by West, Sinden
“They?”
“This wasn’t just one person. There were several weapons used.”
“And how did you know where I was?”
His mouth twisted in a grimace. “Aaron got a phone call, telling him your location. He just took off, which was stupid, he should have taken our men with him. It was some warehouse in an industrial area, and you were the only one there. There was no other attack, nothing. It’s like they were playing a game or sending a message, but the only problem is that we don’t know what that message is. If it were one of our rivals for the drug trade, we’d know it. They would have spelled out exactly who did it. But there’s nothing. Nada.” He threw his hands up in disgust. “If Aaron knows something, then he’s not talking.”
“They were targeting him, not me, that’s all that I can remember.”
He looked pained as he cast his eyes around us. “I don’t know why he insists on keeping you here. I have the feeling that he knows more than he lets on.”
I pushed my chair back. “Can I show you something?”
“Sure.”
“Follow me.”
I led him up the stairs to the Gym. He took a step back as he took in the mural. “I’ve never been in here before, but that’s…not to my taste.”
“It’s horrific, that’s what it is. His talent’s amazing, but this is the stuff of nightmares.”
“You’ve got that right.” Antony was still taking it in, his face twisted in distaste.
I took a breath. “Antony, do you think Aaron’s sane?”
He slowly moved his eyes away from the monstrosity to me. “What?”
“He’s not sane, is he? He can’t be. The things that he does for your family…they’re awful things aren’t they? You can’t do things like that and be normal, can you?”
Antony cleared his throat. “Rachel, Paige…I don’t think that he’s insane. I’ve known some of the most cold killers out there be wonderful family men. Work and home, that’s different. Most can separate.”
I shook my head at him in frustration. “No, Aaron’s different. You have to see that!”
Antony frowned. “What’s with you? Is it your head? Should I call your doctor?”
I let out a sigh and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. “No,” I said despondently. “Nothing’s wrong with me.” I hugged my knees to my chest and wished that what I had just said was actually true.
He stood there, staring down at me, before joining me on the floor. “Look, Aaron is different. He’s quiet, keeps to himself, but I’ve seen him be all charm when the occasion asks for it. He’s good at what he does. He’s efficient and precise. I’ve never seen him emotionally driven by what he does.” He gave a slight laugh. “In fact, the only time that I have ever seen him out of control angry is when they took you. That is the only time that I have seen him act insane.” He reached out and took my hand. “Listen, you know that if you ever need help, with Aaron or anything else, you can come to me. You know that, right?” He gave my hand a quick squeeze before letting go.
I managed to smile at him. “I know. Thank you.”
He rewarded me with a brief smile before getting to his feet and holding a hand out to me, which I took so he could pull me to my feet.
We spent the rest of the day playing cards. He used to be, he told me, a gambler and lost so much money that his older brother had to bail him out. Now he no longer gambled but loved the feel of the cards so much and the memories of winning that he constantly carried a deck around with him. He showed me tricks, fooled me with sleight of hand games that left him grinning when I couldn’t figure out how he had done it.
“I think this is why you’ve never been married. You’re too in love with that deck of cards. Do you sleep with them as well?” I mocked after he refused to reveal his secrets.
He opened his mouth to make some kind of comeback retort, but his phone buzzed and he answered it
“Yeah?”
Whoever was on the other end started speaking quickly and swearing. Antony’s face turned dark.
“Shit. Really? I’ll be right there.” He ended the call with an angry swipe of his thumb.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he stood, sighing.
“Sorry, beautiful. I have a slight distributor problem that needs to be taken care of right now. Normally, I’d send your boyfriend to take care of it, but since he’s decided to take a vacation, that’s not an option.”
I frowned. “What? I thought he was working for you?”
Antony tucked the deck of cards back into his jacket pocket. “He just said that he had something personal to take care of. Anyway, I’ll be back here tonight so…don’t go anywhere. I’m going to leave my guy behind, okay? Don’t get freaked out if you see him walking around the perimeter.”
