by Hamel, B. B.
That was what he did to me. When things were falling apart around us, when we weren’t on the edge of getting killed, Brooks made me feel good. Plain and simple, he made me feel good, and that was something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
I kissed his lip. I didn’t know where this was going, but I wasn’t going to let go of this moment, not if I could help it.
23
Brooks
I was floating on fucking air, my cock practically dripping from Emma’s wet pussy. I took a deep breath as I pulled my clothes on, trying to calm myself down as I checked the time.
I had to get moving to make this meeting with Gian. I didn’t know what he wanted, and part of me thought Louisa might be leading me right into a trap. But if she wanted to hurt me, she’d had plenty of much easier opportunities already.
“Heading out?”
I looked over at Emma and couldn’t help but feel a thrill run through my body. “Yeah,” I said. “Got to get to this meeting.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
I smirked at her. “I have your tight little pussy waiting for me back here. That’s all the motivation I need.”
She laughed and turned to walk away. She was wearing nothing but a bra and a little black thong. I watched her walk back into the bathroom and wanted to follow her, press her up against the wall, and fuck her damn brains out.
Instead, I got my shit and forced myself to leave the bedroom. I needed a fresh pair of clothes, but at least I’d got a shower in, so I wasn’t completely disgusting.
I left the room, my knife tucked comfortably into my pants, just in case. I moved through the hallways, heading back toward where all the offices were. I wasn’t sure which one was Gian’s, but it’d be pretty easy to ask.
Just as I got into the stairwell, someone stepped out of the shadows. Instantly I fell into a fighting stance, ready to defend myself, my hand down on my knife.
“Calm down,” Louisa said.
I slowly relaxed. “Shouldn’t sneak up on me.”
“Can’t help it. We need to talk.”
“Get talking then. I need to get to Gian’s office.”
“About that. I need to know what you’re going to say about Emma.”
I shrugged. “She’s my new girl.”
“What’s her name?”
“Lucy.”
She sighed. “No. Her name is Ashley Marks. You met her in a bar, thought she had nice tits. Got it?”
I grinned at her. “She does have nice tits. And fine, Ashley Marks.”
“Good. Also, you killed Emma. That’s your story.”
“Is he going to ask?”
“I don’t know. I think he is, though.”
“Fine. I killed her.”
“How?”
“Slit her throat after I drugged her and wrapped her in plastic. Dragged the body out to the quarry and dropped it in weighted down with cement blocks.” I grinned at her. “Any more questions?”
She eyed me. “Done that before?”
“To a few men,” I said pointedly.
“Good luck, Brooks.” She walked off without another word.
I watched her go, shaking my head. What a strange fucking women, that Louisa Barone. She was playing some game, some big game that I couldn’t quite see. I didn’t believe her little story about giving power to the powerless. It just seemed too good to be true that she was fighting for justice and trying to save helpless women.
No, Louisa was playing a bigger game than that. I was sure of it. Maybe she was using the women as an excuse to consolidate power, but she was going for something much larger. She was too smart to play superhero in this fucked-up city. She was too close to power not to understand how it really worked.
Saving lives didn’t give you power. Taking them, or at least the ability to take them, that gave you power.
I shook my head and moved on, heading down toward the offices.
It wasn’t too hard to find Gian. I had to ask one of the staff members, but he pointed me in the right direction. I got a glimpse of his pistol as he did so.
Gian’s office was in a short dead-end hallway, the last door on the right. It was a big wooden door with his name on the front on a little bronze plate. I knocked and waited.
“Come in.”
I pushed open the door and stepped inside. “Boss,” I said.
“Brooks, good. You made it.” Gian stood up and smiled at me.
He was a couple of years older than me and about my height, handsome, or at least women fucking thought so. He was a dangerous man, good at fighting, skilled with a gun. He’d helped bring me up and was something like a brother to me.
“Sit down,” he said.
I sat in one of the big overstuffed chairs in front of his desk. He sat back down.
“Whisky?” he asked.
“Sure.”
He got a bottle and two glasses from his desk and poured. “Benefits of having a desk,” he said. “Easy place to store this shit.” He handed me a glass and held his up. I grabbed my glass and held mine to match him.
“Salut,” he said. “To you.”
“To the Barone family,” I added.
We clinked glasses and drank.
The whisky felt fucking good going down my throat. I hadn’t had a drink in what felt like fucking years.
“Another?” he asked.
“Always.”
He loaded us up with two doubles and then leaned back in his chair. I sipped mine, savoring the smoky flavor.
“So, Brooks,” he said, “know why I wanted you here?”
“Not sure, if I’m honest,” I said.
“Okay then. Let’s cut the bullshit. Is the girl dead?”
I nodded. “Yes. Got rid of her myself.”
“When?”
“Two nights ago. Something like that.”
He frowned. “You kept her around for a while.”
“She was useful.”
“And this new girl?”
