A Very Merry Hitman (Holiday With a Hitman #2)

23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Dear Santa, I’ve been good-ish this year.

Something was wrong. Dante felt it in his bones the moment the neighborhood went dark.

Going on instinct, he slipped out his front door and hurried down the sidewalk to Aileen’s house. Unable to sleep, he’d been watching her house like a stalker because apparently he was one. Didn’t matter that they had the True residence under surveillance.

He needed eyes on Aileen, to know she was safe.

As he made his way toward her house, he texted her. No response. Which…could be nothing. It was two in the morning. As he reached the side of her house he debated calling, but then stopped himself. He would just check things out, make sure his girls were okay. That was it.

As he reached the side of the garage, he stilled.

Footprints that hadn’t been there earlier in the evening tracked around the house leading right up to the side door that led to the garage. She rarely used it—hell, he was pretty sure she had a couple bins of decorations stacked against it.

He shot off a group text to Lorna, Theo and Nestor before he approached the side door, pistol in hand. The lock had been picked. And the camera above the door wasn’t lighting up from the motion of him stepping under it .

Easing to the side, he slowly opened the door then swept into the garage, flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other.

The bins had been shoved to the side, but the garage was empty.

Moving quickly, he hurried to the door to the mudroom, saw similar scratch marks on the door. He eased it open, found the small room empty.

Turning off his flashlight now, he used his knowledge of her house to his advantage as he quietly opened the door that connected to the kitchen.

Muted voices trailed to him. Aileen and someone else.

He focused on the sound of their voices as he forced himself to remain calm. To fall back on all his training.

Aileen’s life depended on it.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, Calvin.” Aileen’s voice shook but she sounded calm. “Just put your gun down and leave and I’ll never tell anyone.”

“Everything’s gone to shit. I got rid of all the video evidence, but then saw you with your stupid phone, recording your daughter! I can’t… I can’t do this anymore. I need it all to be over. I need your phone!” he snarled.

Dante moved quickly through the kitchen toward the voices. They had to be in the living room or foyer, so very close. All he needed was a clean shot and this guy was dead.

“Someone stole my phone earlier today. I don’t have it.”

“Bullshit, bullshit,” he repeated, his voice unsteady. “I have your purse but it wasn’t your phone. You have a sparkly case and that was some basic burner bullshit. I need your phone.”

Dante moved around the island, the voices growing louder. Her kitchen connected to the hallway and foyer, which led to the stairs. There was another way around it through a dining room, but he needed the element of surprise. This asshole had a weapon so Dante had to be careful. One wrong shot… No, he wouldn’t let his mind go there. He was a pro and now all his training would come in handy for the most important moment of his life.

“Okay, fine, it’s in the kitchen, we just need to get it. Why do you need my phone so badly?”

“You know why.”

“I really don’t.”

“Oh god, it’s all falling apart.” Calvin’s voice trembled even worse. “Walk that way, now. In front of me and don’t try anything stupid.”

Dante flattened himself up against the wall next to the pantry door, thankful for the darkness. It was the only thing that would help him blend in.

“Keep your hands up,” the walking dead man snarled a moment before Aileen walked into her kitchen right past Dante, her hands up and out.

“I left it on the countertop over there,” she said, motioning to where he knew a bowl that had pepper spray sat. They were in the bowl underneath a bunch of things she tossed at the end of the day.

The man moved into Dante’s line of sight, his weapon hand out, a flashlight tucked under it, pointing straight at Aileen’s back.

Hell. No.

Dante moved in behind him, grabbed his weapon arm and lifted it fast, breaking Calvin’s bone in a vicious snap.

The man was fit, struggled for a moment as he let out a short scream of pain, but Dante had years of training as a killer. He broke his neck in a few quick moves, the pistol falling with a clatter next to him.

“Oh my god,” Aileen breathed out even as Dante eased the man to the floor.

“Where’s Nessa?”

“She should be okay but I need to check on her.” Her eyes were wide as she stared at the dead body for a long moment, then she snapped out of it and hurried for the stairs.

Dante went with her, leading the way with his pistol in case there was anyone else in her house. But the house was empty other than them.

Nessa was sleeping on her side, with the kind of steady breathing of a kid who knows they’re safe. As it should be.

“We need to get rid of the body,” Dante said once they were back in the hallway. “Before she wakes up.”

Aileen nodded, moving fast with him as they hurried down the stairs .

“Did he hurt you?” he asked as they reached the bottom.

She was already shaking her head as they made it to the kitchen—where her family was waiting.

“I’ll get a tarp,” Theo said before Dante could ask.

“And I’ve already called the cleanup crew,” Lorna added.

“Nessa?” Nestor asked.

“Sleeping.”

Nestor nodded, looked between the two of them, then nodded again. His girls were safe, something Dante understood. They’d figure out what the hell was going on later, but for now… He wrapped his arms around Aileen and pulled her out into the hallway, thankful when she moved with him without question.

She buried her face against his chest, breathed deep. “I thought…”

“I’ll always be there for you,” he growled. “Nothing happened and nothing would have happened. You’d have handled shit with that pepper spray.”

She let out a strangled-sounding laugh as she nodded into his chest. Then she pulled back slightly, her voice pitched low in the dim hallway. “I’d planned to spray him but I’m glad…I’m glad you were here.”

“I should have been here all night. I’m sorry for the way I acted before. For the record you’re one of the smartest people I know, and I know you thought everything through. I was just worried and didn’t want you rushing into danger and I acted like a giant asshole.”

“You don’t need to do this now,” she murmured, still holding him close.

“Yeah, I do. I was wrong. It’s not an excuse, but I was worried about your safety and my brain went to the worst-case scenario. I got scared.”

“Scared?”

“The thought of losing you terrifies the hell out of me. It’s the worst possible scenario in every situation. And I love you, Aileen.” Belatedly he realized that he probably shouldn’t be telling her not far from a dead body.

Of a guy he’d just killed.

In front of her. But, too late now.

“Don’t feel like—” He started.

“Please don’t finish that,” she whispered, going up on tiptoe to kiss him. “I love you too. I’ve loved you for…a lot longer than I wanted to admit to myself. For so long I was scared to open myself up, to be vulnerable to anyone but my family. And then you came along. And I was lost, even if it took me a while to get here.”

He threaded his hands through the back of her hair as he gently leaned down to kiss her, to claim her mouth…but pulled back when he heard the cleaning crew arrive.

There would be time enough for this later and he didn’t want to start something he couldn’t finish anyway.

Because he was going to take his time with Aileen. There was still one thing he needed to tell her before they moved on to the next level in their relationship. But for now, he would focus on what he could actually help with.