Chapter One Hundred and sixty- Four
"Co to my office now!" the caller barked.
The line went dead before Cole could respond. He stared at
the screen for a second longer than necessary, then let out a slow breath. He
didn’t move imdiately. There was no rush.
After all, he had already been standing
behind the apartnt building.
The urge ca sharp and imdiate, to throw the phone against the wall, to watch it splinter the way Marco’s voice had just splintered his patience. His shoulders rose, then deliberately lowered. Fingers flexed at his sides, curling, and uncurling, until the tension bled off in incrents. If he went inside this mont, he was sure he was going to point his gun at him.
By the ti the pulse in his temple dulled, his expression had gone blank again, smooth as still water. Whatever had flared inside him was locked away, sealed behind practiced calm.
Eventually, he pushed off the wall and headed inside.
His reflection caught in a glass panel as he passed. His
face set, eyes dull, and mouth carved into a permanent line. Had he always
looked like that? Grim.
When was the last ti he laughed? Really laughed. He wasn’t
thinking about the hollow exhale people mistook for humor. Not the tight curl
of lips ant to mock soone.
He could not rember.
His thoughts drifted, uninvited, to Matilda’s new friend.
The girl with the loud laugh. The unrestrained, ridiculous laugh that burst out
of her like she didn’t know how to hold it back even if she tried.
What was her na again?
He frowned. He couldn’t rember but he rembered the
sound. How it had startled him. How, for a split second, his lips had twitched
upward before he could stop it.
Cole exhaled sharply.
’Why am I thinking about her?’
Annoyed with himself, he picked up his pace. By the ti he
realized it, he was already standing in front of Marco’s office door. He raised
his hand and knocked once.
Marco didn’t bother looking up when he entered.
"Look who finally ca to my office," Marco said
imdiately Cole entered.
"You called," Cole remarked, his tone devoid of
any respect, fear, or patience.
Marco’s head snapped up. "Don’t act smart with . You
know why I brought you in. Do you think I let you stay because Asli wanted a
right-hand man? Do you think I watched her train you for herself? ...out of her
generosity?" His voice rose, sharp and venomous. "You’re alive
because of !"
Cole felt the familiar urge to fold his arms, to settle into
still defiance but he resisted. He stood there, hands relaxed at his sides, his
gaze steady, and unreadable.
Marco continued, pacing now. "Why haven’t you given
any report? If you’d been effective, I wouldn’t have had to bring that devil
into my Villa. So now you’ll fix it." He stopped, his eyes burning.
"You’ve been assigned to end him. Bring Markus’ head."
Cole didn’t flinch or react. He only stared at him.
He simply kept looking at Marco as one might look at a man
already beneath them.
"Unfortunately," Cole said calmly, "I don’t
work for you."
Marco froze.
"If you want my services," Cole continued, his
voice even, almost bored, "talk to Asli. Don’t call my line again."
He dipped his head in a brief, mocking bow and turned to
leave.
Behind him, he heard Marco cussing him out and calling his
n to assemble. Probably to issue a death warrant on his head. He didn’t care.
He had never feared death. He’d watch who would dare try to kill him.
Who did Marco think he was? He owned the Villa. He owned the
organization but he didn’t own him. The fck did he have to call him and ruin
his already fcked up evening?
Markus had asked him to et so he could show him sothing.
He hoped Markus was lying. But he was eting him after this.
Cole slowed his steps, the thought settling into his mind
with weight as he rembered the conversation with him. Markus had insisted on
it. He had sounded unusually urgent over the line. He only said one thing... Or
was it two sentences that caught his attention? His tone had been sharp enough
to cut through everything else.
’Asli is in danger. Marco is planning to kill her.’
The words hadn’t landed all at once. They had struck in
stages. First, it was a sharp pull in his chest, like sothing had hooked
itself beneath his ribs and yanked. His breath had stalled halfway in, lungs
refusing to work for a beat too long. The world had gone oddly distant, sounds
flattening, and his sight even blurring.
Then ca the heat. It was not rage. Not yet. It was
sothing colder, and denser. A pressure that spread through his veins, sinking
into muscle and bone, as if his body had decided before his mind did.
His fingers had curled around the phone so tightly his
knuckles ached. He rembered noticing it, how pain registered and yet it
didn’t matter to him. How everything suddenly narrowed to one na.
Asli. It was then that he realized he had to live. Yes, he still
did not fear death but after realizing Asli could be in trouble, he needed to
live.
Marco’s face had flashed in his mind without invitation. The
smug certainty. The entitlent. The casual way he spoke of lives like assets.
He had thought Asli ant sothing to his cold heart.
The word had echoed, ugly and obscene, scraping against
sothing deep and immovable inside him.
Cole had said nothing to Markus at first. Just breathed out
slowly, forcing his grip to loosen, jaw locking as he swallowed the surge
rising in his throat.
If Marco truly believed he could touch Asli, then he would
be mistaken. That would be a big mistake and a move.
A cruel smirk displayed on his lips. The man wouldn’t dare.
Not when he was alive.
He was hoping Markus was wrong. Cole was going to guard her with his life and if Markus was wrong, he was going to kill Marco before that thought crossed his mind.
Reviews
All reviews (0)