“I fucking hate what I do.” 

Standing by the kitchen table while Donny did my makeup for the mission, I found my fingers itching to pull the trigger while my gun was against my head.  

“Aw, honey,” Donny tilted my head from side to side to examine his work, “You don't mean it...Anyways, you look gorgeous if I do say so myself, which I do.” 

Donny laughed at himself and stared moving down the length of my body to adjust the slutty dress I wore. 

“How am I supposed to hide a gun on my person if the dress that I’m wearing is so tight, it’s practically melding with my skin?!” 

He chuckled and lifted the tight hem just enough to reveal the thin band holding a knife against my inner thigh.  

“I think you’ll manage just fine,” he laughed loudly and turned to grab his yogurt from the table. 

I growled and grabbed my purse, double checking to make sure I had everything. Taser, silenced handgun, smoke bomb, lip gloss. All there and accounted for. 

“Please make sure Alek and Bex eat,” I tucked a loose stand of hair behind my ear as I made my way to the door, “And don’t bully Mark if he comes over.” 

Donny smiled widely, “Oh, that cutie? I only mess with him cause he’s so adorable, you know that.” 

I rolled my eyes, “But he doesn’t.” 

As I stepped out into the street, narrowly avoiding a rogue police cruiser, I pulled out my phone to look for the address they had given me for pick up. I made it there two minutes early, grumbling about how I should have brought my assault rifle as a truck full of topless men threw half-assed catcalls to me. 

Just as I reached into my purse to pull out my handgun and go full ape-shite on those fools, a sleek white car pulled up, the driver rolling down the window cautiously. 

“Miss Vik? The hire?” 

I nodded and slipped into the back seat, scanning the interior of the fancy car for weapons or hidden triggers. The driver seemed to notice my standoffish behavior and smiled politely in the rear-view mirror. 

“Everything is all set for you, miss,” he pointed to the seat next to me and I reached under pulling out a mini duffel bag.  

“More supplies?” my lips parted in a wide grin before I could stop myself, “The Kill really wants me prepped for this mission, huh?” 

The driver seemed to flinch before recovering, his eyes never leaving the road, “Your purse wouldn’t have been enough, miss. They insisted on the duffel instead.” 

His words prompted a laugh from me as I slipped the duffel back under the seat next to me, “If I pulled up with a full duffel, I would be killed instantly,” He looked back for just a split second before returning his attention to the road ahead of him, “This purse is more than enough.” 

He sighed and opened the dashboard, pulling out a thin tablet and handing it to me. I took it and scrolled through, my eyes widening and my grin growing until my cheeks hurt from it.  

On the screen, a map of the Casino Noir glowed, and little dots (all moving around casually) indicated guards stationed around the outer perimeter, all four interior levels, and crowded in a room that I could only guess contained my targets and the young man I was to retrieve.  

“About 30 armed men are stationed strategically to detect all Kill personnel that enter the premises,” The driver’s voice wavered with something like doubt, “I have heard of the stunts that you have pulled, and I know that you are good... but you are not the first confident Kill hire or agent that I have picked up.” 

I reached up and patted his shoulder in reassurance, “But I will be that last.”  

The driver chuckled and sighed, “I sure hope so, miss.” 

The Casino Noir, a huge black glass building with several terraces and roofs, seemed to welcome me with bright, vibrant lights pouring from its threshold. I could hear the heavy bass of music before I had made it to the sprawling entrance. The bouncer, a boulder-like man with a wild head of ginger curls, motioned me forward as I plastered a shy look on my face. 

“Guest?” his voice was rather high pitched for his size almost making me burst out laughing and blow the whole mission, “or do you have a reservation?” 

I cleared my throat in the daintiest manner I could muster and tucked my hair behind my ear, “Guest,” I murmured, looking up at him with a shy smile, “My friends are waiting for me inside... It’s my first time and they wanted to show me around, b-but I have to meet with a very special friend...h-he said he had a surprise for me...” 

My rambling threw him off just enough to make him blush lightly, “A-all right then miss, you have a good time,” I grinned and batted my eye lashes, reaching into my purse and slipping him a one-hundred-dollar bill before stepping into the building. I looked back just in time to see him pocket the tip with a flush creep up his neck. 

