Song: Sweet but psycho (Ava Max)
When they arrived, Hope helped Jinx sit down and took off her shirt.
“Babe, I don’t think I have enough energy left to drive you wild tonight.”
A faint smile appeared on Hope’s lips.
Then her eyes fell on Jinx’s wound.
“The bullet’s still inside.
Do you trust me?” Hope asked.
“I think you’re the only person I can trust right now,” Jinx replied.
Hope frowned at those words.
Had Silco done something?
If he had, she would make him suffer.
Once, she might have felt guilty about what she had done to those men.
But if her little humanity-off phase had taught her anything, it was that it was better to get rid of an enemy before they came back to haunt you.
And when it came to her soulmate…
well, she had absolutely no patience.
She placed her hand over the wound, and after Jinx cried out in pain, the bullet appeared in Hope’s palm.
The fact that the wound closed almost immediately afterward surprised her.
She hadn’t given Jinx enough of her blood for the effects to last that long.
But she certainly wasn’t going to complain.
Hope gathered Jinx into her arms and carried her into the bathroom.
She set her down on a chair beside the bathtub and started running a bath.
When she turned back to pick Jinx up again, she realized the blue-haired woman was almost asleep.
“Sweetheart, can I take off the rest of your clothes and help you into the bath?”
Jinx was exhausted, but she still managed to answer.
“Go ahead.”
Hope undressed her, blushing the entire time, before lifting her into her arms.
She was always surprised by how light Jinx was and found herself wondering if she suffered from malnutrition or if it was simply her metabolism.
She lowered her gently into the water and began washing her.
Oh, Hope was fully aware of the situation, and under different circumstances she would probably have been trying to seduce this woman.
But right now, all she could think about was taking care of Jinx.
That didn’t stop her from thinking she had never seen a more beautiful sight.
By the time she was done, Jinx was fast asleep.
Hope dressed her in a pair of pajamas and laid her down on the bed.
After pulling the blankets over her, she pressed a kiss to her forehead and went to take a shower herself.
She still had the pirates’ blood all over her.
When she stepped out of the shower, she caught sight of her reflection.
Her eyes still hadn’t lost the golden hue they had taken on at the docks.
Her wolf was restless, unwilling to be separated from its mate.
But beneath that restlessness lay the fear she had felt when she saw Jinx in that man’s hands.
She was going to have to teach her a few spells…
or she would never sleep peacefully again.
When Hope pulled Jinx into her arms, one thought crossed her mind before she drifted off to sleep.
She’s mine.
The possessiveness she had been so afraid of had finally awakened.
When they woke up, the sun had been up for hours, though no one ever saw it in the depths of the Undercity.
Hope awoke to the feeling of fingers gently tracing along her arm.
She let out a soft groan and pulled Jinx even closer before pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
“Morning,” Jinx replied softly.
Neither of them seemed ready to leave the comfort of their little cocoon.
“I never imagined I could be like this with someone,” Jinx said at last.
“How?”
“Close enough to be vulnerable…
while knowing I had nothing to be afraid of,” Jinx answered, her voice lower and rougher than usual.
When Hope felt a few drops land on her arm, she held Jinx even tighter.
They were both broken, but maybe the shattered pieces of one could be mended by the shattered pieces of the other and become something new.
After a while, Jinx’s tears finally stopped.
“Are you finally going to tell me what happened at the docks?”
“Silco uses a lot of different routes for his Shimmer trade.
One of them runs through Bilgewater, a nest of pirates and fugitives who fish and trade.
If you’re looking for something, there’s a good chance you’ll find it in Bilgewater.
The hard part is surviving long enough to leave the city afterward.
Normally, Silco was supposed to sell a hundred barrels of Shimmer to the captain you killed, and my job was just to collect the payment.
But I didn’t know that the price Silco gave me was higher than the one he had agreed on with the pirates.
They refused to pay, and you saw what happened next.
“And Silco didn’t tell you anything?”
“He probably thought it was a minor detail that wasn’t worth mentioning.
He has such a huge network that sometimes he forgets people aren’t just pieces on his board.
Especially not his daughter.
But don’t worry—I know him, and I know how to get my revenge.
By the end of the day, he’ll be the one apologizing,” Jinx said with a mischievous, almost wicked smile.
“But he put you in danger,” Hope growled, letting her wolf rise to the surface.
“It’s an occupational hazard,” Jinx replied.
“Jinx, sweetheart, this is the only chance I’m giving him.
I can’t accept someone putting your life at risk for his own benefit.
I’m not that charitable.”
“Hope,” Jinx murmured as she suddenly turned to meet her gaze.
Hope knew what she saw.
What she felt through the bond.
Rage.
A rage she was trying to control, but she was her father’s daughter after all.
Except if Klaus had been here, the man would already be dead—or wishing he was.
“Sweetheart, you’re my mate.
That’s the only concession I’m willing to make.
If you care about him, keep him under control before I decide to go hunting,” she said, her eyes shifting between blue and gold.
Hope finally understood what her uncle had meant.
She was willing to be the villain if it meant keeping Jinx safe.
Then she felt lips press against hers, and her anger vanished abruptly.
A hand slipped beneath her shirt, and suddenly she had other concerns as Jinx’s touches grew more insistent and her chest became the blue-haired woman’s new playground.
“Jinx…” she moaned, her eyes clouded with desire.
Jinx smiled mischievously as her fingers explored the softness of Hope’s skin, the beauty of her curves.
Every touch drew another sound from her.
