She had never planned to return to this city. But, as she’d learned early in life, plans changed. You either rolled with them or let them roll over you.

Like so many things from her early childhood, the memories of living here were vague wisps of blurred features and images. She knew she was lucky in that respect. She had more than enough nightmares from the things she could remember.

She did remember terror and hopelessness. From her first breath, they had been with her. Some might say it would have been best if she had never had a second breath.

She sat at the window of the most exclusive restaurant in the city. From here, she could see a lush, lovely park. Children played with carefree abandon, while a mother, father, or nanny kept a careful, watchful eye. There was no hint of darkness or dirtiness. No shadow of danger. No one would guess that ten miles to the north, another story could be told. One of death, misery, and evil. She had once lived in the center of that darkness. She had escaped, but not without consequences, not without death.

Of her own choice, her own volition, she was returning to that darkness. The place where it had all begun. The very thought of going back created a knot the size of Texas in her stomach, but she had been working toward this goal for almost two years now. She could not back down now.

Today would be the final step. The most painful one she had ever made. But to do this successfully, she had no choice.

Shifting her gaze, she spotted a tall, well-dressed man striding down the sidewalk. He was too far away for her to see his face, but it didn’t matter. She would recognize that purposeful gait anywhere. Some men walked to get to another location or escape where they had been. Grey Justice walked like he was on a mission, as if he could and would conquer worlds.

In many ways, he had. Whatever goal he set for himself, he achieved. Steely determination, combined with an uncanny ability to seize opportunities, had not only made him a wealthy man, but also one who was both respected and reviled.

She had loved and hated him for over half her life. Though, in her more honest moments, she could admit that the hatred was always at the edge of the overwhelming feelings she had for this man. Today, though he wouldn’t like the news, she planned to sever the intricate ties that bound them together. It wouldn’t alleviate the pain. In fact, ending their relationship would feel as though she had carved out her heart, leaving a gaping hole filled with nothing but dark emptiness. To not do it, though, would be even worse. To do this thing, to complete the task before her, she had to destroy their connection. It had to end…they had to end, here and now.

She felt him behind her. He confirmed his presence by the touch of his hand on her bare shoulder. She resisted the temptation to close her eyes and relish the caress. If she was to succeed, she would have to shut down all the feelings and emotions. If he even suspected what was going on inside her, he would never accept the finality of her words.

She had placed her handbag in the chair to her right and a large shopping bag in the chair to her left. Anyone else would have taken the hint and sat across from her. Grey Justice wasn’t like anyone else. Without a word, he lifted the shopping bag, placed it in the empty chair, and then sat down beside her. Irelyn restrained herself from releasing an exasperated huff.

“It’s been too long, Irelyn.”

“And some might say not long enough.”

The smile he gave was a little whimsical, a little sad. “Not me.”

“No, not you. Never you.”

“I was surprised when you called.” Blue eyes roamed over her face, and she knew he was searching for the answers to questions he hadn’t yet asked. No one could read her like Grey, which was another reason she had to maintain her composure. He had to believe what she was selling.

“I thought it was time we had a face-to-face.”

“That’s an intriguing term for a lunch between close friends.”

Friends? That word scarcely touched the complex relationship that she and Grey shared.

Before she could answer, the server came to their table and engaged Grey in a conversation. Appreciating the momentary reprieve, Irelyn took the opportunity to study him. With eyes a piercing midnight blue and a face that seemed carved from a master sculptor’s talented hand, Grey was a striking man. His thick, coal-black hair was slightly longer than he normally wore it, almost touching his collar. That, along with the beard stubble and slight shadows beneath his eyes, told her he hadn’t been taking care of himself as he should. That knowledge hurt. She knew she had caused him worry.

The waiter laughed at something Grey said, and she was struck as she often was by Grey’s effortless charm. No one was immune, most especially Irelyn herself.

The famous Grey Justice was a well-known figure everywhere. Dublin was no exception. He would receive preferential treatment. Never because he demanded or really even expected it. Grey simply had a way about him that others responded to. She had watched, both mesmerized and occasionally amused, as they’d traveled the world and the famous Justice charm had opened doors as if he had some kind of magical key.

