Phoenix Knight [A Bad Boy Story] - Editing

Phoenix Knight POV - Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

My flight from France had landed only a couple of hours ago. I had spent the whole of yesterday preparing with Charlotte and today morning at exactly 14:01 (GMT +1), my mark dropped dead from a heart attack in a local cafe next to his place of work.

The night before, I had strapped on a climbing rope and harness as the beginning steps of my mission. Once safely secured, I descended onto an adjoining balcony in his apartment building. It was the penthouse so the task wasn’t hard, even at the dead of night.

My target was about to have dinner.

The mission briefing had stated that he always had a glass of wine with his evening meal so I had bought an identical bottle to the one he had recently purchased specifically for tonight. The difference between my costly red wine and his was that I had spiked the hoary beverage with an untraceable poison that caused victims to die from a natural cause, such as a heart attack or severe stomach flu.

He didn't even realise that with each sip of his red wine, he was bringing himself closer to death.

And I had to stay and wait to make sure he was no longer alive before I could fly back to England.

But now that I was back, the first place I went was Sadie's house. This morning had made me realise something and it was that I couldn’t live with myself if she died in my presence.

By associating herself with me, she was putting her life in danger. I couldn’t have it. I would never be able to live with myself if she was killed because of me.

And she needed to know that.

I had stayed fixed to a spot just outside her house for ten minutes before a plain, white school bus with a single blue stripe pulled to a stop in the distance and she stepped off. She walked with her head down but I brought her attention to myself when she was only meters away.

"You're dressed in normal clothes, I'm almost proud," I said. I let the slightest of smiles form on my lips.

Her jaw literally dropped. "What are you doing here?"

"Relax, Barbie." I chuckled softly. "It's just me, not the Second Coming of the Messiah."

She cleared her throat. "Yes, because the Second Coming of the Messiah might actually be something I would want to see."

I rolled my eyes. I actually rolled my eyes. It was completely against my will, I assure you. She was just being so childish! "You're not still angry with me for laughing at you once." She said nothing so I repeated myself. "Once, I laughed at you once."

"Yes, once, I heard you," she snapped.

But even though she was supposed to be angry, a slow smile spread across her face. My eyes were fixed on her mouth for a moment too long as I stared at that grin. I quite liked that grin...

To play off my brief lapse in attentiveness, I shrugged and responded in my most dismissive tone. "Suit yourself." And then I glanced at her foot and remembered her hilarious stumble a few days ago. Normally I would have laughed but I had a feeling she wouldn’t have liked that. "I see your ankle healed," I observed.

"Yeah..."

An awkward silence followed during which I stared around her neighbourhood like it was the most interesting place I had ever visited.

It felt wrong to tell her the truth out here so I just stayed silent and hoped that she would take the initiative and invite me in.

"It's – it's rather cold out...," she started anxiously. I looked at her and saw every symptom of anxiety clear on her face and in her stature. "Would you like to come in?"