I Married A Hitman

Chapter Two-Nicole

Reyna made it in under twenty-five minutes, which meant she had broken at least three traffic laws and probably scared half the neighborhood dogs on the way over.

I was still standing on the back steps when her headlights cut across the driveway, the cold night air biting through the thin fabric of my work shirt. Behind me the kitchen light stayed on, a making the whole scene look almost normal if you didn’t know what was waiting on the linoleum.

She slammed the car door hard enough to rattle the frame and came at me with her curly hair half-escaped from the claw clip and a wooden baseball bat gripped in both hands like she expected to use it. The second she got close enough to see my face she stopped dead.

“Nic.” she whispered. “Talk to me.”

I opened my mouth and nothing useful came. The words felt too big and too final. Behind me I could still feel the weight of Nate Kovic’s presence in the kitchen.

Reyna’s eyes flicked past my shoulder to the open door. She took one step closer, lowered her voice. “Is he still in there?”

I nodded.

She tightened her grip on the bat. “We’re calling the police. Right now. I’m not joking.”

“Reyna—”

“No. Don’t ‘Reyna’ me. Your dad is—” She cut herself off, swallowed hard, then tried again. “We’re not doing this alone. We’re not—”

“He works for Dominic Cross.” I deadpanned

The name hit her the way I knew it would. Her face went white under the freckles and the bat lowered an inch. Everyone in this city knew what that name meant. Everyone who’d ever worked a late shift downtown or lived on the wrong side of the river or simply paid attention to the stories people told when they thought the walls weren’t listening.

I watched the fight drain out of her in real time. She looked at me, then at the open door, then back at me again.

“How bad?” she asked quietly.

“A million dollars,” I said. “That’s what Dad owed and the man inside says if I don’t marry him tonight, Dominic gets me instead.”

Reyna’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “Marry him? Are you crazy?"

“That’s the offer."

She stared at me for a long second like she was waiting for the punchline. When none came she dragged a hand over her face and muttered something vicious under her breath.

“You’re not actually considering this.” she said

I didn’t answer, letting the silence stretched between us, heavy. Somewhere down the street a dog started barking and then went quiet again. The night felt too still, like it was holding its breath.

Reyna stepped closer, voice dropping. “Nic. Look at me. We can figure something else out. There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.” My own voice sounded strange to me, flat and far away. “You know what Dominic does to people who owe him. You’ve heard the same stories I have. If I run, he finds me. If I go to the cops, he already owns half of them. If I stay here and pretend this didn’t happen, I’m just waiting for someone worse to show up at the door.”

She shook her head hard. “So your solution is to marry the guy who just—” She couldn’t finish it. Her eyes darted toward the kitchen again and her brows furrowed and she tightened her grip on the bat.

I sighed

That wouldnt help

I reached out and took the bat from her hands before she could decide to use it. The wood was smooth and solid under my fingers, still warm from her grip. “I’m not marrying him because I want to. I’m marrying him because it’s the only door that doesn’t lead straight into the ground.”

Reyna’s eyes suddenly watered, she blinked hard and looked away toward the dark end of the driveway. “This is insane.” she said softly

“I know.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed.” she said stubbornly

“Maybe.” I set the bat down carefully against the side of the house. “But if I do this, I get time. Time to figure out what actually happened and to find something I can use.”

She turned back to me sharply. “You’re already planning something.”

I didn’t deny it. The cold resolve that had settled behind my ribs earlier was still there, stronger now.

Get close. Learn the cracks. Make him pay for what he did. The plan was simple enough to hold onto even while the rest of my world kept tilting.

Reyna studied my face for a long moment. Whatever she saw there made her shoulders drop. “You’re actually serious you dimwit.”she said and I shrugged

“I don’t have a choice.” I muttered turning away

She yanked me back and pulled me into a rough hug without warning, arms tight around my shoulders, chin digging into the side of my head. I stood stiff for a second and then let myself lean into it, just for a breath. She smelled like the vanilla body spray she’d worn since high school.

“I’m not leaving you alone with him,” she muttered against my hair. “I don’t care what he says. I’m staying until morning.”

“Reyna—” I started

“Don’t f*****g argue with me. Not tonight.” she snapped

I didn’t. The fight had already gone out of me and all that was left was the quiet, ugly knowledge that by this time tomorrow I would belong to a man who had stood over my father’s body like it was just another job.

Behind us the kitchen light still glowed. I turned my head just enough to see Nate Kovic standing in the doorway now, one shoulder against the frame, watching us with those same calm gray eyes.

He hadn’t moved closer or interrupted. He had just simply waited, patient as stone, while my life was going to ruins

It made me more angry

Reyna followed my gaze and went rigid.

“That’s him?” she whispered and I nodded once.

Nate’s eyes moved from me to Reyna and back again. Those cruel, dead eyes held mine and I could see that he didn't even have one ounce of soul in them.

“She can stay until morning,” he finally said. “After that, the house is no longer yours.”

Reyna’s fingers dug into my arm. I kept my face carefully blank even as something cold slid down my spine.

He stepped back into the kitchen without another word, leaving the door open behind which I was sure was on purpose

Reyna let out a shaky breath. “I hate him already.”

“Good,” I said quietly. “That makes two of us.”

But even as I said it, the plan kept turning over in the back of my mind, d already taking shape.

Get close enough. Learn every crack. Make the man who took my father pay for it in ways he would never see coming.

I looked at the open doorway one more time, at the soft yellow light spilling across the blood-stained floor, and felt the last of my old life finish slipping away.

By morning I would belong to Nate Kovic.

But then again I get to ruin him