A Matter Of Justice (Grey Justice #4)(7)

The waiter laughed at something Grey said, and she was struck as she often was by Grey’s effortless charm. No one was immune, most especially Irelyn herself.

The famous Grey Justice was a well-known figure everywhere. Dublin was no exception. He would receive preferential treatment. Never because he demanded or really even expected it. Grey simply had a way about him that others responded to. She had watched, both mesmerized and occasionally amused, as they’d traveled the world and the famous Justice charm had opened doors as if he had some kind of magical key.

“Irelyn? Are you ready to order?”

Always prepared, she answered with a polite smile for the waiter, “Yes. The mushroom risotto, please.”

She would wait until their meal ended before getting to the reason for their meeting. Grey had a tendency to forgo food if he became distracted. It was a little silly of her to want to continue to take care of him when very soon she wouldn’t see him again, but that was the nature of their relationship. For almost two decades, they had been taking care of each other, seeing to one another’s needs. Stopping wouldn’t happen until that last sliver of thread was severed.

The waiter left the table, and Grey settled back in his chair. “How are you, Irelyn?”

“Good. Busy. But that’s the way I prefer. And you?”

He cocked his head a little and then nodded as if acknowledging the more intimate discussion would occur after their meal.

Confirming her thoughts, he said, “I assume you heard that Ivy Roane is no longer a concern.”

“Yes, I heard. I was sorry Jonah had to do the deed, but one less assassin is always a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. Though I would have liked to have chatted with her a bit.”

“Is that right?”

“She looked almost identical to you.”

She tilted her head slightly. “Almost identical. Really? I wondered why she looked so familiar.”

“Still playing games, Irelyn?”

“Always.” The lack of humor in his eyes made her sigh. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Since the first one didn’t work out too well, he tried to create another Irelyn.”

“And as we both know, there can only be one Irelyn.”

“Yes. As you’ve said many times, one is more than enough.”

“One is all I’ve ever needed.”

She hated when he said things like that. It made her want to melt into his arms. To throw away every ounce of her resolve, forget about obligations and regrets. In Grey’s arms, the world always faded away. It had been like that from the beginning.

This meeting needed to have the exact opposite effect. Changing the subject was her only defense. “And I saw that Jonah and Gabriella were recently married. They make a lovely couple.”

“You know Gabriella?”

“Only from a distance. She seems delightful.”

“She is. I had hoped you could come to the wedding.”

“I was out of pocket, or I would have tried.”

“Ah yes, out of pocket. Such an odd term for what you are doing these days.”

“One term’s as good as the other.”

“Really? I think some are more appropriate than others. Perhaps Lone Avenger. The Assassin of Assassins has a nice ring to it.”

That he knew what she had done was no surprise. By necessity, she had not been discreet. Plus, Grey had informants all over the world.

“Hmm,” she said as though in serious consideration. “I was thinking something pithy, like The Assassinator. Think I’ll get some business cards printed up.”

“What the hell are you doing, Irelyn?”

“I’m having lunch with you, Grey.”

“Don’t.”

She was pushing him. Very soon, that charming veneer would crack, and the fury she could see hiding behind his eyes would erupt. Not that anyone but her would recognize it. Grey didn’t show anger like other people. She’d only ever seen full-blown fury in him once. The night that had changed them forever.

She pushed the dark memories away. They would do nothing now but distract her from her main purpose. She allowed herself a slight smile, an elegant, feminine shrug. “I’m just doing what I was designed to do.”

“You were not designed for this. You damn well know it.”

Did she? No. She had indeed been groomed for this. Grey had done everything he could to change her life, to reverse what had been done. To help her overcome her past. But then that had changed, too.

“You, more than anyone, know that’s not true.”

She told herself to stop the direction of the conversation. He would blame himself, and that wasn’t what she wanted. She was a grown woman, able to make her own decisions. Whatever she did, whatever her actions, she took full responsibility. She owned them, the good and the bad. Her past might have shaped her, but she was an adult. It had taken her years to acknowledge her choices and her mistakes. She wasn’t about to let anyone else take the blame. Not Hill Reed, the man she had both reviled and once loved.

Most especially, she would not allow Grey Justice to take the blame. He had saved her when she had deserved nothing but death.



Out of Irelyn’s view, Grey clenched his fist. Letting her see his pain would only make hers worse. He had told himself he wouldn’t regret what he had made her do. Regrets were for those with choices. He’d had few choices since he was a teenager. The decisions he had made hadn’t always been the right ones, but for him, they had been the only ones he could make. He lived by a certain code of rules. They were his rules and no one else’s. But he had made a decision for Irelyn…one she never would have made for herself. He still couldn’t say he regretted the decision, but he sure as hell regretted the hurt he’d caused.