Flawed (The Mercenary Series Book 3)

by Marissa Farrar

  “I’m not here to talk about our relationship,” I said instead. “Someone has taken her, and I need your help getting her back.”

  His voice was sterner when he replied. “Taken her? Where?”

  “To a location in the Catskill Mountains. He’s already hurt her—cut off her finger.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. He’s already cut off her finger. God only knows what he’s going to do with her next.”

  “Who is this person?”

  “I’ll tell you when you get here.”

  “No. That’s not how this is going to work. You clearly want something from me, now you tell me something in return. Who is the person who’s taken Verity?”

  “His name is Giovanni Bianchi.”

  “From the Bianchi mob?”

  I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “That’s the one.”

  “Why the hell would he have business abducting Verity?”

  “He’s doing it to punish me, and to get back money he thinks I owe him.”

  I heard the growl in Mickey Five Fingers’ voice when he replied.

  “You’re asking me to clean up your mess?”

  “I’m asking you to help get your daughter back from a man who will quite happily kill her. All I need is money.”

  “How much?”

  “One hundred grand. You don’t even need to come back here, just give me the money and I’ll get out of your hair and go and get Verity back.”

  “You want one hundred thousand dollars from me? How do I know you won’t just take the money and run?”

  “Because I love your daughter.”

  He laughed, a great belly laugh. “Well, more fool, you. She will rip your heart to shreds and eat the pieces for breakfast.”

  What did I expect him to say? Congratulations and I wish you every happiness? This wasn’t the normal prospective son-in-law conversation we were having.

  “She won’t if she’s dead.”

  “Maybe that’s the way I want her. After what she tried to do, getting me put away then running off to Witness Protection, and even taking her sister with her, how am I supposed to deal with a daughter like that?”

  I had to hold back my exclamations about what he had done to her. About what he had forced her to do to her own mother. I had to hold myself back. Getting into a fight over the telephone about who was the most hard done by wasn’t going to help Vee. I needed to remember who I was talking to.

  “Do you really want someone else to be the person who kills your daughter?”

  Silence came down the end of the line.

  “Do you understand the level of debt you will be in to me if I give you this money?” he said eventually. “You took money from me to kill my daughter, a job you did not complete, and now you are asking for more money in order to save that same daughter. It’s only because I don’t like the idea of some asshole stepping on my territory that I’m even considering this.”

  “I understand.”

  I waited, taking hope in the fact he was considering anything.

  “Okay. I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll bring the money with me then.”

  Panic made my heart race. “It can’t be tomorrow. He only gave me twenty-four hours, and that was four hours ago. You need to return sooner than that.”

  “I’m several hours away now, and I have business to attend to. I’ve been looking into the future education of the daughter I have left.”

  “How is Nicole? I hope you haven’t hurt her.”

  “Nicole is fine, thank you for your concern.” He said it in a way that made me think thanking me was the very last thing he wanted to do. “She also needs to learn how to become a respectful young lady. I’m afraid the amount of time she spent in her sister’s company has rubbed off on her, but I’m determined to transform her back again to the loyal little thing she always was.”

  “She’s a young woman,” I spat. “She’s not a dog.”

  “She’s whatever I want her to be. It seems Verity skewed Nicole’s way of thinking, and now I’m putting her into the type of education center that will make sure she learns how to be a young lady again. This isn’t giving me enough time to get her settled.”

  I didn’t like to think what kind of center that would be. Poor Nicole—though part of me felt like she deserved it. Yes, she was young, but she’d caused trouble for Vee every step of the way, never supporting her sister’s decisions, even though all Vee had ever done was try to help Nicole.

  “So bring her, too,” I said. This was killing two birds with one stone. If I could get him to bring Nicole back to New York, then I’d be able to tell Vee her sister was safe.

  He gave an exasperated sigh. “Very well. I’ll come back and bring the money with me. But let me ask you one question. What makes you think I won’t just hand over the money to Bianchi and then kill Vee myself?”

  “You could. I’m not sure that’s what you want, though. I think you could have killed her yourself by now, if that’s what you truly wanted. Vee always said Nicole was your favorite, but I wonder about that. I think perhaps Vee was so much like you, and then she betrayed you to cover for her mother’s affair, and you just couldn’t handle it.”

  “That’s bullshit. Why do both my daughters insist on going against me all the time?”

  “Perhaps because they both witnessed you killing their mother.”

  “Oh, so she told you about that, did she? Only I wasn’t the one to kill their mother. Vee was.”

  “You used her hand, but you were the one who forced her to kill her own mom.”

  “She was betraying me long before that happened. There was a reason her mother had to die. I’d thought she was more sensible than to betray me, but clearly I was wrong.”

  I wondered what he would say if he knew Vee carried his grandchild.

  “Perhaps if you treated people a little better, none of them would have betrayed you.”

  He laughed. “I don’t think you’re someone to lecture about how to treat people, X, and if you want my help, I suggest you stop talking now. I’ll be back in a few hours, and you’ll get your money.”

  And with that, he cut the line.