“Irelyn? Are you ready to order?”

Always prepared, she answered with a polite smile for the waiter, “Yes. The mushroom risotto, please.”

She would wait until their meal ended before getting to the reason for their meeting. Grey had a tendency to forgo food if he became distracted. It was a little silly of her to want to continue to take care of him when very soon she wouldn’t see him again, but that was the nature of their relationship. For almost two decades, they had been taking care of each other, seeing to one another’s needs. Stopping wouldn’t happen until that last sliver of thread was severed.

The waiter left the table, and Grey settled back in his chair. “How are you, Irelyn?”

“Good. Busy. But that’s the way I prefer. And you?”

He cocked his head a little and then nodded as if acknowledging the more intimate discussion would occur after their meal.

Confirming her thoughts, he said, “I assume you heard that Ivy Roane is no longer a concern.”

“Yes, I heard. I was sorry Jonah had to do the deed, but one less assassin is always a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. Though I would have liked to have chatted with her a bit.”

“Is that right?”

“She looked almost identical to you.”

She tilted her head slightly. “Almost identical. Really? I wondered why she looked so familiar.”

“Still playing games, Irelyn?”

“Always.” The lack of humor in his eyes made her sigh. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Since the first one didn’t work out too well, he tried to create another Irelyn.”

“And as we both know, there can only be one Irelyn.”

“Yes. As you’ve said many times, one is more than enough.”

“One is all I’ve ever needed.”

She hated when he said things like that. It made her want to melt into his arms. To throw away every ounce of her resolve, forget about obligations and regrets. In Grey’s arms, the world always faded away. It had been like that from the beginning.

This meeting needed to have the exact opposite effect. Changing the subject was her only defense. “And I saw that Jonah and Gabriella were recently married. They make a lovely couple.”

“You know Gabriella?”

“Only from a distance. She seems delightful.”

“She is. I had hoped you could come to the wedding.”

“I was out of pocket, or I would have tried.”

“Ah yes, out of pocket. Such an odd term for what you are doing these days.”

“One term’s as good as the other.”

“Really? I think some are more appropriate than others. Perhaps Lone Avenger. The Assassin of Assassins has a nice ring to it.”

That he knew what she had done was no surprise. By necessity, she had not been discreet. Plus, Grey had informants all over the world.

“Hmm,” she said as though in serious consideration. “I was thinking something pithy, like The Assassinator. Think I’ll get some business cards printed up.”

“What the hell are you doing, Irelyn?”

“I’m having lunch with you, Grey.”

“Don’t.”

She was pushing him. Very soon, that charming veneer would crack, and the fury she could see hiding behind his eyes would erupt. Not that anyone but her would recognize it. Grey didn’t show anger like other people. She’d only ever seen full-blown fury in him once. The night that had changed them forever.

She pushed the dark memories away. They would do nothing now but distract her from her main purpose. She allowed herself a slight smile, an elegant, feminine shrug. “I’m just doing what I was designed to do.”

“You were not designed for this. You damn well know it.”

Did she? No. She had indeed been groomed for this. Grey had done everything he could to change her life, to reverse what had been done. To help her overcome her past. But then that had changed, too.

“You, more than anyone, know that’s not true.”

She told herself to stop the direction of the conversation. He would blame himself, and that wasn’t what she wanted. She was a grown woman, able to make her own decisions. Whatever she did, whatever her actions, she took full responsibility. She owned them, the good and the bad. Her past might have shaped her, but she was an adult. It had taken her years to acknowledge her choices and her mistakes. She wasn’t about to let anyone else take the blame. Not Hill Reed, the man she had both reviled and once loved.

Most especially, she would not allow Grey Justice to take the blame. He had saved her when she had deserved nothing but death.

Out of Irelyn’s view, Grey clenched his fist. Letting her see his pain would only make hers worse. He had told himself he wouldn’t regret what he had made her do. Regrets were for those with choices. He’d had few choices since he was a teenager. The decisions he had made hadn’t always been the right ones, but for him, they had been the only ones he could make. He lived by a certain code of rules. They were his rules and no one else’s. But he had made a decision for Irelyn…one she never would have made for herself. He still couldn’t say he regretted the decision, but he sure as hell regretted the hurt he’d caused.

