Chapter 2

Scarlett

After the funeral, I stand by her grave and wipe away the tears that stain my cheeks.

"I promise you, Casey. I will hunt down the person that has done this to you and I will make them pay."

I look down at my chest where my half-heart necklace sits and I reach into my pocket, pulling out the other half of the heart.

Casey's necklace.

I grip it hard in my hand, before opening it and putting the necklace around my neck, clamping the two halves together to make it one.

Just then my phone vibrates in my pocket, so I grab it and put it to my ear, seeing that it's my boss, Mrs. Janice García.

"I need you to come to my office."

"What is it about?" I ask.

"I can't discuss this over the phone, but you might wanna come in and hear it. "

I roll my eyes. I'm not in the mood for anything right now.

I stay silent so she speaks up. "It's about Casey."

I instantly straighten and walk towards my car.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," I answer before jumping into my car.

I hope that they have news on her case.

Better yet, I hope they know who the killer is. I don't mind getting my hands dirty.

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I hurriedly enter her office and close the door behind me.

She stands behind her chair and looks out the window. She is suddenly aware of my presence so she walks in front of her table and leans against it, folding her legs at the bottom.

"It seems as though Casey's death was planned."

She turns around and hands me a file.

"It was in fact difficult to find out who was in that car that sped off, but I got my men to get access to the cameras which captured the person responsible."

I stand there, holding the file in my hand but I don't open it.

"It's one of the members from THE BLOOD THREE. He goes by the name of Grayson Huxley."

Grayson Huxley? Who the hell is that?

"THE BLOOD THREE?"

She nods and turns her back towards me, her grey hair in a tight bun.

"They are a group of assassins. In their spare time, they are thieves. Responsible for the theft of the Monalisa painting last year."

I open the file, flipping through the horrendous crime scenes. I stop at one, which shows a man who has missing eyes, lying on the floor, bathing in his own blood.

I try not to vomit, holding the vomit in my throat, I swallow it and flip the page. What kind of human does this?

"Why will someone want to assassinate Casey? She was innocent. She wouldn't even hurt a fly?"

"That's the thing, Miss Pérez. We don't know why or who would want her dead. My conclusions are that they saw her as a threat, or it could've been a warning."

"A warning? You mean like to tell us to back away?" I ask her, confused.

She nods.

Well if that's the case, then it means that we were onto something big and that those people didn't want us to get too close or find out something.

I flip through the last pages and when I do my heart stops.

Jayden.

There's a picture of Jayden and a list of crimes that he has committed. The list is continuous and my eyes widen in shock.

He goes by the name of Grayson Huxley.

So, he changed his name?

"He is the guy suspected of killing Casey."

Jayden! Why will you kill my best friend? Don't you think you have done enough damage?

"Your mission is to kill him. We do see him as a threat and he might be an obstacle in the future. He is also extremely dangerous and prison would not hold such a monster. This is why, I give you this mission, Scarlett."

"Kill order?" my lips curl up into a smirk.

"Yes, Miss Pérez. We have his current location. " She taps on her phone and sends me a text with the location linked to it. "If you need any help, we can send some agents with you."

I shake my head. I work alone from now.

"I'd be thrilled to kill him," I snarl and I see a smile playing on Mrs. García's face.

"I know you wouldn't let me down. After all, this is about your best friend. This is how I know you'd get the job done," she comes closer and whispers, "You have the drive to."

I smirk. Oh, you have no idea. That's not the only drive that I have.

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I creep up on a man that I think is him. His back is facing toward me so I quickly yank on his arms to turn him around to face me. When he does, I sincerely apologize as it's not the same guy.

Where could you be, Jayden?

I stand in front of an abandoned building and just then a hand wraps around my neck.

"What? Looking for me, beautiful?" his voice sends chills down my spine.

"Jayden," I whisper as I send my elbow backward, into his groin. He grunts and moves backward, holding his hands there.

"It's Grayson, Princess."

I scan him from head to toe. His chestnut-colored hair and his hazel eyes. He looks the same except for the toned muscles which peak through his tight black shirt.

"You haven't changed, Jayden."

"I could say the same about you, although now you have a tattoo of stars trailing up your neck."

"Trust me, that's not the only place I have stars," I whisper, and he whistles.

Did he know I was coming here? He has a knife in his hand and another strapped to his black tracksuit pants.

"What? Are you gonna kill me?" I ask jokingly and instead of a shake of his head, he nods.

"It's my mission," he whispers and smirks.

What?

Suddenly two other people circle me and I scoff. "What? You needed two extra people to help kill me?"

"No, I can just do that myself," he holds the knife tighter in his hands, "I'm sorry, Scarlett. My mission is to kill you."

"Not if I kill you first," I growl and run toward him. His knife cuts through the air, missing me by inches as I duck.

I squat, pulling out my gun and I face it towards him, making him pause.

He innocently puts his hands in the air and smirks while his eyes widen in surprise.

Just pull the trigger, Scarlett.

What am I thinking? I press my index down on the trigger but I don't put too much pressure.

I then think about Casey. He killed her. That makes me furious and before I pull the trigger, someone comes from behind me. It's one of the members of THE BLOOD THREE. He twists my wrist and effortlessly pulls out the gun from my hand.

Dammit.

He's tall, his blonde hair is tied into a tight ponytail with tattoos running down his both hands. He mocks me with his sly smile and toxic eyes.

"His name is Ash," Jayden introduces before pocketing his knife.

Ash smirks in anticipation, before removing all of the bullets from my gun and throwing the empty gun toward me.

"That's Ryker, aka RD" he says while pointing toward an awkward-looking guy, standing a few feet away from me. He nods and looks away.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" I ask while pocketing my useless gun.

"We are, star," Ash admits before he pulls out a bigger knife from his side pocket.

"So I guess it's three on one. That's a little unfair, don't you think?"

Jayden flashes me white teeth before throwing me a knife.

"Guess that will even it out," he jokes before all three of them stalk toward me from all directions.

"Agent Peréz, do you need backup?" Mrs. García's voice emits through my earpiece.

"No," I grunt as I miss all of their blows.

I try to poke them but they miss.

God dammit.

I swipe my legs underneath Ryker, making him fall hard to the ground. I then grab Grayson's wrist and kick him in the stomach. I turn around but when I do, Ash punches me in the face.

I grunt, blood dripping from my lips.

He should've gone for anything else, why the face?

"Not the face," I grunt. Now I'm pissed.

I take my knife and slice through Ash's arm and then I kick his knee, making him stumble and fall backward on Ryker.

Ryker shouts out in pain and I twist my legs backward, making contact with Jayden's face. He grunts and I take the knife in my hand, I throw it to his chest but he catches it in his hands. Blood drips down from his hand where he holds the blade.

He smirks and throws the same knife toward me and it flies straight into my foot.

I shout out in pain and fall to the floor, holding my leg, hard.

"Agent Peréz, change of plans. Do not kill him. We are sending backup right now," she instructs through my earpiece and just then, a helicopter comes overhead, whirling.