by TJ Nichols
Cody’s death was right. It had been right so many times before. But he couldn’t pull the trigger. He’d kissed Cody. He’d protected him. If he killed him, the nightmare would never end. His chest ached with every breath, and his birthmark burned.
“You don’t want to do that here,” Benitez said, his calm voice oceans and lifetimes away.
The need clawed through him. Is that how Connor felt? Had he suspected the drug would kill him that day, but been unable to resist because the need scratched in his veins and shredded all rational thought?
“Don’t give in to the curse. Please,” Cody murmured. There was fear in Cody’s voice, but it didn’t sound as sweet as Olivier thought it would.
He was cursed. He stared down into Cody’s blue eyes, and the world turned. Olivier stumbled back. He didn’t want to be cursed. He wanted to be free.
The darkness howled and tried to tempt him with promises of revenge. Once those promises had kept him warm. Now they were empty, and he knew how bitter they’d taste.
He didn’t want Cody to fear him. He wanted the smile. He wanted the heat of his touch, not the cold of the curse. He was being torn in two by very different desires. What he wanted could never be. No one would ever be able to look past what he’d done. The truth killed any joy he found.
Cody watched him. “Fight it.”
He was trying, but it hurt.
If he killed Cody, he would balance his nightmare. It was easy and familiar. He knew in that moment it would only continue into the next life and the one after if he kept going. He also knew that Cody could break the curse and fix what was broken inside him.
He drew in a breath. He wouldn’t give in this time. Cody hadn’t caused Marie’s death. Cody hadn’t ordered the overdose that had put the curse in play. Benitez had. Olivier’s hand shook.
You need the revenge. It’s yours. Kill him.
The darkness was still there, pushing against him, urging him to kill.
He could kill both men and walk out. But he wouldn’t be free.
He could kill himself. He was already damned, so what the hell did it matter?
Whatever had happened all those years ago, all those lives ago, didn’t matter anymore. Cody wasn’t his enemy. He’d shown Olivier who was keeping the door to his cage locked.
Olivier traced his fingers along Cody’s jaw and murmured, “Thank you.”
Then he fired two shots into Benitez.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TWO THINGS happened immediately.
Time seemed to slow. The bullet casings drifted idly toward the floor like leaves. Olivier watched the second bullet make its lazy way into Benitez’s brain.
Then the shadows that had been at the edges coalesced into a form—a man in a hooded cloak. The hooked nose and deep blue eyes were familiar, as though Olivier had seen him many times before. Yet he couldn’t place them. The birthmark below his collarbone burned with a cold that far surpassed anything he’d ever felt. The pain sank into his bones and hollowed his gut.
“Do you forgive your enemy today?” The man’s voice became clearer. It was strong, despite his age.
Olivier glanced at Cody, who was frozen in shock. The first casing hit the floor with a pretty chime. “Cody isn’t my enemy.”
The man touched him, and his mind was flooded with memories of lives he hadn’t remembered, but had dreamed of many times. In every life he and Cody were on opposite sides, and the brothers worked together, yet pulled apart as they vied for power.
Olivier blinked, and for a moment, he was in the warehouse in the 1920s. Old Man Anders was there, asking him to choose who got the quick death and who got the slow one—him or Cody. Connor was already dead. Except that wasn’t who they were. They wore different faces. It was Cody’s fault they were there, dying. He gave Cody the quick death and blamed him until his last breath.
When Olivier blinked again, the present came back into focus. He’d given Cody the quick death because he’d cared about him in that life.
“But he was. They bankrupted your father.” The voice dug deeper into the layers of memory—back to the start. “They ruined your father, your sisters, your life. You came to me, and I helped you. I made you who you are. One of my Black Knights.”
There were others like him. Trapped in an endless cycle of killing for a wrong long forgotten. “You cursed me and damned me to repeat the same life again and again.”
He hadn’t been free in centuries. He saw that now.
“You wanted revenge and the power to kill, and I gave that to you. You vowed to fight for me.”
“Did I?”
“Yes.”
The second casing bounced across the floor, and its hollow ring reverberated through Olivier’s bones. “Then I’ve done what you wanted, and I’ve had my revenge a dozen times over. I’m done. I forgive the brothers for their childish pranks and my father for falling for them.”
He’d fought for the wizard, and the wizard cast him aside and left him to choke himself to death on the fine print of a contract he’d signed in blood and haste. “I forgive myself for thinking that revenge would do anything but make life bitter.”
“Do you forgive Cody, in this life?”
Olivier risked a glance at Cody, who hadn’t moved. Their paths had been fated to cross, but the outcome hadn’t been written. Forgive and be free. No more nightmares. No more killing. No more lives spent under the wizard’s control. He nodded. “Yes.”
Pain lanced through the birthmark as though he was tearing open the flesh to sign his name again. He dropped to one knee. When he looked up, the man was gone and so were the shadows.
The world was no longer silent and slow. It rushed back to life. Benitez rocked back, his mouth open in shock.
The gun was still in Olivier’s hand, but the cold need to kill was gone, replaced by disgust at what he had done. He glanced down at the gun and wanted to fling it away. The smell of hot metal and powder clung to the back of his throat.