“Sure.” I followed him to the door and let him kiss me on the forehead before he left. A big man stood outside the door, and he nodded to him.
“I’ll be back soon,” Antony told him. “Don’t let her go anywhere.” He caught me rolling my eyes and gave me a grin and a wink. “Just taking care of you, beautiful.”
I hated that my lips tugged up reluctantly in response to his infectious grin. “Fine. Bye,” I said begrudgingly as I closed the door behind him.
I turned back to regard the cold, silent house. I was bored already now that Antony was gone. I tried to read a book and watch TV but my mind kept wandering. Eventually, I took my phone and stared at it, holding it tightly and I tried to conjure up the number in my head.
The first two times, I got the number wrong, but on the third go, my mother’s recorded voice sweetly asked me to leave a message. I opened my mouth but nothing came out, and I ended the call, not sure what else to do. I tried again, two more times, each time exhaling with relief that she didn’t pick up. Then it hit me. I didn’t know what I would have said even if she did answer. There had been no contact from her since she basically ordered me to play her “special game” with Aaron and get what I could out of him. The saddest part of her request was that it made me realize just how stupid she was. She hadn’t done her homework; if she had she would have come to the conclusion that Aaron would have simply killed us if we had tried to work him as a mark.
I wondered if she were still with Todd, cocooned by his love, or if she had moved on, to bigger and richer things. I turned my phone off and went upstairs to the bedroom. Lying on the bed, my head ran rampant with memories. We used to do fun things together — amusement parks, trips to the beach, gypsy fairs where we would get our fortunes read…but try as I might, the bad overcame the good. The bad flushed away the good memories, descending over them with its darkness like they were being washed away to sea. I curled up into a tight little ball and began to cry.
Chapter Thirteen
I woke up later when it was dark outside. My head hurt and my eyes were swollen; the pillow beneath me was still wet with tears and I wondered if I had cried in my sleep as well. I wiped my face as I sat up. Everything was still. Antony mustn’t have come back yet. I didn’t bother to turn on the lights as I descended the stairs, but I stopped mid-step when I heard a noise. It was a gurgling type sound and an ounce of fear went through me. Cautiously, I continued down, my footsteps silent. I turned the corner into the kitchen, which was still in darkness, and saw a dark shape on the floor. Holding my breath, I flicked on the light.
The large shape of Antony’s man assaulted my eyes and senses. He lay on the floor, a mess of blood pooling around him as he held his throat, but that didn’t stop the blood. His eyes were wide as he stared at me, and all I could do was to stare back in horror at him.
Then I gave myself a mental slap and leaped over the blood to get a towel from the kitchen to press against his neck. Grimacing, I knelt down beside him to try and stem the blood, but it was hopeless. I watched, hands red with his blood, as he died right in front of me. He was still staring at me, but this time his eyes were lifeless and empty. I sucked in a breath and struggled to get to my feet, on au
topilot knowing that I had to call someone. I grasped the phone, but that slipped away from me under my bloody grip. It clattered to the floor and I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up again, I was too numb with shock.
In the back of my mind, I knew that I had to get out of there. But my limbs didn’t seem to work, nothing worked, not even my brain. It was all I could do to breathe as I stood and stared at that dead man on the kitchen floor.
Vomit rose up in me and I gave a cough that seemed to jolt me back to reality. My feet started to work and I made an unsteady step backwards, ready to run. But I hit something hard behind me and that had me spinning in fright. A blonde young man stared down at me, showing bright white teeth as his mouth spread in a smile. Something about him seeped through the fog in my brain. It was the feelings at first, the renewed dread, and then the memory returned, bright with all its horror.
“Ryan?” I croaked.
His smile was sickeningly sweet. “How are you, princess?”
