J A K E

I slid the photo out of the frame and flipped it over. On the back, a date was written in looping cursive: 16 November; fifth anniversary.

"They've been together for more than five years?" Tesla read over my shoulder, "How is this even possible? I mean, how did he keep this a secret from everyone?"

"Not everyone."

She gave me a look. "You knew."

"More or less."

"How did you - No, I'm not even going to bother asking that. How is this even possible?" she stammered in shock.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Your confusion as to what she sees in him is the same as mine."

"Maybe he's threatening her to stay with him."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Wait," she said and turned to face me. "You're planning something for her."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You're going to do something horrible to her in order to hurt Hundsen. What are you planning?"

"I'll think of something." I already had a very vivid picture of her mutilated, dead body in this very room before a grief-stricken Hundsen. He'd finally know how I felt.

She scoffed. "I hope she deserves it."

"If she's with Hundsen, helping and abetting his tyranny, then she does."

"Is that so?" Tesla asked in a quiet voice as she began to walk out of the bedroom. I followed her.

The next room we wandered into was Hundsen's home office. I knew that if there was any information on his current location, it would be here. Making a path straight to the massive wood-carved desk, I was determined to ransack every last drawer for a clue.

I pulled open the first drawer and found that it was filled with filed Manila folders. The one above it was as well. Tesla opened the other two and found that, they too, were file cabinets.

"You're going to have to look through all of these for information," she said as she shuffled through the folders.

"Maybe not." I moved on to the small drawer with a lock on it. As I'd presumed, it was locked. A thin icicle formed in my hand at my command and I gently shoved it into the lock. After a few moments of working the lock, the drawer slid open.

Inside was another handgun laying on top of a stack of papers. I pulled the papers out from under the weapon, making it clatter to the bottom of the drawer.

"These are what I came for," I stated, knowing that Hundsen had wanted these papers kept secret for a reason.

"What if he planted them as a trap?" Delphinium asked. "A person like Hundsen would take every precaution to not be found out like this."

"True, in any other circumstance than this one," I told her as we began walking back down the stairs. "You know what Hundsen's biggest flaw is?"

"His shockingly evil nature?"

"He's prideful. He believes that no one can touch him or his business, especially in his own home. It will be his downfall."

She shook her head. "But Hundsen's not stupid. You're telling me that it's not at all suspicious to you that there are no bodyguards, no people patrolling the house in his absence? Hundsen knows that you're after him; he wouldn't leave his house unprotected like this."

"He didn't. I just delayed the guards from arriving until later." I glanced up at a clock hanging on the wall. "They should be here in less than ten minutes."

"Why wouldn't you say that earlier?" she asked, alarmed, quickening her pace as she led me to the front doors. "Quick, get out." The door slammed behind me and I heard her twist the lock.

In no time, she'd vaulted over the side gate and joined me in the car. I drove it back out of the neighborhood without any unfortunate encounters with the guards. The papers sat safely in the backseat of the car.

"So," Tesla said, turning to face me, "You really think we should use Hunt as bait for the masked assassin?"

"Yeah," I answered, keeping my eyes on the dark road. "He's one of their biggest targets. It will be easy to utilize that in our favor."

"We'd need to spread the word to the right people to get the assassin to take the bait, wherever we decide Hunt will be."

"Luckily, I know the right people to slip the information to."

"Some of the others are not going to like this plan," Tesla warned, clasping her hands together. "Especially right after Hunt was almost killed by the same assassin."

"This time, we'll be ready. We will know who the real target is."

I heard her let out a small sigh. "The hardest part of this will be convincing Hunt to go along with it."

But I disagreed. "He may be unflinchingly businesslike, but he is an honorable man. He'll be willing to do the right thing." I scoffed. "Honorable people are so easy to manipulate."

She let out a dry chuckle. "Easy for someone with no honor to say."

"If having no honor helps me gain in power and money, then I want to be the most dishonorable man there ever was."

Tesla laughed again, this time for real. The sound filled the car.

Throughout my life, I'd slaughtered my enemies without mercy, been one of the youngest crime lords in the country and found wealth and power through the gang I'd led. So why did making her laugh feel like my most treasured accomplishment?

No. No, it wasn't. I thought of the night I'd ripped out Hundsen's eye. I remembered the time I'd buried a bullet into Dmitri Orozco's head. And now, I'd successfully found Hundsen's home. Those were my greatest accomplishments, nothing involving the assassin.

There had been a comfortable silence in the car before Tesla asked quietly, "Do you think he loves her?"

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. "What?"

"Hundsen. Do you think he loves his wife?"

That was an easy one. "No." There was no doubt in my mind that he was either married to her for some political reason or for more power. That was all there was to it.

"Why not? Hundsen is human too."

I chuckled without smiling. You really think that deep down somewhere inside that wretched monster, lies the ability to love her?"

"Even a monster has a heart."

"Not all of them. You especially should know that. In this line of business, with the things you see and do, not everyone can find it in themselves to care. Sacrifices have to be made for power."

A moment went by before she asked softly, "What did you have to give up?"

The words flowed smoothly from my mouth. "I had to give up everything tied to weakness. Kindness, mercy, trust. Those things will get you killed."

"What about love?"

"What?" I said for the second time, taken aback. Looking over at her, I saw that she wasn't turned towards me. Instead, she was looking up at the stars through the window. They were especially bright tonight; the night breeze had cleared away all the clouds.

"You heard me."

"Love is weakness. Loving something means that you have something to lose. And in this line of work, it will be. It's gone, with the rest of the weakness. Anything that could bring me down, any ties to my former self, I cut out of myself. Hundsen did that too, that's why he's so hard to shake."

After a moment I found myself asking, "Haven't you done the same?" I didn't know what made me say it. I cursed myself the second the words came out.

She took a moment to answer. I wanted her to tell me no. I wanted to hear her say that she was stone cold. I wanted her to admit that she was a monster like I was.

"Sometimes I think they've taken everything from me, including my heart. But other times...I feel things...and I'm not so sure that's true." I could feel her eyes on me. I kept my own straight ahead.

The air in my chest felt oddly tight. Why did I feel the urge to ask her what feelings she had that she wanted gone?

Tesla sighed. "It's a difficult world out there, isn't it? The way it takes everything from you?"

I was perfectly composed again and glad to be off the previous topic. "Not if you have enough power to control it."

Neither of us spoke on the rest of the drive home.