THE ASSASSIN WORE RED LIPSTICK

Chapter 3: THE WIFE Of A GENERAL

I woke up in a bed that was not mine.

It was big, too big, with black sheets that smelled like gunpowder and rain - his scent. General Lucian Voss's scent. The mansion in San Fernando was silent, but outside the window I could see soldiers guarding, guns on shoulders, walking around red roses.

I sat up, my long black hair messy, my innocent face pale from crying last night. My black dress from Clark was gone. Instead I was wearing a white men's shirt - his shirt - too big, covering my thighs, smelling like him. And on my finger, the diamond ring was still there, shining in the morning light.

I was a wife. The wife of a Billionaire General. After one night.

Last night after he kissed me in front of the cracked mirror, after he painted my red lips with his own hands, he did not touch me like a man touches a woman. He carried me to this bedroom - his bedroom - laid me on his bed, and held me while I cried about my mother, about ten years of being an assassin, about being alone.

"Sleep, my assassin," he had whispered, his big hand on my long black hair, his blue eyes black watching me. "You are safe now. No one will touch your innocent face again. No one will make you wear red lipstick to be brave alone. I am here."

And I slept. First time in ten years I slept without my gun under my pillow.

Now it was morning, and I was alone in his bed, but there was a note on the pillow beside me, written in black ink, in his military handwriting:

_Downstairs. Breakfast. Wear red. - Your Husband, General_

Wear red. He always wanted red.

I found a bag on the chair - new clothes, all red and black and white, expensive tags, all my size. How did he know my size in one night? General Voss knew everything.

I chose a simple red dress, tight but decent, and I did my ritual - long black hair brushed, innocent face washed, and red lipstick. My brave color. I reapplied it perfectly, looking in his bathroom mirror. In the reflection, I saw my innocent face but with a diamond ring, with a General's shirt last night, with red lips that now belonged to a husband.

"My hands are bloody, but he kissed them," I whispered to my reflection, my red lips trembling. "My face is innocent but kills, but he calls it beautiful."

I went downstairs.

Lucian was in the dining room, wearing his black military uniform, his black coat off, his scar white, his blue eyes cold again like a General, not like the man who held me last night. He was reading papers, drinking black coffee, and when I entered in my red dress, his blue eyes turned black instantly.

He stood up.

"You wore red," he said, his voice low, possessive.

"You told me to wear red, General," I said, my small voice trying to be brave, my red lips steady.

He walked to me, his boots silent on marble, his tall body covering mine, and he touched my chin, lifting my innocent face to him, his thumb smudging my red lipstick slightly - his favorite habit.

"Good girl," he whispered, his blue eyes on my red lips. "My good assassin wife."

He kissed me then, morning kiss, tasting my fresh red lipstick, possessive, making me whisper "Ahh..." softly like last night.

His soldiers who were serving breakfast looked away, uncomfortable. They had never seen their General kiss a woman at breakfast. Their General never had a woman at breakfast.

After he kissed me, he pulled a chair for me - his wife - and said, "Eat, Raven. You are too thin for an assassin."

I sat, my red dress tight, my diamond ring shining. Breakfast was many - eggs, rice, fruits, all expensive. I had not eaten like this since my mother died.

"General," I said, my innocent face serious, my red lips with a little rice. "Why did you marry me so fast? You don't know me. I kill. I am not clean wife for Billionaire General."

Lucian put down his coffee, his blue eyes cold but his voice soft, only for me.

"Raven, I have killed more men than you ever will. I ordered heads to be delivered last week. My hands are more bloody than yours. Do you think I want clean wife who fears guns? I want wife who wears red lipstick while killing, who has innocent face that kills, who will not run when she sees blood on my uniform."

He reached across the table and took my small hand with bloody past, his big scarred hand gentle.

"You thought your innocent face was a lie to kill men, Raven. But to me, your innocent face is real. Your red lipstick is brave. I fell in love with your file a year ago, before I saw your face. I fell in love with assassin who leaves red lipstick on mirror."

Tears fell from my innocent face, my red lipstick trembling. No one had ever said my innocent face was real.

"But what if they find me?" I whispered, my fear coming out. "Police? Victor Kane was congressman, they will search for killer. I will ruin your name, General."

Lucian smiled, cold, General smile, the smile that made armies fear.

"Victor Kane owed me 50 million and he r***d 12 women, including your mother. Police will thank you, assassin. And if they search, they search my mansion? Let them. I own this city, Raven. You are wife of General Lucian Voss now. You wear my ring. No one touches my wife."

He stood up, his tall shadow covering me, and wiped my tears with his thumb, smudging my red lipstick again, like he loved to do.

"And today, we will do two things, wife. First, we will buy you more red lipstick - because you have only one tube left and my wife cannot have one tube. Second, you will write on my cracked mirror with your red lipstick. Not 'I will find you' like I wrote, but 'I AM HOME, GENERAL. YOUR ASSASSIN.'"

I cried and smiled, my innocent face red, my red lips with his thumb mark.

"Okay, General," I whispered, like a wife.

Lucian leaned and kissed my forehead, smelling my red lipstick, whispering "Good girl. My good assassin wife. Now eat, my love. Our life starts today."

And in that cold mansion in San Fernando that had no color for three years, there was finally red - my red dress, my red lips, my red roses outside, and my diamond ring shining.

I was home. The assassin who wore red lipstick was finally home with her General.

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