Sinister

by Sherell Cummings

  “He’s moving into your territory, making deals with guys like Trent Berrington and Garnet Sheppard. Fifty thousand kilos three months ago, just off the coast of Highland.”

  “Fuck!” he cursed loudly in my ear. “I’m going to kill that son of bitch when I get my hands on him.”

  “Need me to engage?”

  “No, I need you on another project.”

  “Why?”

  “I need you on the first flight out. You're heading to Brookdale, Nevada. See what you can find out about your brother's pet.”

  This just got interesting. Izabella, my brother's new pet was a fine piece. I admit even I was jealous when he picked her before I got the chance. What was more interesting was his fascination with her. We all saw it. He treated her differently whereas the others he would ignore. My brother never showed interest in the slaves our father got him. He accepted them because he didn’t have a choice, much like myself, but once they were in his care he tried to save them. “Dad, why your sudden fascination with the bitch? She’s probably nothing more than an enjoyable fuck to him,” I said trying to get into his head. It was a known fact, my brother wasn’t my biggest fan and I made it that way for a reason, but to me it wasn’t so. The more the focus wasn’t on him, the more it would be on me. I was trying to protect him, but I would never tell him that.

  “That may be so, but I have a feeling it’s something more.” He hung up and I throw the phone on the bed. Fuck, father was on a war path with that girl. Don’t get me wrong I loved my brother. He was my only brother, my other half, my twin, but we were nothing alike. He needed things out of life, I wanted them and occasionally I took them. It was what father taught me, and if Nathaniel wasn’t so big on doing the right thing all the time, maybe father would trust him more, and I wouldn’t have to do things to make him hate me more than he already does.

  I threw Glock a warning glance as I stood grabbing my clothes off the floor. “Satisfied, you got what he asked for, now go. Unless you prefer to check out my cock some more.” He lit a cigarette and smirked before retrieving his phone from his jacket pocket and exiting the room. I sneered after him before releasing a frustrated breath.

  For two months I’ve been on this case and for two months I’ve been using every excuse in the book not to kill her. That wasn't my original goal. I had every intention of killing her when I was first assigned, but do you believe that people change? I didn't think I had it in me, but here I was, two months in, and the deed hadn't been done. Finally, father got impatient and wouldn’t hear any more excuses. He wanted her dead and that was that. I was left with no choice, and that was why Glock had to have a front row seat to the show. Father knew something was going on with me and her, so he made sure there was a witness, because suddenly he didn't trust my word anymore.

  I released another breath while buttoning my pants before I turned to Jovana who was now sitting up, messaging her neck. “You alright?” I asked concerned, stepping into her space.

  “You could have gone a little easier there Nathan, fuck. You're lucky I'm into BDSM,” she said arrogantly in her broken English but very German accent.

  “Sorry babe, I'm the lucky one.” I helped her up handing her her dress and helping her slip into it. “You remember the plan. You lay low for a while, I’ll give you a signal when it’s clear.”

  “Baby, I know the drill, you told me three times already. Is he going to come after my father?” she asked worried. Jovana, like the rest of us, tolerated her father. Jerick sold drugs that Jovana wanted nothing to do with, so she distanced herself from his life. It was sad that there wasn't enough distance in the world that would keep his enemies from coming after her. They all knew he had a daughter, and thought by going after her, he would come out of hiding in exchange. But the man was a coward, and she was just as expendable as the rest of us.

  “Sounds like it.” I moved a strand of hair behind her ear, then ran my fingers along the bruises forming on her neck. I felt ill knowing they were my fault, but there was no other way to hurt her without actually hurting her. “I’m sorry about this,” I said sincerely. “My father needed proof that you were dead, and I couldn’t think of another way to make it believable with Glock in the room. And since I had to convince him that a bullet would have been too messy, this was all I could think of.”

  I didn’t know Jovana prior to a few months ago. When father called and told me to kill her to send a message to her father, I went to the bar where I knew she’d be and found her.

  Red hair, the color of blood, cascaded down her shoulders with eyes the color of emeralds. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. For days I was her shadow, watching her every move before finally making a move of my own. Try as I may there was something about her that tugged on every part of me and though I tried to fulfill my father's wish, I couldn’t. She was someone I never thought I'd find, and everything I wanted. Excuse after excuse I made trying to prolong the inevitable, but I knew I was being followed the moment I touched Prague’s soil two days ago. I knew my father didn’t trust me, and he had every reason not to, because being with Jovana meant I was no longer the man he groomed.

  Her eyes soften blinking up at me. “I’m okay, Nate.”

  “I just need to be sure.” I didn’t know what it was about Jovana, but the moment I knew my father wanted her dead, was the moment I realized I didn’t. She willingly came with me, and played along with my plan, even when I told her it had to get physical. She was brave, which was something I’d never found in a woman. “Will you be alright? I leave soon, not sure when I’ll be back.”

  “I didn’t ask you to come back,” she smirked stepping into her heels bringing her almost neck and neck to me. What we did was nothing compared to what I wanted to do to this woman. My dick strained against my jeans at the memory of being inside her. This was crazy, me being like this, but couldn’t help it. I wanted her that badly. “Besides I’m a big girl, who has been dealing with my father's bad choices since the day I was born.”