Just as Hope felt herself nearing her breaking point, Jinx kissed her gently and pulled away.
She looked at Hope and smiled.
“I need to go talk to Silco.
We’ll have to postpone this little session until later if I don’t want you killing him yet.”
She knows exactly what she’s doing, Hope thought, still breathing heavily.
“Jinx…” Hope groaned, incredibly frustrated by what the young woman had just done.
Jinx shot her a small, guilty look but got up to get dressed, pretending not to notice Hope’s gaze following her every movement.
Once she was ready, she walked back to Hope, kissed her passionately, then stepped away and left the hideout.
For her part, Hope stared at the entrance of the tent in disbelief.
She had been thoroughly played.
An hour later, her plans for revenge were interrupted by her arrival in Piltover.
She wandered across the rooftops, observing the people below.
Slowly, a gold necklace appeared around her neck.
Her black top shifted to white, and she added a red jacket over it.
She tied back her hair and adorned it with a golden hairpin.
With her Piltie look complete, she made her way down into the city streets.
Piltover was beautiful, there was no denying that.
And if the portal had opened here, she probably would have appreciated everything the city had to offer much more.
But she had seen the shadows behind that prosperity, and she couldn’t turn a blind eye to those injustices.
For now, she needed to find a bank and exchange some of her gold for the local currency.
After asking a few passersby for directions, she stopped in front of a towering building crowned with a golden dome.
She approached a teller’s desk, where a man wearing glasses was sorting through documents without paying the slightest attention to his surroundings.
Hope cleared her throat, but he didn’t look up.
Eventually, she pressed the small bell sitting on the counter.
The man jumped in surprise before adjusting his spectacles.
“Good day, miss.
How may I assist you?” he asked politely.
“I’ve just arrived in your beautiful city, and I’d like to exchange some gold for your local currency.
I’d also like to open an account.”
“Very well.
We’ll begin by setting up your account.”
Hope watched the man fill out paperwork while wondering what Jinx was doing at that moment.
Through their bond, she could feel a sense of amusement radiating from her soulmate.
Jinx POV
The Last Drop stood in the heart of the Undercity.
It was a hub, more than just a bar—it was a symbol.
Under Vander, Jinx’s second adoptive father, it had been a neutral ground, a place of safety.
Under Silco, that haven had become a den of crime.
Silco’s headquarters, a trophy he had claimed after Vander’s death.
There was a reason she no longer lived there.
Too many memories.
And the guilt would be unbearable if she had to face the traces of her past every day.
She waved at the bartender, who jumped when he saw her.
That reaction was normal around her.
And yet, Hope had almost made her forget that.
When she finally reached Silco’s office, she heard an argument coming from inside.
“I told you she’s a jinx.
Every mission, every damn mission, ends in failure because of her.”
Sevika.
Sevika.
Always the same whining, Jinx thought.
Yet her fists clenched at the woman’s words.
“Maybe this mission wouldn’t have failed if someone had bothered to tell me the price had been changed.”
Sevika and Silco turned toward the doorway at once.
The metal arm attached to Sevika’s shoulder held a freshly lit cigar.
She took a drag, looking at Jinx as though she were something she despised but couldn’t control.
Or perhaps simply like someone who had become paranoid after all the pranks Jinx had pulled on her since childhood.
“That was the starting price.
They just happened to forget,” Silco said in a tone so smooth she might almost have believed him.
“Oh, really?”
Jinx studied the eye blackened by the parasite that had plagued him for years.
“How strange.
Strange because he was holding a contract signed by you with a much lower price written on it.”
A grin tugged at her lips.
“I’m starting to think you wanted that guy gone and sent me there as your personal hitwoman.”
She said it casually, but there was an edge beneath the words.
“So, what’s the truth?” she asked, holding up two bombs in her hands.
“Because depending on what you say, I can either redecorate your office with paint…
or make you disappear.”
Silco and Sevika’s eyes widened.
“Tick-tock.
Time’s running out,” Jinx said.
“A client wanted the same number of barrels and promised to pay double if we got rid of his rival at the same time.”
Jinx sighed.
“I’m not even surprised.
It’s always about money with you.
And if he’d succeeded in kidnapping me like he wanted to, what would you have done?
No, let me guess—you would’ve negotiated before paying the ransom,” she said bitterly.
Silco looked genuinely offended.
“I would have done anything to save you.
You’re my daughter!” he shouted.
“You always play that card when you want me to forgive you.
But I still haven’t heard an apology.”
Silco let out a long sigh.
“I’m sorry.
I didn’t expect him to hire additional men before the exchange.
That was my mistake,” he admitted at last.
Jinx would have preferred hearing those words from the start instead of wading through all those lies first.
“Good.
Since I’m overflowing with kindness, I can forgive you.
Unfortunately, there’s someone else who won’t forgive you so easily.”
Beside her, Sevika visibly stiffened with fear.
Jinx flashed a predatory grin when she noticed.
Silco, meanwhile, looked confused.
Oh, Sevika had been keeping secrets.
She hadn’t told him anything.
“Who?”
“My girlfriend.”
At those words, Silco nearly choked on his own saliva.
“Girlfriend?!” he spluttered.
“What girlfriend?”
Instead of answering, Jinx laughed and headed for the door—but not before leaving behind a little gift.
When she heard the shouting and gagging from inside the office, she felt that her revenge had been at least partially achieved.
“It was a stink bomb, idiots.
A master never reveals all her cards,” she called over her shoulder before walking away without looking back.