Hitman’s Secret by Rosa Mink
Chapter 6
Natalia
Ishouldn’t be this calm, this accepting of what just happened. I mean, I just helped a near stranger dump a dead body into a factory’s runoff waste. I didn’t even know the place was illegally dumping their waste, but Marko did making me wonder what all he knows. How did he know the man he just dumped? How did he kill him when he had a gun?
“Ask,” he says, startling me a bit and my head whips towards him as the car does ninety down the interstate. I don’t know where we’re going, and I haven’t asked. I don’t care, I really don’t, as long as it’s never back to my father.
“I don’t know where to start,” I admit thinking over everything that happened in such a short span of time. This man wanted to kidnap me, because he wanted me, but how does that explain the rest? The guy he killed, the brand-new tarps in the trunk he wrapped the body in, the way he expertly dumped him in that gunk…who the hell am I so insanely attracted to?
“Do you want to know everything or just the basics?” he asks glancing towards me as the road ahead is straight and clear.
“Everything I guess,” I state although it might kill my attraction. Then again, I don’t know if anything will now that I’m actually free from the bodyguards watching me.
“Alright, my name is Marko Cavalli, that is my real name unlike what I go by in most places,” he starts, and I can’t stop watching him as he drives, can’t stop watching the way his mouth moves, wishing it were on mine again. “I don’t work a conventional job, I never have. Blame it on my parentage and my father only coming to the US to get away from an arm of the Italian mob that wasn’t happy he took out someone he did. I learnt at an early age how to kill someone,” he claims and my heart races.
“Like that person back there?” I ask quietly.
This is insane, nothing has ever been this crazy and I can’t believe I’m not screaming for him to stop the car and let me out. I should, right?
“Yes, by the time I was sixteen I was an expert in all forms of execution,” he answers and the way he says it, I already know what he is.
“You’re a hitman,” I say taking a deep breath trying to stop the slight worry that slides through me again. “You…him…you’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“No,” he says, the word crisp, hard, dark as he jerks the car towards the side of the road, slamming on the brakes making them squeal and the tires burn.
I reach for the door handle as the entire situation gets to be too much, forgetting about the seatbelt until I’m attempting to race out of the car, finally letting out a terrified cry. How could I be attracted to this man? Why was I so blinded by desire that I didn’t realize it was all a trick?
The belt jerks me back against the seat and I scramble to release it, a new cry falling, high and hoarse as he grabs my shoulders, pushing me back into the seat.
“Stop,” he says, and I know I can’t overpower him.
He sits watching me as I shake, the interior light enough to let me see his eyes and god, I want to trust them, trust him and the way he looks at me.
“Why?” I ask, tears starting to blur my eyes as the panic still rushes through me. I turn my head away from him, unable to bear looking into those lying eyes. They can’t possibly be true.
“Natalia, look at me,” he says, the words even and normal, completely unlike my terrified single syllable.
His hand lifts my jaw when I don’t. God, I want to sink into the depths of that gorgeous green forest staring at me, but the evil behind them finally has a name and I know he can’t be trusted.
“The truth, someone I work for regularly, wants you dead. One look at your picture and I knew I couldn’t do it. That is the truth, angel,” he claims keeping his hand on my cheek to keep my eyes on him when I try to pull away from him.
I shake my head no, my breath stalling as his head lowers, those incredible, seductive lips stealing mine, making me melt instantly.