I backed away from him, sliding in blood until my feet met the dead body and I fell backwards over it, hitting the floor hard and landing my hands in the dark red that stained everything. I swallowed down a scream, sliding back in panic to get as far away from the body, and Ryan, as I could.
But it was in vain. He carefully stepped around the blood to stand over me, and all I could do was to hold my hands up with my blood covered palms out as a sort of weak defense. He shook his head and gave a sort of tsk tsk sound as he looked mildly amused at my terror.
“It’s all right, Paige. If you’re a good girl and do as you’re told, it won’t be necessary to hurt you again.” His tone was soft and soothing as his face cracked into a broad smile again. “And I must apologize for my actions the last time we met. I had no intention to hurt you that way but sometimes the rage in me takes over …and, well, I promise to do my best not to injure you again.” He crossed his heart mockingly as I stared up at him. His other hand held a gun. “Please get up, Paige. You’re going to take a shower.”
His voice was so gentle and polite that I felt that I was in an alternate reality; one where a dead man didn’t lie near my feet in a pool of blood. What was my choice here? There was none. Unsteadily, I began to get to my feet as I attempted to control the shaking in my body.
“I’d help you, but,” he held up a clean hand, “I’d rather not get dirty if you don’t mind.”
I stared at that hand, why was it clean when he had just butchered this man? Did blood wash off that easily? Or was someone else here?”
“I don’t need your help,” I said quietly, finally steady on my feet.
He just gave a small nod and motioned with his clean hand. “I believe that there is a bathroom this way.”
I took a step, not letting my eyes leave his.
“Please hurry, we don’t have all day,” he said politely.
Reluctantly, I turned and started to walk slowly down the hall to the bathroom. My feet tracked red footprints behind me and an odd thought entered my mind that Aaron would be pissed about the mess. Ryan turned the shower on for me. “Go on.”
There was no point protesting, plus as the blood dried on me as a pungent and sticky mess, it would be harder to run later. If there was a later. I removed the clothes slowly, letting them fall from my fingertips with regret at the loss of their useless coverage. I remembered when I had begged Aaron not to make me strip; I would not beg again.
Averting my eyes from Ryan, I stepped under the spray of the shower. I had no wish to see what was in his eyes, whether it be lust, hatred, or sadistic amusement. If I saw his eyes, it would send my brain spinning with possibilities of what could occur next and that would be a mere waste of energy. A slight numbness came over me as I soaped at the blood. Fear was a useless emotion. It had done nothing for me up until this point and I wouldn’t let it rule me again.
Time after time, I lathered the soap and watched it turn pink before being washed away down the drain. When finally it ran clear, I turned the water off. Ryan held out a towel which I took and wrapped around my naked form before I dared to look at him again.
“Let’s get you dressed.” His lips flickered up slightly as he motioned toward the door. I led the way, with him close behind as I walked up the stairs and into the bedroom. I chose my own clothes, opting for tough jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt to provide as much protection as possible. If he killed me, I didn’t want to be naked. I did not want my body to be found as some faceless young woman, her entire life whittled down to a naked body, a victim and vulnerable…that had been my life for far too long. He remained silent as I dressed, waiting patiently even as I ran a comb through my hair. Finally, I set it down on a side table and waited.
“Shall we? Ladies first.” He moved aside so I could go through the door, wary of his psycho personality. Aaron may have been a psychopath, but at least he was consistent. As I got to the bottom of the stairs and turned into the kitchen at Ryan’s urging, I came to an abrupt stop.
The doctor who had been treating me stood staring down at the dead body, his face twisted in anguish. I opened my mouth to warn him but Ryan spoke first.
“You’re still here? I thought you’d be long gone.”
The doctor lifted his eyes to him, they were bloodshot but I wasn’t sure if that was from drugs or tears. “I need my money first,” the man rasped out. It was then that I saw his hands; they were pink, like he had tried to wash off blood but had not quite succeeded.
“Of course. It’s on the counter, in the bag.”
