The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 61

Kaelen's lips formed the words. The red house. The signal was absolute. The mission was compromised. They were the targets.

Evelyn's training, the cold, dispassionate logic of Shadow, screamed at her to run. Her mind instantly mapped out a dozen different extraction protocols.

But she looked at Martha Gable. She saw the genuine, grandmotherly concern etched on the woman's face as she watched Evelyn's feigned panic over a non-existent ring.

This wasn't a digital battlefield. This was about a terrified woman who had been living a half-life for eighteen years because of her.

Evelyn felt no fear. Instead, a cold, predatory excitement bloomed in her chest. These amateurs had no idea what they had just walked into.

They thought they were hunters. In reality, they were lambs walking into an abattoir.

Grey and his team were ghosts in this crowd, an invisible net waiting to be drawn tight.

A cold, thin smile touched Evelyn's lips. She turned to Martha, her voice a gentle, reassuring murmur that belied the ice in her veins. "It seems some uninvited guests have arrived."

Martha's eyes widened with confusion. "Guests? Who, dear? Do you see friends of yours?"

"Not exactly friends," Evelyn said, her smile widening slightly. "Let's move our conversation to a more private venue. And perhaps watch a little show while we're at it."

With a flick of his wrist, as if he were skipping a stone across a pond, he sent the entire plate flying.

The makeshift projectile spun through the air in a perfect, unerring arc. It connected with the assassin's face with a wet, satisfying smack.

The man staggered backward. His professional composure shattered as his eyes, nose, and mouth were instantly filled with a thick, sticky layer of vanilla frosting, rainbow sprinkles, and cheap, sugary cake.

He was blinded, sputtering, wiping furiously at his face. He was a professional killer, reduced to a sputtering clown in a single, humiliating moment.

The second man froze, his hand instinctively reaching for the weapon hidden under his fleece vest.