  My smile widened as I leaned into her, allowing my nose to move between her shoulder and ear. She smelled like me, and shit it was fucking driving me insane with the need to fuck her again. “What if the reasons I want to come back are entirely selfish?” Yeah, I wanted her, so fucking bad I could feel my balls turning blue at the thought of walking away.

  “Then I’m sure you’ll find me.” She spun away grabbing up her stuff before slipping through the door with a small wave. I stood smirking after her, surprised at what had transpired between us, but then my smile fell at my current predicament. Word would get to her father that she was dead, but I wasn’t sure how long the rumour would stick or how long she could go without being seen. This was a problem. Our fathers were a problem.

  I’d never truly been against my father, but as of recently he assumed I was a puppet, and that was where the loyalty ended. By having Glock follow me meant he no longer trusted my judgment, and I didn't need to be babysat. I was no one's puppet, and the sooner he understood that, the safer Jovana would be.

  I threw on a shirt and shoved my feet into my boots before grabbing my jacket and phone. On the ride to the airport I watched the cars pass in front of me while my brain wandered prior to this point. It might surprise you at how simple I wanted my life to be. Although my brother and I grew up with a terrible father, our mother was nothing but an angel. She was the balance that kept our father's darkness from consuming us. I never liked the fact that she was married to him, but according to her she saw something in him that made loving him easy. She was the only one who could see it, used to tell us that it was there, only hidden under a mask.

  When she got sick about a year after Nathaniel left, everyday I would watch her shrink into a smaller, lesser version of the woman she was, and I wanted so badly for it to be him. She was the good one, the one who pushed my brother and I to do good things, who wanted nothing more than for us to settle down and make her grandchildren. When I was with her, she would reassure me that no one was
born bad. Bad things were taught, studied, processed and then repeated, just like good. We were meant to be who we choose to be and no one should dictate our paths but us. Her words were always with me, even when my father's influence was too strong to fight, I would repeat them and somehow find a way to keep living by them.

  It was right before she died. She said she needed me to know the truth. He never loved her. He married her because of who her family was and what joining forces could do for his business. Since they never give a fuck about him, for how he went about with the marriage, he knew the marriage was a waste and only kept her around to look after me and my brother. It was the last thing she said to me and I believed every word because her grave hadn’t even been wet by the tears of God before our father was fucking someone else. He had the audacity to remove her pictures from the house, like she never existed, and it was then I knew what needed to be done. Nathaniel had been right to hate him, and I had cared even less about him ever since.

  Perception was a drug of the mind. Too little of it and you saw too clearly. Too much of it and what you wanted them to see would be lost. Everyone saw me as the evil twin because I was right in between too little and too much, but I didn’t start out that way. I was hell bent and determined to please our father. I learned his attitude and mannerisms, so others would fear me like they feared him, and that was what everyone saw, until I had changed and no one, not even my own brother noticed.

  I used my ability to pretend to keep tabs on everything our father did. And that was what brought us to here and now. Something was going on, something big, something that had him on edge. He was threatened, and he wanted leverage, which was why he wanted information on Izzy. He was going after Nathaniel by using her, but what exactly was his plan? I had no fucking clue where my brother was and I wasn't planning on actually going to Brookdale, but now I think I needed that information just as much as father did.

  Chapter Ten

  Christopher

  Three days.

  I had spent three days watching the last bright spot in my life become a stiff motionless puppet. The moment I stepped into my mother's room I knew she wasn’t the same woman I left behind. She had lost her zeal in a matter of minutes when the neighbour found her passed out on the front lawn. The minute my eyes landed on her, my heart clenched with pain because I had no clue of the damage it had caused. She had lost all feeling in her right arm and leg but surprisingly could still hold a smile on her face at the sight of me.

  My heart broke even more because I knew if she only knew the things I had done, and the man I had become, she would lose that smile. I stayed at her side the entire time because a decision had to be made. I couldn't return to Vegas without her, especially in her current state, and although she didn't want to be a burden and would miss her home in Brookdale, she agreed to come stay with me until her body was fully healed.

  I left my mother at the hospital and returned to Vegas to get everything set up for her release tomorrow. Her doctor had said that the nerve damage was severe but not permanent once she started and continued physical therapy. So apart from her living in my apartment, she would have one of the best physical therapists at her disposal and ready to whip her into shape upon her release.

  An hour later I barged into my father's office, pissed off and ready destroy anything within my path. I had made the mistake of stopping at my father's house to check on Izzy after I making all the arrangements for mom, only to find Izzy gone. She had been fucking sold the day after I left for Brookdale. “You sold her.” My voice boomed across the room as I advanced toward his desk.

  Like always he didn’t look up from his computer when he said in a calm tone. “If you mean that girl you took a liking too, then yes.”

  “I told you I wanted to train her myself,” I said between clenched teeth, standing in front of him.

