Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(82)

“No. But you have to know this girl has got to have security practically feeding her breakfast. Not to mention she probably has fifteen financial advisors and lawyers that will make actually getting to her money impossible.”

“So are you saying you can’t do this job? That you refuse?”

Ahhhh. And here it was.

Understanding dawned like the sun of a new day.

He was dolling out my punishment in the form of a job. He assigned me a Target that would practically guarantee failure. Failure would get me Recalled, would get my soul pulled out of my body and sent into an empty vast space of nothingness for all eternity. A place where I could hear the tortured wails of those lost around me, a place where I could think but feel nothing but pain, and a place where I would know no peace ever.

And if I refused this job?

Same thing. So here was an interesting dilemma. I could refuse and get Recalled. I could fail and get Recalled. Or I could pull off the most impossible kill in the history of escorting and I could make Mr. Death himself finally realize who he was attempting to mess with.

Really, there was no dilemma at all.

“You know this job is going to take longer. To infiltrate the camp of this woman, of this family… it isn’t something I can do overnight.”

G.R.’s eyes gleamed. “Yes, I’m aware. I’ll give you six months.”

I kept my face smooth, my posture relaxed as his timeline sucker punched me in the gut. Six months? That was insane. A job of this magnitude would take a year. I underestimated just how angry I had made him.

My eyes slid to the bowl of light-colored stones that sat on the corner of his desk. The stones that he always left in exchange for a life that he took. Once a stone was placed, the death—the end of a life—was sealed. There was no getting out of it.

Except for once.

Turns out if you can manage to break the stone, then you break the claim of the Grim Reaper. One of the new Escorts figured it out. It got him Recalled. It got me into this predicament.

“I want more than my usual cut,” I said. Punishment or not, if I pulled this off I wanted what I earned. “Ten million.”

“That’s a lot of money,” G.R. replied, leaning back in his chair as he appraised me. “You’re in no position to be making demands.”

I shrugged. “You’re convinced I’ll fail anyway. Who cares how much I ask for?”

Again, he rested chin atop his fingers. “Fine. Ten million.”

I resisted the urge to smile.

“You get six months. Get into her life. Get into her bank accounts. Make sure when she is dead, it’s all yours. And if you succeed…” He paused and looked at me. “Then I’ll overlook your betrayal.”

My betrayal? He acted like I was the one who broke his claim, who bested him. All I did was keep my mouth shut. If I had known I was going to be punished like this, then I would’ve made it worth it.

“Fine. I’ll take the job.” Like I really had a choice.

G.R. clapped his hands like a kid on Christmas morning. “Wonderful.”

Yeah, great. Not only was I given the most impossible Target ever, but I was also being sentenced to this icy, dark prison that was Alaska.

I gripped the file and headed for the door. I was ready to go.

“Oh, Charming,” G.R. called behind me.

I turned.

“You remember the rules. You fail, you get Recalled. You get caught or put in jail, I won’t come get you. I’ll let you rot in a cell until your body dies or you get out, and then I’ll come get you… to Recall you. Basically, if you do anything but complete the job, life as you know it is over.”

I left the room, closing the massive double wooden doors behind me. I took a moment to lean against them, sagging under the weight of this new assignment. I allowed myself maybe thirty seconds of wallowing before pushing away from the door and straightening.

He thought he had me. He thought he had a way—a reason—to finally get the best of me.

He was wrong.

Game on.

Want to read more of Charming and Frankie’s story?

Download Charmed now!