  I hung up the phone with both Little and Large staring at me in identical stances, both with their arms folded across their chests.

  “He’s on his way back,” I told them. “He’ll be a couple of hours. I have some things I need to do, but I’ll meet him back here.”

  The tall one—Bruno—scowled. “So we’re just supposed to let you come and go whenever the hell you like?”

  “That’s exactly what you’re going to do.” I flashed a tight smile. “Why not get me a key?”

  They both stared at me, and I threw up my hands.

  “Relax. I’m kidding. But I am going now, and I’ll be back before your boss returns.”

  There was nothing they could say to that. They’d witnessed the conversation I’d had with Mickey, and though I could see the hatred in their eyes at me ordering them around, neither of them could say a thing.

  I turned around and walked from the room.

  Little and Large both followed me out, hustling behind me to try to keep up, neither of them sure of what protocol they were supposed to be following. I ignored them and marched from the house, out of the gate, and toward my truck. I climbed behind the wheel and only glanced over long enough to see the gate shutting again, the men slowly vanishing from view as it slid across, both of them still glaring at me.

  I hadn’t expected Mickey Five Fingers’ men to be welcoming. I was just relieved the tall one hadn’t recognized me from earlier. I guessed he only saw me on the cameras at the gate. By the time he’d come out of the property, I’d already been making a run for it and had had my back to him. That was good. I hadn’t wanted to have to explain why I’d been hanging outside all the previous night. The truth of ‘I’d been hoping to kill your boss’ might not have gone down so well.

  I’d had a chunk of money in the case which I�
�d stashed in the luggage store beside Grand Central Station, but I also had money in a bank account. I planned on getting that now. I wasn’t sure how a bank manager was going to react to me going into a branch and requesting to withdraw that kind of sum. It was in an account that didn’t need any kind of advanced warning to withdraw from—I’d made sure of it when I’d opened the account for this kind of thing. Even so, a hundred grand was a big sum. I hoped it wasn’t going to trigger any fraud issues. I could do without getting noticed by the wrong people. Both the name the account had been opened in, and the identification I was using to prove my identity to take out the money were fake. The fear of being arrested, and so making myself useless to help Vee, remained with me.

  I wished I’d thought to purchase smarter clothes. I’d be less conspicuous entering a bank to withdraw that sum of money if I was wearing a suit, versus the jeans and t-shirt combo I was currently wearing.

  I drove into the city and found a parking spot a couple of blocks from the bank I needed. I walked the distance quickly, constantly conscious of time slipping by.

  Entering the bank, I didn’t bother to stand in line, but instead went straight up to a clerk standing at a desk marked ‘information,’ and asked to see the manager.

  She flashed me a bright smile. “Can I ask what it’s regarding?”

  I returned the smile. “It’s regarding a large sum of money, and I need to see him or her as quickly as possible.”

  “Of course. I’ll see what I can do.”

  She vanished from the banking hall, leaving me waiting.

  I didn’t appreciate being made to wait.

  Within a few minutes, a man in a suit entered via the same door the woman had exited from. His gaze scanned the banking hall and alighted on me. A smile fixed on his face and he approached with his hand out.

  “Mr.…?” he started, prompting me for my name.

  “Vernon,” I said. “Jason Vernon. I need to withdraw a large amount of money, and I need to do it today.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Would you like to come through to my office?”

  I followed him through to his office and took a seat at his desk. I slid my bank card and fake identification across the desk toward him. “For the withdrawal,” I said.

  He picked up the documents. “Exactly how much are we talking about, Mr. Vernon?”

  “One hundred thousand dollars.”

  I watched him school his expression from surprised to professional.

  “You understand it’s not as simple as walking in here and asking for the money. We normally require a few days’ notice with that sort of amount.”

  I frowned. “And why would that be? It’s not an account that needs notification of a withdrawal.”

  “No, it’s simply a matter of practicalities, Mr. Vernon. The security vans arrive every day to take the cash deposited here. We don’t always have that sort of money on the premises.”

  My jaw tightened. “So you’re saying you don’t have my money?”

  He grew flustered, two red spots appearing high in his cheeks. “That’s not what I’m saying. We just normally expect people to call ahead.”

  “I’m afraid that luxury wasn’t afforded to me. I’ve had an emergency, and I need the money now, and I’ll be closing my account at the same time. Are you saying this bank currently doesn’t have one hundred thousand dollars on its premises? It’s a big bank in the middle of New York City. I find that hard to believe.”

  “Well, yes, we may have …”

  “In which case, I want my money.”

  “It’s going to take some time. I need another member of my staff to sign off against your identification, to show that we thoroughly checked, and then both members of staff will need to go down to the vault to count the money. I can’t afford to have mistakes made.”

  “I understand. Of course you can’t. How long do you think you’ll be?”

  “That would depend on when I can free up another member of my staff.”