I giggled to myself and looked around, feigning my curiosity as I made my way deeper into the thick air of the casino. 

Many men and women wore only skimpy costumes, serving drinks and dealing cards to the guests. One of these beautiful men sashayed passed me, a glint in his eye as he surveyed me from a few meters away. 

“Hello there.” I approached him first, a shy smile glittering on my painted lips, “I was wondering where I could find Mr. O’brien? I was supposed to meet him ten minutes ago in the brothel, but my poor driver was sick...” I managed to bring tears to my eyes, and I could feel my cheeks growing pink. 

The beautiful man blushed and brought a hand to his delicate mouth, “Aw, you poor, pretty thing! Let's get you to the white room.”  

He led the way, swiftly weaving through crowds of heavily perfumed people. As we passed though sweeping arches and under flower decorated balconies, I found myself making a metal reminder to come back to the stunning casino when I wasn’t dressed as a stripper, about to kill some people.  

The beautiful man grabbed my hand, pulling me up a flight of stairs until we reached a set of huge French doors painted with gold designs of butterflies and flowers. We entered and the man waved a slender woman over. She was dressed in nothing but a silk robe that barely covered anything and flowed around her like water as she approached. 

“Demitri, darling, who is this gorgeous little thing?” Her accent was thick and added to the air of drama around her. 

“She’s here for Mr. O’brien,” the woman frowned and pulled out a tablet, her frown quickly replaced with a snarl. 

“That bastard’s been tearing apart our girls all week,” she looked up at me with sympathy as I willed my eyes to widen and tear up, “Poor girl is walking straight into the belly of the beast.” 

I made a small noise and clutched my purse, pretending to be frightened as I laughed internally.  

“I-I’ll be fine...”  

The beautiful man looked at me with pity, as did the woman as she led me up another set of stairs to a landing. She walked me past several dozen guards, all heavily armed and standing at attention just as the driver had said. I smiled at one of the men, a smaller guy with grey eyes that tracked mine as we passed. He smiled back slightly, and I feigned a blush, my internal laugh turning into a howl as he cleared his throat and straightened back to attention. 

The woman had led me to a door painted a baby blue with guards on either side. They stared at me as the woman knocked and waited patiently for a large man to open the door and at least eight more guards to come pouring through out of the threshold. As I looked up at him, I felt my stomach turn and my heart race; target number one. 

“Mr. O’brien! This lovely thing is here to see you,” the woman swallowed hard as she nudged me forward. 

I stared at the middle-aged man who stood almost as tall as the door. His face was clean shaven and rather handsome, but his eyes shined with malicious intent.  

O’brien grinned to reveal perfectly white teeth, “c’mon in then,” he placed a large hand on the small of my back and guided me into the dimly lit room.  

At a table on the far end of the room sat three more men, all burly and menacing. I restrained a grin as I recognized two of them as my targets. But as I looked around the room with mock interest, I couldn’t find the young man I was to extract.  

I nearly flinched as a heavy hand touched my head, smoothing down my already perfect hair. Looking up into the smiling face of O’brien, it took all my willpower not to just shoot them all right there, right then. Instead, I smiled back in a shy manner, batting my lashes innocently. 

God, I am too good at this! 

“Who’s the pretty accessory tonight, Harlow?” 

The man who had spoken was not one of my targets, but I recognized him as O’brien’s right-hand man from my mission file. His left arm was missing, and a large scar rose from his shirt and up his neck, stopping just above his eyebrow.  

“Just a treat for later,” He took a seat and patted his leg, motioning for me to sit on his lap, “Ain’t that right, darlin’?” 

I almost gagged as I perched myself on his leg and leaned into him in an intimate way. I glanced up, feeling even more sick as he grinned down and wrapped an arm around my waist. 

“She sure is beautiful,” Another man, one of my targets, reached over and touched one of my curls gingerly with his sausage fingers, “Real exotic lookin’...” 

O’brien smacked his hand away, snarling like a wild dog, “Let’s get started.”