Crowed (Team Zero #2) by Rina Kent

I wipe the sweat off my forehead and dry my hands on my apron. My gaze flickers to the pictures of Papa, Maman, and me. When they were gone, I thought I didn’t want to live anymore.

Crow proved to me that I didn’t want to die. No wonder why I was always reluctant about taking my own life. It’s the numbness that pushed me to those dark thoughts and complete surrender.

I’m strong enough to do something about it. This time, I won’t allow anything to happen to my home. This time, I will make Papa and Maman proud of me. Because this time, I’ll protect what they left for me with all my might.

I walk to the jar, retrieve a few pieces of paper and write.

‘I cleaned the house.’

‘I decided to try being alive.’

‘I had my real first kiss and it was a lot more thrilling than I could’ve imagined.’

The last note makes me nibble on the inside of my cheek as I place the folded papers in the jar.

My joints ache with pain after I finish cleaning the kitchen and fixing some of the broken wooden cupboards. An actual yawn escapes me when I give Charlotte her food.

Whoa. It’s been forever since I yawned. I check the time. Afternoon. My shift. I sigh. No rest for me.

After a shower, I grab my keys and head outside. I stand near the gate, searching in the distance. No sign of a bike or Crow.

My heart clenches, and it bothers me more than I like to admit.

I shake my head and settle in my car. Why would it bother me? Crow is just a stranger. A nobody.

Even as I tell myself that, I can’t help focusing on the sides of the road, hunting for a mere sight of him. When he doesn’t show, the uneasiness in my chest almost suffocates me.

The sensation doesn’t leave me even as I do my rounds in the hospital or listen to Céline as she talks about her daughter.

Has Crow returned by now? Is everything all right?

Ugh. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me?

Crow is an assassin. He tried to kill me – even if deep down, I know he did that to push me to my limit. He’s good at pushing people to their limits. And yet, that doesn’t change who he is. What he is.

I seriously need to stop thinking about him. One day, he will leave and I’ll be on my own all over again.

The thought lodges a shard straight to my chest.

“Are you listening, Eloise?”

My attention snaps back to Céline. I wasn’t even focusing on what she said.

“Mais oui.” I smile.

“Mais non.” She nudges me with a pencil as we sit beside each other in the call room. For once, she’s not asleep. Lucky for her, there isn’t much to do tonight.

“I was saying.” Céline pushes rebel red strands off her forehead and scoots closer as if to share France’s national secret. “The blood sample Dr Bernard sent to the laboratory in Paris disappeared. Comme l’air.”

My shoulders straighten. Crow’s blood sample. The drug in his system. “How?”

“I don’t know.” Céline appears deep in thoughts. “What makes it even weirder is that the blood sample in our lab disappeared, too. There’s no trace to investigate that drug.”

Merde.

Did Crow do this? But he never left for Paris, at least not since he came to live with me. It’s like someone is making sure no information is accessible about the drug.

Is that why Crow’s expression changed drastically after receiving the text?

I shake my head. These questions will drive me mad. I leave Céline to get coffee from the hospital’s cafeteria. The coffee isn’t that good, but it’s something to distract me from all these chaotic thoughts.

At this time of the night, the cafeteria is empty. Only a few interns are huddled around a table in the back, trying to fight sleep by consuming copious amount of caffeine. On my way to pour myself a coffee, a broad frame bumps into me. Pain explodes in my shoulders.

He’s dressed in a hoodie, face covered by the shadows. No features come into view.

“I have one piece of advice for you,” he says in a perfect British accent as he passes me. The voice is so familiar, but I can’t pinpoint it. “Run.”





Crow


Facing the marina, I lean against my bike, clutching the files Celeste has sent me.

There’s no mistaking it.

The scheme forms loud and clear as I stare at the coroner’s report of Paul’s corpse.

Prior to the blowing up of the storage, Paul was cut open from his collarbone to his navel. That’s what The Pit’s assassins do when leaving a message. More specifically Team Zero. We’re the one who invented this tactic and taught it to the other assassins.

I don’t know who the fuck started this gruesome method. Whoever they were, the idea must’ve come up while they were on Omega.

Paul was killed by one of our own. One of my own. Someone close wants me dead and killed Paul to hide their tracks.

The Pit. Team Zero. Hades.

I have no idea who to trust anymore. Not that I completely trusted anyone before. We’re all warped in the head. Sometimes, I don’t even trust myself.

I was never attacked after that shooting, so I don’t have much evidence about who wants me dead. It’s not hard to narrow it down, though.

Ghost.

He’s the only one who’s been here. Why would he want to kill me? Why would he cover up my withdrawal and even tell me about his? It would’ve been easier to let Hades take care of me. Besides, Celeste is very close with Ghost. She must’ve known I would suspect him, and therefore, she wouldn’t have sent me these files.