Benitez crumpled as though his bones were made of ash, and blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth.
“Shit.” Olivier got up and wiped the gun with the edge of his shirt. It wouldn’t be enough. He’d loaded it. The bullets had his fingerprints on them.
“We need to get out of here before his bodyguards or whatever come through the door.” Cody grabbed his arm.
Olivier followed. He’d killed his boss. Was it guilt or fear that turned in his belly like broken glass? He didn’t know, and he didn’t have time to stop and think about it. Cody ran down the aisle to the back, and Olivier followed. What could he do with the gun?
The priest came out of his office and blocked the corridor.
“We’re leaving,” Cody said.
The priest looked at Olivier and nodded. “Give me the gun.”
“No.” Olivier wouldn’t give the weapon to the priest.
“Yes. It was self-defense. I knew too much.”
“The gun is mine.” Benitez’s men would get to Olivier before the cops ever did. He was a dead man anyway.
“You gave it to me because I was afraid.”
The heavy front doors banged open.
“Olivier.” Cody tugged on his arm. “We have to go.”
The priest put out his hand.
“Why are you doing this?” No one had ever offered him anything without expecting something in return.
“Because I had to be silent for too long. Now we’re both free of our demons.”
Benitez’s men gathered around their boss as he bled out on the floor of the church. Calling the cops wasn’t in their best interest.
Olivier gave the gun a final wipe. “Are you left- or right-handed?”
“Right.”
Olivier rubbed his hand over the priest’s to transfer some of the gunshot residue. Then he gave the gun a final wipe and handed it over.
The priest took the gun, pulled out his phone, and dialed 9-1-1. “I’ve shot someone.” Then he walked back to face Benitez’s men.
>
Olivier hesitated. He didn’t want to let the priest face them alone.
“If they find us here, we’re dead.” Cody yanked more forcefully on his arm. “And I can’t drive a motorcycle.”
Olivier nodded. He had to keep Cody safe. The priest was right—Cody was his salvation. He was why the curse had broken. Olivier hustled Cody out the door, and rolled the bike down the side street. After about twenty yards, he started it. Cody got on behind him and put his arms around Olivier. Slowly, and as quietly as they could, they drove away from the church.
There was nowhere to rush to, and Olivier didn’t want to look guilty by appearing to flee the scene. It was safer to stay calm, but he didn’t feel calm.
He didn’t feel like himself at all.
Something very odd had happened back there, and he wasn’t entirely sure what it was. The cloaked man… the burn of his birthmark. He wanted to stop and check, but he couldn’t.
Where were they going? Not home. Not Marie’s. He swallowed hard and blinked harder. His sister was dead. He wanted the world to stop so he could let the pain consume him. He wanted to grieve, but didn’t have the luxury of time. He’d join her if he didn’t think fast. He struggled to grasp anything useful. It was all he could do to keep the bike upright and moving. For the moment, he let driving become his focus so he didn’t have to acknowledge Marie’s death. He’d process that later, when Dani and he were safe. He had no idea what he was going to do with Cody.
He drove a couple more blocks and headed toward a busier area. They could hide in the crowd, and he knew a few people who owed him favors. Felicity owed him a favor, though he doubted she’d be glad to see him.
He parked the bike in a nearby multistory garage and killed the engine. It ticked softly as it cooled. He didn’t move, and he felt nothing but Cody’s arms around his waist. He liked it. No one had held on to him in a long time. He didn’t let them. Then Cody let go, and the feeling that it would all be okay vanished.
Olivier remained on the bike. Now that there was no immediate threat, he would have to deal with Cody and what had happened. That wasn’t a conversation he looked forward to having. He’d never had a conversation with someone after holding a gun to their head. Yet it was Cody who made sure they got out of the church.
He needed to get to Dani, but she was with a sitter, so she was safe for the night. And David would be busy securing his hold over Benitez’s empire. Olivier had very little time to secure Dani’s future, as well as Cody’s and his own. He didn’t have a clue where to start.
He reached for his gun to check how many bullets were left, only to remember he had no gun… and he’d let the priest take the fall for the murder. He should’ve stayed and accepted responsibility, but he’d have gone to jail. The priest would probably be fine, and Benitez eventually would have ordered the priest killed for hearing one too many confessions.
“That didn’t go as planned,” Olivier said. It was a bit of an understatement, but he had no idea what else to say.
Cody crossed his arms. “Yeah. Is he…?”
“I hope so. If I didn’t do it properly, I should leave the country, because he’ll find me and everyone I care about.”
“What happened back there? There was a look in your eyes like you weren’t really there, and then you said thank you.” Cody’s gaze was wary. “And the way the priest was talking….”
“Something happened.” Olivier pulled aside his jacket and shirt. The birthmark was gone. He checked the other side, just to be sure he hadn’t suddenly forgotten where it was. “It’s gone.”
Did that mean the curse was broken?
Cody stepped closer and peered at the unmarked skin. “That’s not possible. Was it lower down?” He tugged the shirt a little lower. “How is that possible?”
