Page 134 of Intent to Kill
The target approached a woman sunbathing on a pink towel underneath an umbrella. Removing his shirt, the target laid down on the towel, too, bracing himself on his elbows.
Adam snapped a picture. Not something a wife would want to see, but not good enough for blackmail either. Not yet.
From the corner of his eye, Adam spied Mercedes staring at him, her head darting back and forth between the water and his face, her mouth turning in false starts.
“What?” he asked, scrunching his nose.
“Nothing.” She snapped her head back to the ocean.
His kept his eye at the lens, snapping picture after picture. “Spit it out.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“I just said you could,” he smirked, removing the lens only long enough to look at her sidelong.
“Why did you come back? Whyreally?”
Fuck, such a direct question. A much heavier one than he expected. He could’ve come back to take down Dorian Blake at any point he wanted in the last five years… That was a truth he had barely admitted to himself, and now she was asking for it plain as day.
“Don’t lie to me,” she said, but not harshly, with gentleness. Like she was compelling him to release whatever weight of truth held him down.
He just wanted to clear the air between them, lift her spirits enough so that she might smile again. Though, clearly that hadn’t been her motivation for coming. Adam lifted the camera to his eye again. “I saw the newspaper.”
“The newspaper,” she repeated, nodding slowly. “Dorian announcing his candidacy? Well, you did say that. That you came back to stop him before he could become mayor. I guess you weren’t lying.” She smiled sadly and laughed without humor.
“I was lying,” Adam said in a no-nonsense tone as he kept his eye to the camera, snapping away. “I didn’t give a fuck about him becoming mayor.”
She whipped her head toward him, her mouth wide open.
Dropping the camera from his sight, he turned to face her. “I was so afraid. For so long. I... tried to come back before but I couldn’t.” He watched her breath quicken. “Then, I read the newspaper. You were engaged. And something in me finally snapped. Despite how afraid I felt. How fucking unprepared I was... I packed up my shit that night and drove right over state lines. Fear be damned.”
She clutched a hand to her heart. “But—but you...came back here to kill Dorian Blake.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “And I will. But not because he is about to be the mayor.”
Adam chanced a look to the beach. The target and the woman were now hand in hand jogging away. Impeccable timing.
“The target’s headed for the sand dunes,” Adam said, lightly frowning. He pushed off the railing and secured the camera around his neck. Just once, he dared to look up at her. Knowing that if she so much as gave him a nod, he would throw that camera in the water, fuck the consequences, and lose everything to do whatever she wanted of him.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Something like longing, an ache, pounded in his heart. But still he followed her lead along the boardwalk.
The sand dunes were the perfect place to engage in hidden, nefarious activities. The only vantage point to see into them was from up high, on the rocks. Though it was such a steep climb, surrounded by jagged white tips of water, that no one dared venture onto them.
But they weren’t just anyone—and the rocks had them barely working up a sweat.
Atop the final peak, Adam held out a hand to Mercedes. Accepting his offer, he pulled her the last of the way up.
They sat down on the rock as Adam began snapping pictures again. The target and the woman had thrown caution to the wind. Through the lens he had a clear shot of her head in the target’s lap.
He knew his lens was focused and they had the evidence needed, so while he snapped away, his mind went somewhere else.
Back tohisquestion. One he’d been far too afraid to ask. But since she had asked him to open up, maybe her heart was finally warm enough to do the same.
“Can I ask you something?” Adam said.
“I suppose, since we’re friends.” She nudged him gently.