  “Yes well, like you, someone else took a liking to her and decided she was worth five hundred grand to have.” I was fuming now more than ever. Who was this fucker who thought my property was worth anything to him? She was mine. “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to sit down, son?”

  “I want to know who you sold her to,” I demanded making no move to sit.

  He lifted his head with an annoyed gaze before leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you plan to do if I tell you?”

  “I plan to take back what’s mine.”

  “But you’re wrong,” he said callously. “She wasn’t yours, she was mine. My money was the reason she was taken and now she has paid her debt five times over. Let it go—”

  “No.” My nostrils flared when I slammed my fists onto his desk. I didn’t know what was wrong with me or why all this rage was suddenly giving me thoughts of killing my own father. He had crossed the line yes, but was I really willing to kill him for her?

  “You need to stop this,” he said, forcefully standing which caused his chair to skid back, hitting the glass wall behind it.

  “Stop what?”

  “This erratic behaviour you’re exhibiting. You’re attacking our product, you’re blowing up for random things and this obsession you have with this girl, it all needs to stop. Is it the work? Are you under too much pressure?” he said more calmly stopping in front of me.

  “Nothing’s wrong with me—”

  “I beg to differ. How is your mother doing?”

  I sighed rolling my head. “She’s—alive. She’s still in the hospital, but I'm bringing her to Vegas after she's released tomorrow.”

  “That’s good. I hope she gets better soon. What are you going to do about her house?”

  “I hired someone to look after it. I'll meet with them tomorrow before I head back.”

  He nodded in approval. “Take some time off. I think that would be best right now. Focus on your mother and helping her get better.”

  “I don’t need a break and how did this become about me? I want to know who bought Izabella.”

  He sighed and placed his hands on my shoulders with a defeated look on his face. “It was an anonymous buyer, Chris. The man called and stated his price. The car collected her, the money was transferred and that was that.” He turned and found his chair, sitting comfortably before gazing at me with careful consideration. “I think you should go and take care of your mother. Forget everything here for a while and try to clear your head, because this person standing in front of me, is not my son.”

  “And what would you know about that huh? You abandoned me. How do you know that this is not a result of your neglect?”

  “I don’t, and I don’t deny that I had some part to play, but you can’t continue like this. Apart from you being affected, your work is being affected which means my work is being affected.” He leaned forward on his elbows peering up at me. “Do you know how much I lost because you lost your temper with those girls?” As much as I was pissed and wanted to argue the fact, he was right. I barely knew who I was anymore, and the one person who had trusted me when he really didn’t have to, was my father. “Forget the girl, and get it together.”

  Get it together.

  Get it together.

  I left his office with his words tossing around in my head. Forget the girl and get it together. Could it be that simple even with knowing that someone else was doing to her what I had planned to do? I wanted to find her. Wanted to break all the rules and get her back, but it would have to wait, because right now I had to get back to my mother and make sure she was okay.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nathan

  I arrived in Brookdale a few days later. The small Podunk town felt like walking onto a movie set, with all the woodwork and small cross streets. There was one of everything, and nothing much to see or feel excited about. It was about mid-day and the dryness and heat from the Nevada sun was already causing me to sweat. Why people lived in places like this, I could never understand.

  I was in the blazing heat, standing on a sidewalk, wondering what the fuck to do now. I had Izab
ella’s address, but there was a couple living in the house for about five months now and they had no clue who she was. The other apartment I checked had been rented to some junkie, who answered the door with a screaming baby on his hip asking me if I could lend him a fucking twenty. This place was like junk city, because it was riddled with junkies. One even stopped me when I got out of my car, eager to sell me some backwater shit that probably won’t even get me high. The good stuff never made it this far, because there was no one here to sell it to. Nobody in this town could pay the price of a good hit, which was how I knew what he was selling wasn’t anything good.

  I couldn’t fucking think with this heat plus hunger was turning the inside of my stomach into a decorative piece of origami. Nothing around here looked edible and Bo’s diner was the only place I spotted that served food. Everywhere else was something fried on a stick.

  I pushed open the door of the diner and all six heads turned to look at me. They were assessing my clothes, since they’ve probably never seen so many expensive things on a single person before. The watch on my hand alone was at least forty grand and it gleamed as the light through the windows hit it. I took the shades off my face and tucked them into the pocket of my leather jacket as I walked over to the counter, dropping my bulky frame onto a stool next to a guy who was facing forward. I noticed he wasn’t dressed like the others; a lot more like myself in a nice jacket, jeans and t-shirt.

  Tapping my hand on the counter, I pivoted my body to face him. “You live in this town?” I asked earning his attention.

  His head dipped when he turned to me with an intrigued expression while he played with the cup between his hands. “Used to, why? You looking for someone?”

  “Actually I am—”

  “What can I get you stranger?” I’m cut off when I’m forced to gaze at the woman standing behind the counter with a seductive smile on her face.

  “What’s good here?” I asked, taking in her eyes as they roamed my face and body with an eagerness that said she wanted to know what my dick felt like. Usually I wouldn’t be opposed to one ride, since she wasn’t too bad looking, but nothing could erase the hard-on I had for Jovana. Who would of thought, me a one-woman man.