  Once more, I was aware of the clock ticking. Not only did I need to get the money to Vee within the allotted time, I also now needed to get back to be at her father’s house when he arrived. Would he have the money in the house, or would we need to go through a similar process with him? More hours would be lost, and we still had to drive back to the Catskill Mountains. The thought of doing that drive with Mickey Five Fingers filled me with dread. It was only my knowledge of where I was to meet Giovanni to drop off the money and hopefully get Vee back that would be stopping Vee’s father from killing me on the spot. Hell, for all I knew, he might just decide to take advantage of the situation, and kill me and let Giovanni complete the job with Vee.

  “Mr. Vernon?”

  I realized the bank manager was speaking to me, and gave my head a slight shake, bringing me back to focus. I still had little periods where I zoned out, the result of the head injury I’d suffered, which had caused me to lose my memory not so long ago.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Miles away. So, are we doing this?”

  “Yes, I guess we are. Can I get you a coffee while you’re waiting? We may be a while.”

  “Sure, why not.”

  I sat and waited for them to bring the money I hoped would free Vee.

  Chapter Fifteen

  V

  I’d been warmed by the soup, the food giving me renewed energy as well. Trouble was, the liquid also had an effect on my bladder, and the pressure had grown too great to ignore for any longer.

  I used my hand spans to count my way back to the spot where I’d heard the running water. I didn’t want to lose any of the warmth I’d gained from the food, but I knew risking getting my jeans wet with urine would be worse. I popped the button and pulled down the zipper. I wriggled the jeans and my underwear down my thighs, and then kicked off one sneaker. Trying to conserve warmth where I could, I left the other leg of the jeans and sneaker on. I would use my hand to hold the empty jeans leg out of the way when I peed. I put my bare foot down on the cold stone and sucked in air over my teeth as cold shot up through the sole of my foot and into my calf. It was only cold, though; I could bear it. I steadied myself against the wall, then squatted down over where I’d heard the hollow rush of water. At least it would take away the urine, and I wouldn’t have to smell it, assuming I was kept down here for any length of time.

  Letting my bladder go, the hot rush of piss cascaded from me and down into the water below. I exhaled in relief, gave myself a quick shake, and then hurried to pull my jeans and sneaker back on.

  The water beneath me made me think about the possibility of it being an escape route again. Could I risk it?

  I’d try my plan first. It was safer, I hoped, unless I ended up with a bullet in my back.

  But if it was going to work, I was going to need to put on a performance.

  I felt my way back to the stairs again and climbed to the top.

  Taking a couple of deep breaths, I pounded on the door with my good hand.

  “Help! Please, someone help me. I’m bleeding out in here. Oh, God, there’s so much blood. So much blood. Please, someone help me!” I gave a couple of sobs, hoping they sounded realistic. It had been a long time since I’d last cried, and I wasn’t sure what my crying would even sound like.

  It must have been believable, though, as footsteps pounded toward me.

  “Please,” I cried again. “There’s so much blood…”

  “What’s going on in there?” The man’s voice. Worried, nervous.

  “There’s blood everywhere. It just started pouring from me.”

  “Oh, Christ.”

  The door unlocked. First the catch, and then the bolt at the top.

  I didn’t give him a chance to stick the gun through the gap. The instant I heard the second bolt click back, I shoved my full body weight into the door, sending it flying open. It hit the man in the face, and he staggered backward, but I wasn’t going to hang around long enough to check if he was all right.

  I was out, a
nd running.

  I knew there was a chance someone else was in the cabin and would start shooting at me, but this wasn’t a time for caution. The man I’d just hit in the face with the door would be recovering himself fast enough, and I knew he was armed.

  I flew straight to the front door. It was shut, and for one horrific moment, as I yanked on the doorknob, I thought it was locked, but then it sprang open and I was out. After the damp, earthy atmosphere of the cellar, the fresh air filled my lungs like the sweetest of nectars and I gulped it down. A car sat out front, and I ran to it. Did it have any keys? I yanked on the handles, but the car was locked—though God only knew who they were locking it from. It wasn’t as though gangs of youths were wandering around these parts looking for a joy ride. I didn’t have time to start breaking windows and hot-wiring vehicles. The man would be after me any second now. I needed to get out of here.

  Deciding that getting back on the main road would be my best bet for finding help, I ran back up the overgrown lane we’d driven down to get to the cabin. My lungs burned from the exertion, my breath loud and hollow in my ears. My heart thumped, my chest feeling like it was going to explode. I had to keep going, though, even as my legs began to tire. The pregnancy had taken a lot of my strength, but now wasn’t the time to give in to it.

  I heard a yell from behind me.

  Had he seen which direction I’d run? Would he think I’d head into the trees rather than run up to the road? I considered running into the forest, but I worried that would get me killed as much as being in Giovanni’s clutches. The expanse of forests went on for thousands of acres, and I could easily run out there and lose my sense of direction. I could wander for days without finding my way to any kind of civilization, and exposure and starvation would get me eventually. I thought perhaps I would prefer to die at Giovanni’s hands. At least then X would know what had happened to me.

  I stumbled out onto the main road and looked left and right, trying to decide which way to go. I turned south, figuring the closer I could get to X, the better.