Page 3 of Reverence

I stood my ground. “Arrogant. Brazen. Insolent.” I retorted. “That’s what you are.” He stopped in front of me, towering over me again.

I craned my neck, glaring at him. I wanted to wipe that smug look off his face and I nearly followed through with my inner thoughts.

“Ask me if I give a fuck about what you think of me?”

“I would but I don’t care about anything you have to say.” I spat, turning around swiftly.

Within seconds he grabbed my ponytail again, tugging me back. However, this time his grip was gentle but firm.

“One day that smart mouth of yours will land you in some serious trouble, bruja.” I spun around, forcefully pulling his hand away from my hair.

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” He pushed me away, making me stumble backward. “Did I strike a nerve?”

His blank expression faltered for a split second, anger brewing in his eyes.

He glanced at me for a few seconds, swiping his thumb across his bottom lip. “No.”

He laughed humorlessly. “When are you going to realise that your words mean nothing to me, Rivera?” He didn’t hesitate to exit the training area, slamming the door shut behind him.

I released a heavy sigh, envisioning myself slamming that door against his skull repeatedly.

Two

Amala

“Nicolas and Mariana, you two will handle the kidnapping case in Icarus, Kayden and Trevor will be in charge of the cybersecurity breach in Lacrimosa, Amala and Ares will be on administrative duty.”

My eyes snapped to Asher’s but I remained silent, observing him from the back of the room.

I bit my tongue, I couldn’t afford to be classified as insubordinate.

Ares’ frown deepened and that’s one thing that filled me with immense satisfaction. His demise happened to bring me feelings of blissfulness.

I blinked slowly, dissociating from the meeting. A bad habit that I couldn’t seem to break.

Administration didn’t require my full attention, unless there was important documentation that was unsupervised which was highly unlikely.

“Yes, Ares,” Asher said, nodding his head to indicate the man could speak.

“Sir, with all due respect,” my eyes shifted to the sound of the voice and I gazed at him with a straight face despite my violent intrusive thoughts towards him. “I don’t understand why I’m being assigned to administration.”

Even though he hadn’t uttered the words, I could immediately sense the incomplete sentence.

He probably wanted to question why we’d been partnered yet again.

“Would you really like to discuss the logistics right now, Valiente?” Nicolas and Kayden looked in their friend’s direction, seemingly aware of the logistics.

“Yes, sir.” he challenged.

The formality added a sense of respect but everyone knew how defensive Ares could become, especially when something didn’t go according to his plan.

Asher stepped forward, holding both hands behind his back.

His demeanor screamed authoritative and the stern facial expression made it clear that he didn’t want to be questioned on his choice of assignment.

“You’re incapable of working as part of a team. You’ve always been a lone wolf—determined to do everything yourself, answer to no one, and operate on your own terms. This position requires the exact opposite.”

Ares’ jaw ticked.