A Fortune I Seek

Chapter 2

Shout out to @amidthestorms for creating this wonderful cover!!

And another shoutout to @anastasia_anesthesia , @sOullessfrOg , and @manarlovesbooks for putting up with my insanity in helping me pick a cover!!

Now, enjoy!

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"In position?" Bear's crackling voice came through the receiver in my ear.

Wrapped protectively around the Luxton property was a tall black fence that jutted into deadly arrows at the top. It would skewer anyone who dared tempt their height – efficient in keeping out unwanted guests while still remaining aesthetically pleasing. A majority of people would be physically incapable of sliding through the spindles however, my short stature and slim frame made me the perfect candidate for easy access.

The problem with rich people is they think spending more means increased quality, but being the most expensive does not always mean the most effective.

Because I am now laying on my stomach just inside their precious gate, under a recently trimmed boxwood shrub, with two twigs poking at my ribs and a third lodged into the tight braid along the back of my skull. I fiddled to free myself before responding, "Yes. I am in position."

"Don't screw this up, kiddo."

"Don't make me laugh." I replied.

"This will make – what – twelve successful missions in a row?" Bear counted, "It would have been thirteen if you hadn't blown up that diplomat in Prague."

I cursed him, and then myself for being so clumsy, "He shouldn't have been standing so close to the bomb. I tried to tell him to move."

"I remember dad's face when our employer said he was only paying half." Bear laughed on his end, "Half price for half a body."

The contract was for a subtle kill but the mission did not go exactly according to plan. His kill was requested by the parents of a child that had been kidnapped and sold into the trades ... as far as I am concerned, the dirty diplomat deserved it and so much more. But of course, my father did not see it that way.

Our role, our only role as hired mercenaries, no matter the circumstances or challenges, is to fulfill the contract.

In that particular mission, I rescinded my role when I killed the diplomat not as a man of lawful practice, but as a man of evil. That was my mistake; it was not my place to deduce the worth of his soul, my place should have been behind the hilt of a knife rather than on the detonator of a bomb.

Yet despite the lesson I should have learned, the unfortunate cycle repeats. Because here I am, laying in the dirt with a beetle crawling up my leg and leaves in my hair, once again calling into question my role. I propped my chin on my elbow, "What do you know about the rivalry between our family and the family, Luxton?"

Bear shrugged in my mind's eye, "I only know what you do. Something happened a long time ago, neither family forgave each other, and we have been 'tolerating' each other ever since. They stay on the north side of town, we stay on the south, and we avoid each other like the plague. Which is easy considering the Luxton kids were shipped off to boarding school years ago and the head of the house is always off on business deals with his wife at his side. It's almost as if they don't even exist and our family prefers it that way."

That pretty much sums up my knowledge as well, most of which was acquired during holidays when Uncle Munger drinks too much and goes on one of his historic tirades in which he idolizes our lineage and shames all others.