Into the Heart of a Killer: Memoirs of an Assassin

Chapter Twenty

Ceseth hadn't believed my story. He'd left the house shortly after I'd arrived, and he had yet to return. It had been hours. He had said he needed to check up on Ebenezer himself, and see what he could find out on his own. He seemed desperately certain that Ebenezer was lying to me, but there was no way he'd lie to him—who had the nerve to lie to the world's greatest assassin's face?

But Ceseth hadn't returned, and the longer it was, the more I began to think that Ebenezer hadn't been lying. I had taken up pacing. It made me feel very much so like Ceseth. The carpet beneath my feet was worn from years of pacing back and forth, the threads now colorless and stretched thin. It was obvious that he had been pacing long before he met me, it just seemed that in recent years it had gotten even worse. I had also noticed the older I got, the less he wanted to touch me, or even be near me. I didn't understand, but to me, it was a blessing in disguise.

I turned calmly when I heard the door bang open.

"That rutting—" Ceseth blew into the room and looked at me with wide eyes. "I can't tell if that slut was his fiancé or if she truly was a whore he found and bribed to bring home."

There was something in his eyes, though. The derogatory words only left his lips. The vehemence with which he said them did not reach his eyes. Whoever that woman was, I was certain Ceseth knew her.

"What woman?" I whispered, stopping my pacing. Ceseth quickly took up where I left off.

"I saw her going into his house," Ceseth said angrily. "I saw her. I was going to go in and talk to Ebenezer myself, but that woman beat me to the house. She was... gods, I can't believe this. This is the worst possible scenario."

"I..." I trailed off. "Did you see a ring? Was she wearing one?"

"I didn't pay attention," Ceseth said. Another tip to me that he'd known the woman. He wouldn't have forgotten such a vital detail. He was distracted, but I didn't say anything. I simply pursed my lips and nodded slowly.

So, he has a fiancé, I thought. Perhaps. She could, as he said, just be... some woman from a brothel. She could be no one. But this... that... gods. This couldn't possibly get any worse.

As it turned out, I was wrong.

Standing in front of Ebenezer's door, I heard laughter inside. A woman's light, tittering laughter, and a deeper, richer rumble that was undoubtedly Ebenezer's. Ceseth stood beside me. Ceseth hadn't really been invited, but Ebenezer wasn't going to point it out, we both knew. I raised my hand to knock and hesitated.

"What if it is his fiancé, Ceseth?" I whispered. "What am I going to do with this child?"

"Shut up," Ceseth growled, hitting me upside my head. "We're going to get to the bottom of this."

I nodded and knocked on the door.

It swung open instantly.

The woman who stood there was oddly familiar, and astonishingly beautiful.

My jaw dropped.

And so did hers.

Ceseth shifted uncomfortably next to me.

"Liliana?"