Determined to get through to her, he faced her with the implacable truth. “I won’t apologize for what I forced you to do.”

“Forced?” Those fathomless gray eyes mocked him. “Do you really think you could force me to do anything, Grey?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Then you know I wasn’t forced to do that either. As much as I hated you…as much as I despised the act, I knew it was past time for it to happen. He had outlived his usefulness to both of us.”

Grey could regret every life he’d taken, but he damn well would never be sorry that Hill Reed was dead. There had been dozens of reasons to despise the famed contract killer, but Grey had had three distinct ones. He should have done the deed himself years ago. Not that it would have saved anyone’s life. Finding an experienced killer was disgustingly easy. Reed had been a skilled assassin, but there were others just as good. So no, he wouldn’t have saved anyone by ending Reed’s life long ago, but no one had deserved to take the man out more than the woman across from him. The fact that she’d also happened to love the murdering bastard had been problematic.

“I’m sorry it happened the way it did.”

“No, you’re not.”

He felt the stab to his chest, as if she’d used the stiletto knife he knew she wore in a sheath wrapped around her left thigh. She hated him for what had happened, even though she had accepted the inevitability of the act.

Their meal arrived before he could argue further. Not that arguing would do any good. Even when he’d made the decision to end Reed’s life, he had known what it would cost him. He just hadn’t known how damn bad it would hurt.

As they had thousands of times before, they put aside their differences to enjoy their meal. She did it for him. He knew that. Eating was sometimes a secondary priority when he had other things on his mind. Irelyn had always made sure, no matter what drama was going on in their lives, that he took care of himself.

They had been taking care of each other, in one way or another, for half their lives. He knew this woman better than anyone in the world. He knew the soft sigh she made just before she dropped off to sleep. He knew the nightmares she had about her past. He had held her as she had sobbed out her grief, her regret. He knew her phobias and her fears. And the many times she had cursed him.

She had fascinated him from the moment he’d met her. He had hated her, loved her, and cherished her for almost eighteen years. And without a doubt, he could spend a thousand more years with her and never tire of the multifaceted, fascinating woman that was Irelyn Raine.

They ate in silence for several moments. He would get nothing from her until they’d both finished their meal, so instead, he enjoyed watching her eat. She consumed her meal the way she did many things, with graceful gentility and efficiency. There wasn’t an awkward bone in Irelyn’s body, nor was there a wasteful one. In their early years, they’d gone days without much more than a bag of crisps and a bottle of pop between them. No matter how far they removed themselves from those old days, or how wealthy they became, neither of them would ever take a meal for granted.

He noticed she might have lost a bit of weight. Her face had the kind of bone structure that ensured she would be beautiful all her life, but it also had a tendency to be the first place weight loss showed.

She preferred dresses to pants. She liked the ease of movement if she needed to get away quickly. She also felt that hiding her weapon was easier with dresses. The knife he’d given her long ago was always strapped to her left thigh. On occasion, she wore a holster with a favorite gun on her right thigh. Although she was an excellent shot, shooting would never be Irelyn’s thing. She claimed it was too impersonal, but that was an easy excuse. Her eyesight had once been impaired, so much so that they’d feared she would go blind. A surgeon had repaired her sight, but the memory of that impairment had a way of costing her when she needed her confidence. Hence the knife. A knife in Irelyn Raine’s capable hands was the most lethal of weapons.

The dress she wore today made him think of cold, bleak winter. They’d experienced their share of brutal, bitter ones. He wondered if she had dressed with that thought in mind. She hadn’t invited him to lunch in the city where she’d had her beginning for nothing. Meeting here in Dublin, she was making a point. The severe dress made a statement, too. Irelyn didn’t do anything by accident. Even the clothes she wore had significance.

He could read her moods and, more times than not, could predict what she was going to say. Today wasn’t one of those days. Today, the secrets behind those stormy gray eyes were hers alone.

