But I do regret it now. Now that I know why she wants Alex dead. Alex is the princess’s dirty secret. The stillborn she supposedly had nineteen years ago wasn’t actually a stillborn after all. It was Alex. And Lisa Carmichael, the woman Alex has called “mother” all her life, is actually the midwife who helped deliver her.

Lisa was supposed to take newborn Alex to a local hospital and claim to have found her abandoned near a dumpster. But Lisa had something else in mind. She kept Alex hidden until she and her husband, Joe Carmichael, could get certified as foster parents. Then she mysteriously found a four-month-old baby behind the hospital. They took Alex in as their first foster child and eventually adopted her. That’s when Lisa started blackmailing the princess.

When Alex turned eighteen, the princess refused to make her annual extortion payment. That’s when Lisa and Joe got desperate and their greed drove Alex away. Which only presented the perfect opportunity for Princess Amica to finally get rid of her dirty secret.

The only thing standing in her way was her ex-Black Ops father who never let Alex out of his sight.

That’s when they called me.

I come out onto the street where the open-air market is lively with merchants and patrons haggling over fish, produce, and textiles. Since I arrived on the island yesterday, I’ve taken the time to acquaint myself with almost everyone in the town of Los Llanos on the other side of the island where I keep my boat docked. You never know when someone will turn from acquaintance to ally.

I continue down the narrow street until I pass the last booth in the market and come upon a fishing supply store. A bell rings when I enter the shop and the young girl behind the counter looks up from her magazine.

“Buenos dias.”

She casts a bashful smile in my direction as she closes her magazine and sits up straight. “Buenos dias, señor.”

Her light-brown hair hangs over her shoulder in a messy braid and her green eyes are practically flashing signals at me. She looks like a sweet girl who probably just wants to be fucked by a foreigner, but I’m not interested. She’s pretty, but she’s not my Alex.

I flirt with her a little so she gives me the fresh bait from the tank in the back of the store. Mackerel are actually quite delicious to eat. They’re not just bait for larger fish.

I take the bag of mackerel from her and flash her a warm smile. “Gracias.”

She leans over the counter, trying to show me her cleavage. “Hasta luego.”

I head out and through the market again. Alex will no doubt be taking a long nap right now to rid herself of the impure thoughts she’s having of me. So it should be safe to walk down the street. Not that she’d recognize me.

I’ve grown my usual four days of scruff out to a thick eight-day beard. And I’ve changed out of the clothing I was wearing when I had to save her life this morning. Now I’m wearing a tourist T-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, sunglasses, and a fisherman’s hat.

As observant and vigilant as Alex is, she misses a lot of obvious signs that she is being played. She didn’t know that I was watching her right now as she screamed my name while caressing her wet pussy. That was quite a show.

It was difficult not to climb in her window and fuck her properly. It’s even more difficult not to get in there and taste her. My craving for her is so strong it’s painful. But I can’t make my presence known yet. I have to debrief Crow and set my plan into motion first.

Crow has been keeping an eye on Alex for me this past week while I was in Monaco. And I do not like the news he’s given me about this new romance she has herself caught up in. Nicolas Costa.

I chuckle to myself as I pass the convenience store at the end of the street. All Alex has to do is think of me and she comes. According to Crow, poor Nicolas couldn’t even get past first base when Alex was drunk. He’s a pathetic excuse for a man. And an even more pathetic excuse for a bounty hunter.

But I’m not worried about Nicolas hurting Alex. And I’m even less afraid of Alex falling for Nicolas. Alex will be mine again. I just have to make sure I approach her cautiously and at precisely the right moment. The only problem is I’ve been given a deadline.

Since I failed to deliver on my promise to kill Alex in Los Angeles, I’ve been given two weeks to kill her in La Palma. And my old friend Crow is eager to finish the job for me if I fail again. Twenty-million dollars is a lot of money. Even in the assassination business.

What they don’t know is that I don’t have two weeks. I have only one day to convince Alex not to get on that plane with Nicolas. I don’t care if the prince is genuinely working against his wife in an attempt to keep Alex safe. Crow won’t allow Alex to step off that plane in Monaco for a beautiful reunion with her biological father. Crow will take down that plane and every person on it to get that twenty-million.

When I turn onto Dolores Street, I’m pleased to see Nicolas working out his sexual frustration in his garden. I cross the street with a spring in my step and stop next to his gate.

“Hola, amigo!” Hello, friend.

He looks up from the dirt he was just probing with his shovel. “Hola.”

I proceed in Spanish and, I must admit, I’m quite impressed with my proclivity for foreign languages. “I noticed you moved in recently and you’ve already found yourself a beautiful friend from across the way.”

I wiggle my eyebrows, though I’m not sure he can see it under my sunglasses. His lips turn up slowly in a wary smile.

“Yes, do you know Alyssa?”

I shake my head. “No, sir. But if you really want to impress her, I have a boat you can charter.” I draw my knife out of my holster and use it to point toward the harbor where I’ll be mooring my boat later night. “If you’d like to take it out for a little while, I’m sure your girlfriend would find it very romantic. I’ll give you a special rate, since you’re my neighbor.”

Nicolas eyes the knife in my hand with even more unease. “Thank you, friend. I’ll keep that in mind.”

I give him my number then he continues digging his hole in the ground. I smile as he bends down and scoops up a dead crow. He drops the bird into the hole and begins piling the dirt on top of it.

“Watch out for those crows,” I call out. “They’re everywhere.”

***

I slap the two-pound sea bass onto the counter in my small galley kitchen. Sliding my boning knife into it’s belly, I cut it open and smile as the blood runs out onto the plastic cutting board. I rip out the guts with my hand and throw them into the waste bin at my feet.

As much as I don’t want to think about Carla, preparing my own dinner always makes me think of the night she left. I knew she was planning to leave me. But I couldn’t bring myself to care.

It had been one and a half years since I gave up my job as a hit man. I had just began working for the Los Angeles Police Department. Carla and I had moved into our apartment in Venice Beach recently and, all circumstances pointed to us having a happily ever after. But I was not a happy man.

Not only was I no longer doing the job that made me who I was, I was still grieving the results of my final job as a hit man. The only thing that made me feel partially alive was chasing a perp or fucking a beautiful woman. Carla was beautiful, but she wanted more from me than just a fuck. She wanted something I couldn’t give. And, after a hundred discussions about our future that went nowhere, and the countless disgusted looks she cast in my direction whenever she found empty condom wrappers in my pockets, she finally got fed up.

After I clean and sauté the fish, I sit down on a bench seat on the deck with my dinner plate and my glass of local wine and I watch Alex’s cottage. Moving the boat to this side of the island is part of the plan. As I finish my last bite of sea bass, Nicolas arrives at her door. Checking in on her to make sure his bounty doesn’t slip through his fingers. Maybe he’ll pretend he’s checking to see how her knee is doing.