The interior of Jane’s compact car felt like a pressure cooker. Her knuckles were white against the steering wheel as she navigated the morning traffic, her eyes darting between the road and the rearview mirror as if Ethan himself might just appear out of the asphalt to silence her."Mob. It has to be the mob," she muttered to herself, her voice raspy from a night of restless sleep and residual anger. "That bastard, he is no ordinary guy, he… he can’t be. There is no way that a nobody like that… a normal human being would be able to drive like that.”“Not to mention that he was driving through a hail of gunfire unless he had spent his entire life running from the law."She checked her speedometer, pushing it ten miles over the limit. She had to get to the facility before Ethan did. If he walked through those doors with that smug, untouchable expression, her window of opportunity would slam shut.‘Focus, Jane,’ she told herself, her conversation with herself in her head racing. ‘Yo

'John, I’m scared.’‘I saw something last night that I wasn't supposed to see.’ ‘I saw… I saw Ethan… and he… he was involved in something terrible.’‘I know I have my issues against him, but I didn't want to believe he was dangerous, but after what happened at the bridge, I think we’re all in danger just being in the same building as him.’ ‘You remember how I told you that he had handled those guards. That wasn't self-defense; that was… professional training.'‘And the men that you saw came around to look for him?’‘He denied it, and even managed to somehow pin whatever was going on on me, but you and I both know that something was not straight with that story.’‘Over seven hundred thousand dollars, John. Those men were willing to pay you over seven hundred thousand dollars to just get you to tell them if he was actually a worker at the facility.’‘Does that sound like a normal thing to do?’‘You know what, let’s even consider his claims about me being behind those men.’‘You have k

"A drowning rat?" she hissed, stepping around the pillar.The two speakers jumped, the guard almost dropping his radio. "Jane! How long have you been… Wait… We… We didn't… we were just…" They stammered, obviously caught off guard by Jane's sudden entrance. "You were just what? Celebrating?" Jane stepped into their personal space, her eyes wide and unblinking. The stare she held was soul-cutting, befitting of her personality."You think because some bar-room reject managed to string a few sentences together that my 'teeth are gone'? You think I’m weak?""Jane, calm down," the guard stammered, backing away. He was obviously terrified and it was evident in his behavior. "It’s 8:00 AM, we were just talking." That must've been the wrong word to say because nothing prepared him for Jane's next reaction. Even in his evident attempt to back away, Jane still pressured on."You don't get to talk!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. Her voice cut through the entire room instantly silencing eve

Jane began to pace, her hands moving as she wove a little too detailed a lie into the part she had witnessed, just to solidify it in her attempt to paint Ethan as a villain. "The news didn’t carry the full story of what had happened, but… it was a drug deal. It had to be.”“It is not news to anyone here that I have my issues with Ethan, yeah? So I’ve been watching him. And last night, I had been following him since he left the facility because I knew something was off.”“I followed him for a while till I saw them. Ethan and some shady looking men.”“They had met in the shadows near the docks, Ethan and those men. At first I was even worried for him, because… well, I didn’t see him as someone that will be involved with people like that.”“But as I watched, I noticed that he was unfazed. He looked like he had been doing it for a long time too, like he was not in the least bit scared of the kind of people around him.”“I was worried more for myself at that point, but I decided to stay.”

The lead Horseman didn't flinch as Alexander spoke, even though Alexander was obviously displeased with them. Another mercenary would have shrunk away, but not these three. Partly because they knew too much about the Cole Empire to be disposed of, but because they knew that not even their employees would be insane enough to do anything to them. They were too useful to the entire Russian Mafia federation to be killed off by just one family with no repercussions, even if that family in question quite literally owned them. He stood his ground, despite the visible hitch in his breathing from a cracked rib. "You… I wish I could say you lied to us, but I am guessing you were in the dark as well.” Alexander looked at him, waiting for him to make his point. “You know, at first, I thought that you had overpaid for a hit on a man you described as nothing but an office clerk," the mercenary growled, his voice a low rasp. "But now I see how wrong I was.” “Your offer for this job was no