The doctor turned and reached for a black canvas bag that lay there. His shaking hands opened it, and then closed it again, apparently satisfied. He still looked anguished, and only then did I realize that his dark clothes were wet with blood. He avoided my eyes, keeping his gaze solely on Ryan who stood beside me.
“I wasn’t supposed to get my hands dirty,” the doctor muttered. “You said nothing about this. You just said that I needed to prepare the syringes, you said nothing about actually killing anyone.”
Ryan lifted a shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve paid you. Aaron will probably torture you regardless if he catches up with you. It’s all the same outcome,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
The doctor shifted his wide, panicked eyes to me. “He made me,” he said desperately. “You tell him that this guy blackmailed me. I didn’t have a choice.” He took a step forward. “This wasn’t my fault, the betrayal, tell him that this wasn’t my fau—”
He dropped as Ryan shot a bullet straight through his forehead. I sucked in a panicked breath and dug my nails into the palms of my hands, my head ringing from the sound of the shot as I kept trying to keep my eyes away from the now still body, but my gaze kept being drawn to it.
“Junkies,” Ryan said. “You can’t trust them. They always blame someone else for their misfortune.” The cheeriness of his tone made me want to puke, and when he took my arm in his grasp I felt like his touch burned.
“Why did you do that?” I croaked out.
“He served his purpose. Who knew the good doctor could be so handy with a knife? He should have been a surgeon.” He began to pull me toward the door. Was Aaron’s man still keeping watch over the house? A small amount of hope flared in me.
But it died swiftly when I caught sight of the car through the gates. There was no one inside it.
“This way,” Ryan sang, opening the passenger door to the red station wagon that sat in the driveway. He pushed on my head, forcing me in, even though I put up no resistance. As the door shut behind me, I felt even more trapped. What was I doing? Why wasn’t I fighting? Why was I just sitting here?
His hand was still on his gun as he settled in the driver’s seat. He twisted the key in the ignition and the car roared to life. “Get comfortable, we have a long drive ahead of us.”
“Where are we going?” I huddled close to the passenger window, as far away from that gun as I could get.
“It’s a surprise. It’s actually a place where I sp
ent a lot of my childhood. Aaron knows it well,” he said casually as he carefully backed out onto the road like we were going on some pleasant Sunday drive.
“Aaron? How does he know it?” I asked faintly.
“Oh, me and Aaron go way back.” He let out a low whistle. “I don’t think that he’d recognize me now though. He was about three or four years older than me back then, and I was just some weedy kid that got in the way of him screwing my sister.”
“Sister?” I repeated dumbly.
“Yeah. Meredith was about sixteen and he was only twelve, but he looked a lot older and he was such a good looking kid that the girls didn’t care that he was younger.” His face screwed up slightly. “It didn’t work out so well for any of us though.”
“What do you mean?”
He stared straight at the road with seriousness, before he took an audible breath and relaxed into a smile. “Nothing.”
I stayed quiet, swallowing the urge to ask more questions. Aaron had obviously seen me with him. From a distance at least, he mustn’t have recognized Ryan. The desire to know more overruled common sense and I ventured another question.
“So, did you grow up on a farm like Aaron did?” He was taking us out of the city and a fresh sense of panic started to rise in me, although I managed to keep my voice even.
He kept his eyes on the road, and his hand still held the gun. “Not a farm, more of a lifestyle property. We were self-sufficient. We had enough food stores, fuel and weapons to last long after the Devil brought his wrath upon us.”
“Devil?” I couldn’t stop myself. “You don’t really believe in that, do you?”
He flicked his eyes to me quickly. “Don’t you? Are you telling me that you have never come across true evil? That you have never come across men who do his work? Wreaking death and pain on all who cross their path?”
I was stunned into silence. It would have been simple to brand him as crazy, but his reasoning made sense. I made a mental list of the men who had done me harm, names that I tried never to think of, except for Aaron… always Aaron.
