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“Love, I stopped beating around the bush, can you try to do the same?”

“Fine I occasionally do this,” she said

“And by ‘this,’ you mean kill people?” I clarified

“Yes I kill people But like you, the ones who have it co The ones who have pockets so deep that they can make all their sins disappear The ones who not only think they are, but prove they are, above the law”

I guess it should have been a shocking revelation Maybe if I hadn’t seen how cool and confidently she’d raised that gun and pulled the trigger, I would have been shocked Everything about how she’d acted that night toldit And that it wasn’t some sort of crime of passion She’d been too cool and detached about it all Professionals performed like that People who took lives often acted that way

“Give me more,” I demanded

“It’s a long story”

“Turns out I have a lot of free ti out the chair with one shaky leg in need of fixing, turned it, sat down, and waited

“I grew up here,” she started, waving toward the city outside at large

“Figured as much”

“And growing up here, you have to get pretty tough, y’know?”

“Honestly, firsthand, I obviously don’t know, love, but I can iine”

“More so for a girl And especially for a girl who had no one to look out for her”

“Where were your parents?” I asked, wanting, needing so real from her

“Well, dear old Dad probably didn’t even stay the night, to be honest,” she told“My mom Huh There’s really no polite way to explain that yourmoney, is there?” I asked