“Just a new girl.”
“Your next victim?”
I grinned at him. “Maybe. If she plays her cards right.”
He laughed and took a drink. “You know why I’m asking you, right?”
“I know the rules, boss.”
“You’ve been a good worker for me, Brooks, a damn good killer. I’ve heard complaints that you don’t like hurting women, but, shit, a man has to have a code, right? I can overlook that sort of thing.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said. I wasn’t sure where this was going, but I had my suspicions. Just like Louisa had guessed, he’d started with asking me about Emma. She knew something more than she was saying, but that didn’t matter now. At least she had warned me.
“Dante has been talking a lot,” Gian said. “Thinks you’re trying to save the girl’s life. Thinks you’re breaking rules, that you’ve gone soft.” He paused, eyeing me. “Did you go soft, Brooks?”
“Dante is a fucking cunt,” I said. “I didn’t go soft.”
“Dante can be a cunt,” he agreed. “Frankly, we haven’t been happy with Dante for a long time. He hasn’t exactly been able to handle our little problem with the Spiders, as you saw firsthand.”
“That was a cluster fucker,” I said.
“Thanks to you, we managed to keep some of the girls.”
And you managed to murder a bunch more, I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue.
“Only did as ordered.”
“You got the cars out because you think about shit. You did what had to be done because you’re not a coward. That’s why I sent you, Brooks. Dante is a fucking coward, even though he’s got a lot of experience.”
“Dante is who he is,” I said.
“Yeah. That’s fucking right.” Gian knocked his drink back and so did I. “Listen, Brooks. I want to promote you.”
That came as a surprise. I genuinely didn’t think that was what this was about, though I’d had my suspicions. “Why now?” I asked.
“Because you’ve prove
n yourself time and again. This shit with the girl, who fucking cares? You say she’s dead, so she’s dead. That’s all that matters to me.”
“I appreciate the trust.”
“Like I said, you fucking earned it. And Dante, well, he’s been spouting off at the fucking mouth for too long. He’s not as useful as he once was.”
“So what do you want me to do, take over Dante’s territory?”
“That’s exactly right.” Gian leaned back in his chair, grinning hugely at me. “Interested?”
It was a very, very tempting offer. Dante’s territory was rich and important to the Barone family, and I knew that if I become the local boss, I would definitely elevate my fucking life.
But I wasn’t sure I wanted to elevate my life. I was happy where I was, content with what I did. If I became the boss, that meant I wouldn’t be a killer anymore, wouldn’t be a hit man. I’d be a fucking boss.
Then there was Emma. Gian seemed to be suggesting that he didn’t care if Emma was alive or dead, that he could just ignore it. If I told him that Emma was really this new girl, whatever the name was, he’d probably believe me, mostly because he didn’t care. We could be free, and I could make a lot more money.
But would she want that? I couldn’t imagine she’d want me working for the mafia, not after what she’d seen.
“Can I think about it?” I asked him.
He laughed. “You fucking serious? Any other guy would be freaking out for this chance, but not you. Shit, Brooks, I definitely have the right guy for this.” He shook his head and laughed again. “Sure, fucking think about it. Two days. How’s that?”
“That’s generous. Thanks, Gian.”
“One last thing. If you accept, you have to kill Dante. Take him out, and the territory is yours.”
I nodded. I’d expected that. “Fine.”
“Good. Think about it. Let me know.”
I stood up. “Anything else, boss?”
“That’s all. Go fucking enjoy this place, yeah?”
“I can handle that.”
He nodded and I turned and left.
He wanted to make me a boss, and all I had to do was kill a man I already strongly disliked. It should have been an easy choice.
But it wasn’t, not at all, not with Emma in my life, whatever she meant to me. She wasn’t going to be okay with this. I couldn’t imagine she’d want to stick around.
As I walked slowly back to the apartment, I dreaded telling her. I didn’t know how I felt about it or what I wanted from it, but I knew she’d be upset. I wasn’t going to lie to her though. I wasn’t going to hold this back. We’d come too far together, gone through too much shit to start lying like that.
Maybe I’d be a boss, or maybe not. For now, I was going back to the room to think and to see her, maybe figure this shit out.
24
Emma
After Brooks left for his meeting, I couldn’t help but wrap myself in a fluffy white robe that I found in the closet and lounge on the couch. I felt strangely good and safe, my head still buzzing from earlier, and I let out a long sigh.
I’d never experienced wealth like this before. I knew that people like the Barones lived in places like this, but it still felt completely unreal. I leafed through a packet that I found on the coffee table and realized that there were menus and lists of places I could go, like a sauna or even a small doctor’s office.
This damn place came with room service. I couldn’t help but laugh. I came from a neighborhood where the closest grocery store was actually a little bodega that barely carried any food. Here, though, I could have them deliver a full breakfast to my door with only a phone call.
