I destroyed target after target with the .45, and with every shot, I pictured Giles’s head. Instead of releasing and letting go, my anger flamed hotter than a forge and hardened into something honed and deadly.

Giles doesn’t deserve to live. No man who raises his hand to a woman in anger does. The image of the makeup-covered bruise on my mama’s cheek and her split lip was burned into my memory like a cattle brand.

If no one else in this town would take out the almighty judge from the all-powerful family, then I had no other choice I could live with. I’d disappear, go AWOL, maybe head down to Mexico and live on a beach for the rest of my days, drinking Corona and keeping tabs on Ma from long distance.

I pulled the trigger and the pistol clicked.

Empty.

I looked down at the box of ammo.

Empty.

That meant it was time.

I made my way down the hallway behind the empty lanes and back through the heavy metal door into the store, but Jeremiah wasn’t alone.

I ducked my head, pulling my hat lower to conceal my identity from whoever was with him. The fewer witnesses, the better. “I’ll get out of your way. I can take the back door out.”

Before I could take two steps, the man standing at the counter in his slick suit turned to me.

“You’re just in time, Savage.”

Who the fuck is this guy? And how the hell does he know my name?

The back of my neck prickled with warning as I glanced up. “Don’t think I know you.”

His penetrating black stare didn’t intimidate me, but it sure as fuck unsettled me.

“Name’s Mount. I understand we have a mutual interest in Judge Giles.”

I looked to Jeremiah with betrayal burning a hole in my gut. “What the fuck did you tell him?”

Jeremiah held up a hand. “Before you go tossing out threats or doing something rash, I called in someone who could help.”

“Who? A hit man? Because I ain’t got a dime to pay anyone, and I’d prefer to handle this on my own.”

The man studied me closer. I wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but I felt like he was drilling down to the very marrow of my bones.

“I don’t do wet work anymore. Too many stained shirts. Pissed off my tailor.”

“Then feel free to forget whatever Jeremiah told you, along with my name and Giles.”

“Now, hold on, boy,” Jeremiah said. “Mount’s got a proposition for you. You might want to hear him out.”

“I ain’t your boy,” I snapped.

“No, but your daddy and I served together, and I promised to watch over you. So get your ass in here and listen up. This kind of offer doesn’t come around twice.”

Jeremiah had never sold me out before, so this betrayal stung more than I expected, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I shoved the empty .45 in the back of my jeans and let the range door close behind me.

“What kind of offer?”

Mount pulled a thick envelope from his pocket and dropped it on the counter. “Fifty grand. Half now, half when you finish the job.”

My gaze cut from him to Jeremiah and back. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

He pushed the envelope toward me with a finger. “Twenty-five K. Half of your fee. You get the second half when Giles is dead.”

What he was saying finally clicked. “You want to pay me to kill Giles? The man I already want dead? What the fuck kind of business is that?”

Mount’s expression stayed stoic. “That’s not all.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Figured there was a catch. Might as well hit me with it.”

Mount mimicked my posture, but for some reason, he looked menacing when he did. “After this is done, you do three more jobs for me. When those have been fulfilled, you can go on about your business.”

“What the fuck kind of jobs? I’m not doing shit that I don’t agree to first.”

“Kills. Hits. Contracts.”

“You want me to be your goddamned hit man? Because you don’t do wet work anymore?” I jerked my gaze from him to Jeremiah. “Is this guy fucking serious? After the first one, I’ll either end up in prison, the morgue, or in a third-world country.”

Mount shook his head slowly. “No. Because first you have to die.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “The fuck did you say?”

“You take the twenty-five K and this phone.” He pulled it out of his pocket and set it on the counter beside the envelope. “We arrange to fake your death—throw your dog tags on a body, shove it in a shit car, burn it. Then we change how you look so not even your own mother would recognize you. Last, I tell you when and where, and you take out Giles. Call when the job’s done and you get another twenty-five K. After that, you answer when I call, do the three jobs for the same price, and then you can decide where the hell you go from there.”

I swallowed. Jesus fucking Christ. He had it all figured out, and I was still struggling to believe we were having this conversation to begin with.

“You’re serious?” I asked. “You want me to . . .” I replayed it all in my head again.

“Yes. You have five minutes to decide before I walk out that door and my offer disappears forever.”

“What if I don’t do it? You gonna farm this out for someone else to take care of?”

His expression was blank when he responded. “No. Because knowing that Giles bastard is knocking around your mother is enough to make you homicidal. You’ll kill him eventually, but you’ll do it without the fifty grand, a solid plan, and a way out. How would your mama like spending her Saturdays driving back and forth to the prison to have fifteen minutes to talk with you at the state pen?”

His words painted the picture as effectively as if he held a brush in his hand like a master artist. Giles’s brother, who was the DA, and their dirty cop of a sheriff would never let me get away with it. Hell, they wouldn’t rest until they saw me get the lethal injection.

“Kane, you should think on this. If you’re gonna do it anyway, this is the smartest option.”

This came from Jeremiah, whose advice I normally trusted. But how the fuck could I trust this guy I’d never met?

“Can’t believe you brought him here.”

Mount interrupted. “You’ve got three minutes, and I’m running out of patience.”

What the fuck am I doing even considering this? I asked myself.

“Who the hell are you, anyway?” I asked him.

“Lachlan Mount.”

“Should I have heard of you?”

The grin that tugged at his lips could only be described as feral. “No, because you don’t exist in my world. But you take this deal, and you’ll have yourself a seat at the table in it, even though you’ll be a ghost. The way I see it, you have two choices—prison, or a life you can’t even imagine. No more getting paid pennies for putting your ass on the line every day. No one making decisions for you but you.”

“And you,” I pointed out.

“For now. I don’t need a fucking pet, Savage. I need a trigger man who doesn’t owe anything to anyone and has the balls to take a shot no one else would dare. According to your friend here, that’s you. You have one minute to decide. You in or out? Because either way, the rest of your life changes right now.”