“Magic?” The birthmark had been where Olivier cut himself to sign the contract. The contract had been voided because he’d forgiven his enemies, the men he’d first sought revenge on. Because of the deal he made with the wizard, their fates had been intertwined for centuries.
“It’s no magic I know.” Cody’s fingertips bushed the place where the birthmark had been. “How did the priest know?”
“When my job changed, I needed to confess. It’s the way I was brought up. I needed someone to tell me it would all be okay. I’d been to that church before—not with Benitez, but on my own. It was so much nicer than some, and I felt welcome there, even though I wasn’t wearing ten-thousand-dollar suits.” He drew in a breath. “The priest did his thing, but the raw need was still there, like I’d unleashed this terrible part of myself. He confirmed that. Told me that I was leading myself down a path that would end in my death unless I changed, unless I forgave. At the time, I thought he was just reading lines. Blah blah blah. I knew I was in trouble. But now? I think he knew what I had awoken.”
“And it has to do with the disappearing birthmark?”
“I had to forgive you to break the curse. I wanted to blame you for Marie’s death. I could hear the curse urging me to kill, but I didn’t want to. I wanted it to be over. I’ve been making the same mistake over so many lives, looking for revenge instead of moving on. I don’t want the birthmark to come back, so I’m going to make sure you live.”
Cody stared at him. “That presence in the church—”
“You saw him?”
“No, but I felt something for a few seconds. It was hard to breathe.”
“I remember seeing him before. He used to be at the end of my nightmare, taunting me that I’d been so close in that warehouse. But all I could feel was anger that you… that I’d been betrayed.”
“You were the cop.”
Olivier nodded. “Trying to bring down Anders. Maybe I was close to breaking the curse. Our lives were tangled back then.”
“And now tangled again.”
“Each life I hated you less.” Olivier reached out for Cody’s hand. “Until I don’t hate you at all.”
“Or want to kill me.” The wariness was still in Cody’s eyes, as though he didn’t quite trust Olivier.
“I don’t want to kill you. I never did. That was the curse needing to be fed. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry about your sister.” Cody wrapped his fingers around Olivier’s.
The twist of Olivier’s heart at the mention of her death made it hard to breathe. He should never have asked for Marie to get out, although he had no doubt that Benitez would’ve used his sister against him anyway. That was the kind of person his boss was. “We all made mistakes.”
He would get the situation sorted first, and then he would get Dani. He couldn’t do both at once, and there was no point in going to Dani first and putting her in danger. He needed a plan.
Cody nodded, but the caution was still there. It would take more than an apology to put it right. He needed to help Cody get out of the mess he was in. “Your father will be looking for you. You have what he wants.”
“No I don’t. You do.” The corner of his lips curved. “The flash drive is in your back pocket.”
Olivier stood and got off the bike. Sure enough, in his pocket was the troublemaking piece of plastic. “When did you put that there?”
“You were distracted by my lips.”
The kiss in the church. “Why?”
“I figured it would be safer with you.”
And it had been. If he’d found it when he searched Cody, he’d have handed it over to Benitez. “And the e-mails? How long do we have before they get sent?”
“What e-mails? That was a bluff. The files are locked. I can’t do anything with them, not even make copies. I had planned to find out what was on there, but I couldn’t get into the files. Your boss didn’t seem too worried.”
Olivier blew out a breath and shook his head. “He was very good at bluffing—as good as you.”
“But he’s dead now, and my father wanted the files to bring him down.”
“It doesn’t end now. David will step in, and while he doesn’t know about the
situation with your father or Palmerston yet, he will soon. Palmerston will make sure he finds out.”
“David?”
“Marcus David is Benitez’s second-in-charge. He’ll want to do things his way.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we still need to make accessing that information a priority. Knowing that may save both our asses.”
Cody raised his eyebrow. “I thought you were all ‘don’t ask questions’ because you didn’t want to know the answers.”
“That was before I knew what we were dealing with.” He still wasn’t totally sure about the situation—only that Palmerston was making a move, and Connor had been a weakness in Benitez’s armor.
“Why not just hand it over?”
“We could, but they’ll need time to break into the files, and we could be dead before they get around to doing that. Then they may not believe that the flash drive is what they want, in which case, we’re dead before they even look.”
“Okay. We’re dead if we don’t give them exactly what they want.” Cody scowled and blew out a breath. “Who do we give the information to? My father? Palmerston? David? All of them?”
Olivier ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. First we need to hack those files and we need to stay hidden. You’re a threat to your father and Palmerston, and they think you’re willing to release the files to the authorities.” Olivier put the flash drive into a zipped pocket on his jacket, where it would be safer. “If I were them, I’d want to grab you and make sure you stopped those e-mails, even if you were typing with a gun to your head.”
Cody winced.
“I’m sorry.” Olivier was never going to be able to say that enough. He took Cody’s hand. That Cody didn’t pull away was a good sign, but he didn’t move closer either. His fingers remained loose.
“Do you have a plan?”
Olivier wasn’t a planner. He obeyed orders, but he’d been imagining exit plans for years. Only a few had involved him killing Benitez, and none had ever been quite so dramatic. “I know someone who can get into these files.”