I wished I had come here sooner. But then again, I likely wouldn’t have been allowed in here if it wasn’t for all the insane stuff that had happened.
Really, if it weren’t for Brooks and Louisa. They were the only ones who seemed to care at all about what happened to me, as far as I could tell. With Brooks away at this meeting, I was really and truly alone for the first time in a while.
I didn’t know what I wanted from all of this. I didn’t know where this was going or what our options even were. Louisa just kept saying that she was going to help us, but I didn’t know what that really meant. I didn’t know if she was going to somehow get the mafia to stop thinking about me and hunting me or if she was going to get me out of the city.
And I didn’t know what that meant for Brooks. If I was safely smuggled out of the city, that meant he’d be able to get back to work. He could go back to his old life without a problem and he wouldn’t have to worry about my safety. Louisa could look after that, or really I could look after myself.
Everything felt simultaneously fixed and still completely up in the air. It was bizarre the way all of this was shaking out.
Just as I got up the nerve to call room service and get something to eat, there was a knock at the door. I got up, half expecting to find a cart of food already waiting for me, as if the Barones were so rich they could somehow read my mind.
Instead, as soon as I opened the door, Louisa stepped into the room and shut it behind her.
“Louisa,” I said. “Hi. I didn’t expect you.”
“Let’s talk,” she said. I watched as she walked over to the table and sat down, crossing her legs neatly and smiling at me.
I followed her, fascinated by her every move. She was such a strange person, so abrupt and forward. She seemed like she didn’t mess around and didn’t have time to pretend she was something she wasn’t.
I sat down across from her, feeling somehow inadequate. Louisa was smaller than me, but she seemed to loom so large whenever she was around.
“What do you think of me?” she asked.
I blinked, surprised by the strange question. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “You’re hard to get a read on.”
“Do you trust me?”
“You haven’t given me a reason not to so far.”
“Good.” She looked around the room. “Do you know how we bought all of this?”
I shrugged. “I assumed with all your money. Your family has been in business forever.”
“True,” she said, “but it’s more than that. My father was one of the most ruthless businessmen in the whole city for a very long time, and although he’s gotten much older, he’s still as shrewd as he once was. All of this is only possible because of that intense and unwavering dedication to the family.”
I nodded. “That makes sense, but I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”
“That’s the sort of man I come from,” Louisa said, looking at me. “That’s what I’ve inherited. But I disagree with my father in a lot of ways.”
“Human trafficking,” I said softly.
“Exactly.” She paused for a second, studying her nails. “All of this is built on the backs of the dead. This table, these rugs, this air, it’s all because my father was more violent this his contemporaries.”
“You don’t seem against violence,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“I’m not,” she admitted frankly. “Violence is a means to an end, and for my father, that used to be true. But things have begun to change in the mob.”
“Is that something you’re trying to change?”
“Somewhat,” she said, “but not exactly. I wasn’t lying to you when I said that I want to give power to the powerless.”
“What do you really mean by that?” I asked, surprised at myself for being so forward.
“I wanted to join my father’s business. Years ago, I refused to go to college, refused to become the good girl civilian that my father wanted me to become. I wanted to join the business, because I knew I’d be good at it. When he refused, I locked myself in my room.
“But that was foolish and childish, and I soon realized that. Instead of lounging around and crying about my problems, I began to learn how to use computers. The internet was my window into the world, and I gained some serious skills. I spent all day and all night learning my
craft, and eventually I entered into some intense and important underground hacker groups.
“That was the start of the Spiders, though we weren’t the Spiders back then. Really, we never chose a name; Spiders was given to us. At any rate, what began as a small gang of activist hackers slowly grew into my current organization of dedicated fighters.”
“Are you all women?” I asked.
“No,” she said, “but we are mostly women.”
“How did you put all of this together without leaving the compound?”
She smiled ruefully. “I didn’t. Well, at first I did, but soon it grew too fast and got too large, and I found myself sneaking out more and more.”
This woman was amazing. She said all of these things with a straight face, almost as if nothing was special about what she was saying, but it was actually incredible. Louisa couldn’t have been much older than me, and she was probably actually my age, though it was hard to tell with her. But she had accomplished so much in such a short time.
She was dangerous though, and I could tell there was something she wasn’t saying. I felt comfortable around her, but I knew that might be a dangerous mistake to make.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I blurted out, unable to stop myself. “I’m nothing, not important. Why are you helping me?”
“You’re not nothing, Emma,” she said, her face intense and serious. “You’re a survivor. After all this, you think you’re nothing?”
I shook my head. “I’ve gotten lucky. Brooks helped me.”
“Yes and yes, all true. But most women in your position would have quit or crawled into a little hole somewhere to die. But not you. Kasia told me what you did back at the safe house.”
“Kasia survived?”
Louisa nodded. “And so did many of the other fighters. But the girls, they survived because you took control of them, you talked to them, you made them understand. That’s an incredibly valuable asset, Emma.”
