the gun clean out of the man’s grip, and drove a fist into his jaw. His arm was already looping behind the man’s back before the blow landed.
The assassin screamed. Nico only cranked the joint tighter.
"Really, this is all you’ve got?" Nico asked. "What was the point of this elaborate plan then? I should just have taken you down the moment I caught you following us."
The door opened behind him. Lucas stepped out with his revolver raised, sweeping the yard. He spotted Nico already holding the man down and lowered the weapon.
"This is the assassin?" He walked over, unimpressed. "Honestly, I thought he’d be a lot... stronger."
"I know, right?" Nico drove his heel into the back of the man’s knee, dropping him to the ground. "Regardless, that means no one dies tonight. No one except him."
"I’d think again if I were you."
The assassin looked up at him, smiling like he already knew something Nico didn’t.
"We knew you had our tracks covered. And that’s why we came up with a second plan long before you arrived here. Your wives are as good as dead, asshole."
Nico’s eyes went wide.
’Wait. We?’
He hadn’t thought twice about it until now, but there’d been two men in that car earlier. He remembered it clearly, one passing a cigarette to the other. If only one of them was here, that meant something worse.
’It’s a distraction.’
BAM!
A gunshot ripped through the air, coming from somewhere inside the bungalow. Nico was already moving before the sound finished echoing, scanning the yard for anything he could swing, sprinting toward the girls’ room.
His hand closed around a rusty crowbar near the porch. He made it to their door just in time to find them alive, huddled together under a blanket, shaking.
"Is everyone okay?" Nico asked, breath ragged.
"We heard a gunshot—"
Mira didn’t get to finish. Footsteps closed in fast behind Nico, and his body reacted before his mind caught up. He spun and hurled the crowbar in one motion.
It spiraled through the air and buried itself in the assassin’s chest, a second too slow.
BAM!
The gun went off first. The bullet found Nico’s chest just before the man’s knees finally gave out beneath him. Heat spread through his ribs, wet and sudden, and for one long second that was the only thing he could feel.
Then, death.
Or something shaped like it.
[Investment Detected]
[Investment Objective: Protect Wives at All Costs]
[Return Multiplier: 300×]
[Returns Calculated: Full Recovery]
[Additional Rewards:]
→ Awakening: Shadow Mafia Authority
→ Legendary Relic: Training Guide Book [LOCKED]
[Accept Returns?]