I whisper, revealing the truth to him, “Honestly, I really want to but I’m a fucked-up bastard like you who has to pay or threaten to get pussy.”

Surprise and hatred flashes across his face. He tries to say something to me, but I pull the trigger, a bullet straight into his brain. His body hits the ground, immediately dead. There’s no point wasting another bullet on him. His blood begins to spread across the ground, causing me to wrinkle my nose. I don’t want to ruin my shoes anymore as I pull my feet out from under him and place my guns back into their holsters. 

I move to the girl, and carefully pick her up. She’s heavy, but my recent days in the gym have her feeling as light as a feather. She’s not truly dead, I just had to make Fergie believe she was.

I’m quick to make my way out of his home, not wanting to be seen by anyone. He’ll be found dead by tomorrow, and all his girls will be gone. Just like that, he has been erased from this world, and his customers will move on to the next dealer.  No one will mourn him. 

Definitely not his wife.

No one will remember him either. 

Holly stands next to my car, the breeze carrying her long, wavy brown hair with it. She opened the door for me so I could put the girl inside, getting in with her. Holly knows where to take me to drop the girl off. One of my men will take care of her and the rest of the girls that Fergie was handling. The tranquillizer should be wearing off by then and she can start her new life. She should know better than to admit who killed Fergie. And I can guarantee she won’t because she hates him as much as me. She is better off with him dead. Honestly, I have given them a miracle.

Time for the next job.

My father would have told me that killing so many people do something to the soul, and that I should be careful. But I’m past that now; and have been for a long while. Whatever killing does to the soul was done to mine even before my first kill. 

I’m black as coal; ruthless and emotionless…

A true cold-blooded killer.

We’re back at my office before I know it.

The girl has been taken care of, and Holly is making confirmation of the kill. I hear the woman at the end of the line thank her. Fergie’s wife really must hate him. I know she paid us yet is talking about the whole thing like we had just delivered her pizza. Holly ends the call before the wife is done speaking like I knew she would. It’s crazy what can be done by a woman scorned. Holly takes a seat next to me and frowns.

“I can’t understand some people.” She tells me, shaking her head slightly, “I mean, why is she thanking us? It’s not that she's a saint in everything. The man did sponsor her luxurious lifestyle and will continue to even after his death. If anything, she should have died with him.”

I know she expects me to say something, but I won’t, and she is used to that. Fergie’s wife will get away with everything. With his life insurance and everything that he has owned, the police will never find out she ordered the hit. Sure, she will be a prime suspect but everything is untraceable so they would never find the evidence to prosecute her.

No wonder she is so thankful. 

“Who’s next?” I ask, ready to get on to the next target, “Give me a good one.”

Enough of Fergie. He’s dead, and this will be the last time I say or think of that name. It’s a blessing for me too. Holly nods as she looks at the computer, searching for our next target. We have a list of targets, but only a few will I accept, those that deserve death in my eyes.

“I got it.” Holly whispers before she suddenly freezes, “What the hell?”

She is staring at the screen without saying anything else, as if she can’t believe what she is seeing. My eyebrows furrow slightly, I mean, who could make her look like that?

“Who is it?” I ask her, wondering who on Earth has gotten her tongue-tied.

Holly is never fazed by our targets, so this makes me curious. I lean into her and look at the computer myself. Who in the world could make her act this way? I tense up when I see it as well. What the hell?

“Lennox Cambridge.” Holly says the name I see on the screen out loud, “Who would want to kill someone like him? He is not our usual target.”

Now, I’m even more curious. Who would want him dead? I can’t help but voice her question in my mind, trying to figure it out myself.

Wrong question.

Who the hell dares to want him dead?

Lennox Cambridge, CEO of Cambridge Security Corporations, a multi-billion-dollar security company and leader of the Black Vipers.