Crowed (Team Zero #2) - Rina Kent Page 0,39

night. I close it and pull on the curtains. If we’re staying here, I need to tighten the security. Needless to say, Eloise won’t be going back to work for now. Or ever. If I convince her to leave.

On my way back to the stairs, my phone vibrates on the coffee table. Could be Storm.

My muscles lock as I stare at the screen. It’s not Storm. It’s the one person I swore to never belong to any more.

Hades.

I clear my throat and answer. “Crow speaking.”

“Crow.” His voice is as composed as I remember. Posh. Plummy. There is no way anyone would guess that such a refined-sounding gentleman is the keeper of hell. “How is your holiday in Southern France?”

“I wouldn’t call it a holiday, but it’s fine.” I lean against the table’s edge, fingering my gun. I never needed a distraction whenever I talked to Hades, but now, I fucking do.

All I think about is that he took years of my existence and moulded me into his own killing machine. It might’ve not been a happy life before, but it belonged to me. That orange cat, those dirty slums, and that Russian mother were my identity. Hades erased them all, leaving me as nobody.

Not to mention that the monsters he created, Team Zero, are now threatening the only thing that makes me feel like a person again. I found someone to belong with and she’s become a target. I don’t care if Hades is the carer of hell, if he endangers the life I’ve found, I’ll make it my job to crumble that hell over his fucking head.

“You will be out of France in a week,” he says in an absent-minded voice as if he’s preoccupied with something else. “I need you to kill the Rhodes. Every one of them is worth ten million. Bring me their heads and you might get more. I expect results.”

The line goes dead. Hades only calls to dictate orders. Nothing else deserves his time.

I don’t give a fuck about the Rhodes. In fact, I respect them for wreaking havoc in Hades’ hell. No matter how much he tries, The Pit’s assassins will continue to defect. Sooner or later, Hades will be the only one left in his hell.

I lean against the table, fingers tapping on the wood. But how do I escape Hades? Not only would he hunt me down if I defect, but also, that fucker Ghost placed a Joker card on Eloise. She’s a target now. I’ll be a target if I defect. And I’ll defect. I just need to think of a good strategy to do it. First, I need to make Hades believe I’m after the Rhodes.

As for Eloise, the only way I can think of protecting her is to drag her by force and escape to the other end of the world. But I’m delusional if I think that Team Zero won’t catch up to us. It’s our thrill to track and hunt.

Besides, do I want to force her on an endless, dangerous run after she’s finally trying to live? I can handle that type of life, but she can’t. She’s always loved her home. It would devastate her if she can’t look at her grandfather’s picture and tell him she loves him or write notes to put in that big jar she’s been hiding from me.

An urgent need to see her face overwhelms me. Once I hold her close and sink into her warmth, things will become better. I might even find a solution to this whole fucking mess.

After taking two steps, I freeze. My entire body leaps to attention. The wind blows the curtains away from the window. The same window I closed not long before. I know, even before seeing it, that he’s here.

In Team Zero, only two members use the wind and nature’s elements to their advantage: Ghost and Shadow. With all the evidence pointing in his fucking way, it can only be one person.

Ghost.

I lunge towards my gun and point it at the shadows where he always lurks. Instead of attacking, he strolls out of his hideout, hand in his pocket and a relaxed expression on his face. He’s even wearing that pressed suit like he’s attending a fucking fashion show in Paris.

“Chill, mate. I’m not here to kill.”

I don’t release my gun. “Then what the fuck are you here for?”

“A deal?”

I keep my weapon pointed at him, trying to read the lines of his face. His brown eyes are cool, posture is completely