Noting she had finished her last bite of risotto, he took a swallow of water and said, “All right, Irelyn. Why am I here?”

“Considering that you’ve been stalking me for over a year now, I would think you’d appreciate an arranged meeting.”

“Stalking you? That’s a slight exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“You’re right. You’re here. I’m here. Let’s talk. When are you coming home?”

She turned her gaze to the window. “I am home. Haven’t you noticed?”

“No, you’re not. Your home is in Texas.”

“You don’t get it, do you, Grey?”

“Apparently not. What is it you’re trying to say?”

“Simply that I’m no longer part of your life. In Texas or anywhere else. I’m no longer a part of your life, period. It’s over…we’re over.”

This wasn’t the first time they’d had a discussion like this. Living in each other’s pockets, as it were, meant they often had to take a break from one another. This was the longest break they’d ever had, though.

“We haven’t had anything between us in almost two years. You’re severing a tie that doesn’t exist.”

His words hurt her. She gave no discernible indication, but he could tell from the widening of those lovely eyes. He had said those words to get a reaction. He had expected fireworks, at the very least a denial. Instead, he got a hole punched in his heart.

She placed a ring on the table and pushed it toward him. He stared down at the thing, barely able to comprehend its reason for being there. The ring was a symbol of many things, one being their commitment to each other. That no matter what happened, no matter how far apart they were, they would always be, in some sense, together, connected. They’d exchanged rings several years ago, when things had been calm between them. There had been peace then. They had been working toward something worthwhile. And now it appeared she didn’t believe in those things anymore. At least not with him.

He was surprised by how calmly he was able to say, “Why?”

Irelyn considered herself a good actress. Having lived most of her life pretending to be someone else had trained her to handle anything with poise and confidence. But this? This was killing her. She couldn’t let the pain stop her. Grey needed closure—he needed a way out. Severing their ties meant he could finally have a real life. And Irelyn? She would accomplish the goal she had set out for herself, and then she would see.

She told herself to get it done. Be quick. And, to have the most effective result, be cruel. “We’ve used each other as much as possible, don’t you think?”

“Is that what we’ve been doing all these years? Using each other?”

“Haven’t we?”

“No. But it’s interesting that you see it that way.”

She gave a twisted smile, knowing it wasn’t her best, but right now it was all she could manage. “Let’s not get maudlin. We’re both adults. We knew at some point this had to end.”

“Friendships don’t always end.”

“Friendship?” She forced a laugh and inwardly winced at the hollow sound. “Really, Grey, we’re going there again?”

“What would you call it?”

“A mutually beneficial association that has reached the end of its usefulness.”

Blue eyes pierced her, and she swore he could see through to her soul. Grey could read her better than anyone. If she didn’t pull this off, he would never let up. And that would be dangerous. She would die before she let anything happen to him. This had to end now.

She took a breath and plunged the knife for a killing blow. “I’ve heard that cutting off the head of the snake is the best way.”

“The best way for what?”

She shrugged. Dammit, couldn’t he just let go? “To end things.”

“And who’s the snake in this particular scenario?”

“I think the past reveals that quite well.”

Another piercing stare, this one with more than a little anger. He pushed his chair back and stood. “Very well.” Picking up the ring from the middle of the table, he dropped it on an empty saucer in front of her. The clatter of platinum seemed to echo through the suddenly quiet restaurant. “Throw the damn thing away for all I care. Goodbye, Irelyn.”

He walked away then. Irelyn stayed for several more moments, looking down at the small token of everything they had meant to each other. She should get up and leave. She still had so much to do. Instead, she stared at the ring, vaguely wondering why her vision was becoming blurred.

“Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

The polite question from the waiter at her side shook her from her frozen stance. She shook her head and stood. “No, thank you.” She placed several large bills on the table and took a step away.

“Wait. Your ticket has been paid.”

Of course it had. Grey, once again. She shrugged. “Keep the money for yourself.”

She stepped out onto the sidewalk and, drawing in a shaky breath, refocused. It was done. The hardest part was out of the way. Now to move forward with the rest. The part that would most likely get her killed.