They burst into the larger room, their faces pale white with absolute terror. They ran past Zade and Austin, who were still tied to the floor.

The remaining gang members in the main room stood up quickly. They grabbed their wooden clubs and daggers. They looked at their panicked friends in pure confusion.

"What are you talking about?" one of the men yelled. "How can the boss be dead? He went in there with a little girl! You are crazy!"

They didn’t believe it. They thought their friends were playing a stupid joke.

But then, they heard the soft, steady sound of footsteps walking slowly down the hallway.

Camilla walked out of the dark hallway and entered the main tavern room. She walked casually, twirling the bloody kitchen knife around in her fingers with expert, terrifying skill. Her face was smeared with a tiny bit of the leader’s blood.

The remaining men stared at her. They looked at the bloody knife. They finally realized their friends were telling the absolute truth. This small girl had just brutally slaughtered their leader.

Panic quickly set into the room. The gang members realized they were in extreme danger.

One of the men decided to take control of the situation. He needed leverage. He needed a hostage to force this crazy girl to back down.

The thug rushed forward. He grabbed Zade Kennedy roughly by his torn white shirt. He pulled Zade’s head backward. The thug pulled out a sharp dagger and pressed the cold metal blade directly against the soft skin of Zade’s throat.

Zade, who still had the dirty rag gagging his mouth, let out a muffled grunt of pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing to die.

"Stop right there!" the thug shouted at Camilla.

His hand was shaking, causing the dagger to press dangerously close to Zade’s main artery. "I will kill him! I will kill him right now since you didn’t bring the money! Drop the knife, or your brother dies!"

Camilla stopped walking instantly.

The playful, casual smile vanished entirely from her face. Her expression completely changed. The air around her seemed to turn freezing cold. Her face darkened into a terrifying mask of fury.

If there was one thing the Black Widow hated more than anything else in the entire world, it was being threatened by weak men.

"I hate being threatened," Camilla said. Her voice was no longer loud. It was a deadly, quiet whisper that carried across the entire room.

The thug holding Zade opened his mouth to shout another threat. He tightened his grip on the dagger.

As the man was talking, Camilla simply shifted her weight, pulled her right arm back, and threw the bloody kitchen knife.

She put every ounce of strength her weak body possessed into the throw.

The kitchen knife spun rapidly through the air, aimed directly at the thug’s head.

THUNK!!!

It was a loud, heavy, sickening sound. The blade of the kitchen knife buried itself perfectly, hilt-deep, directly into the absolute center of the thug’s forehead.

The man stopped talking instantly. His eyes crossed, looking at the wooden handle sticking out from between his eyebrows. His brain was destroyed in a millisecond.

His hand went completely limp. The dagger fell away from Zade’s throat and clattered onto the wooden floor.

The thug’s body swayed backward, completely stiff. He fell to the ground like a heavy tree falling in a forest. He hit the floorboards, bleeding to death instantly as a massive pool of dark blood rushed out around his head.

The remaining three gang members stared at the dead man on the floor. They looked at the knife buried in his skull. They realized they were fighting a demon, not a girl.

They did not say another word. They dropped their clubs and knives. They turned around, pushed the front door of the tavern open, and ran for their lives into the streets of the lower city, screaming in absolute terror.

The Old Man’s Rye Tavern was completely silent again.

Zade and Austin sat on the dirty floor. Their mouths were opened wide in pure, total shock throughout the entire sudden execution. They had watched the knife fly through the air and kill a man instantly.

They were shocked, but Zade was especially stunned. He stared at the dead man lying just two feet away from him. He stared at the kitchen knife. He slowly turned his head to look at his sister.

He never, ever expected his older sister to be such a total badass. The sister he knew was a crying, helpless girl who cared only about pretty dresses and her cold husband. The woman standing before him was a highly trained, absolutely lethal warrior.

Camilla sighed softly, brushing a stray red curl away from her scratched cheek.

She walked calmly across the room toward the dead thug. She stepped her leather boot firmly down onto the dead man’s chest to hold his body steady. She grabbed the wooden handle of the knife. With a sharp pull and a wet squelch, she removed the knife from his head.

She wiped the bloody blade cleanly on the dead man’s dirty shirt.

She turned and walked over to Zade and Austin. She crouched down behind them. Using the sharp edge of the knife, she carefully cut the thick ropes binding their arms and chests. She set them free.

She reached around and quickly cut the dirty rag gagging Zade’s mouth.

Zade coughed and gasped for fresh air. He rubbed his bleeding, rope-burned wrists.

Camilla stood up. She looked down at Zade’s friend, who was still shaking violently on the floor.

"Austin," Camilla spoke. Her voice was a firm, commanding order. She was back in complete control.

Austin, terrified of the beautiful killer standing over him, scrambled forward immediately. He pushed himself up onto his knees.

"Yes, my lady!" Austin replied quickly, his voice shaking with fear and respect.

Camilla pointed the knife toward the open front door of the tavern.

"Take Zade home," Camilla instructed him clearly. "Get him out of this lower city immediately. And call a doctor for him as soon as you reach the estate. His ribs need to be wrapped."

Austin nodded his head rapidly. "Yes, my lady. I will do exactly as you say."

Austin quickly stood up. He reached down and grabbed Zade by the arm, carefully helping his beaten friend stand up on his shaky legs.

Zade stood up. His entire body ached from the brutal beating he had received earlier. He looked at Camilla.

He hesitated. He did not know what to say. He didn’t know if he should call her Lady Camilla, or a monster, or an angel. He remembered how angry he had been at her. He remembered telling the gang leader that she didn’t care if he lived or died.

But she had come for him. She had dressed in dirty clothes, rode into the worst part of the city, and slaughtered killers just to save his life.

Zade looked down at the floor, feeling a deep sense of guilt. He slowly raised his head and looked directly into her calm eyes.

"Sister," Zade eventually said. His voice was soft, raspy, and full of genuine, overwhelming emotion. A single tear escaped his swollen eye. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me."

Camilla looked at his bruised face and his torn shirt. The cold, dead look of the assassin completely melted away from her eyes.

She smiled a very warm, incredibly genuine, and loving smile. She reached out her hand and gently ruffled his messy, dirty hair, just like the female lead used to do when they were small children.

"You’re welcome," Camilla replied softly.