Warped (The Mercenary Series Book 2)

by Marissa Farrar

  “I don’t. I swear it. I was just getting breakfast.”

  I was worried for Vee’s safety. She’d come looking for me as soon as she finished, and chances were she’d run into Johnny. She’d never wanted to believe Johnny was crooked, even though all the evidence pointed in that direction. Having him here now proved my instincts had been right rather than hers. Even so, I had to get out of this. I couldn’t let this guy find her. He’d take her straight back to Tony, and I didn’t want to think about what would happen then. I guessed the reason for the bruises around her neck lay with Tony, and the thought of the other man’s hands on her made me murderous.

  Johnny shoved me harder into the ground. “Stop fucking lying. You must think I’m a total idiot.”

  I tried a different approach. “When did you start taking money off Tony? Was it before or after you employed Vee?”

  “What the fuck kind of difference does that make?”

  “It makes plenty. It tells me what kind of man you are. Were you always on Tony’s payroll, and it was just luck you employed Vee, which I think is pretty doubtful, or did Tony track you down and make you report back on her?”

  “He didn’t give me much choice. He said he would destroy my business.”

  “So you took money from him in return for reporting back on a young woman who was only trying to protect her sister? You know you could have gotten her killed?”

  I didn’t tell him I was the one paid to do the killing.

  “Shut the fuck up,” he snarled. “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

  He was getting riled, anxious, guilty. It was exactly what I wanted. The weight pressing down on me alleviated just a fraction.

  Knowing his thoughts were more with his own self-doubt than me, I used his moment of weakness. With limited options, I rolled to my right, dislodging his grip. Now on my back, I drove my knee up into his lower back, making him cry out in pain and simultaneously fall forward. He was still above me, so I drew back my fist and threw an uppercut, catching him right in the nose. There was a crunch as bone broke, and then a rain of blood cascaded down on top of me.

  I’d hoped at this point he would fall off me, clutching his face. He was still half astride me. But instead of that, he leaned over me farther, his bloodied face filling my whole vision. I swung my fists again, but this time he was ready for me and blocked the blow. With a roar of pain and fury, he grabbed the sides of my head, and lifted me up slightly, and then slammed the back of my skull on the concrete.

  The lights went out, though I still had some connection with the outside world. I was waiting for the second blow, knowing it would probably put a crack in my skull, and then he’d do a third and a fourth, and my brains would end up smeared all over the ground.

  But instead, the weight lifted off me, and I could breathe.

  Footsteps thumped away from me. I was barely aware of them as I lost my grip on the outside world and fell into myself.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  V

  In utter turmoil, and only wanting to see X, I ran from the courthouse. My mind was spinning. I wanted to go into denial, to pretend the past hour hadn’t happened. Hatred filled me toward that fucking son-of-a-bitch who’d come in to tell the story of what had happened during my mother’s death. Vincent. He’d been there that night. Had held a gun to our heads, just as the rest of my father’s right hand men had done. Someone must have put pressure on him to come in and tell what had happened, knowing it would make me an unreliable witness. Now the case would be thrown out before it began. I wouldn’t be testifying, and my father would walk free.

  The idea of him walking these streets, a free man again, struck fear into my heart. What would he do to me—his daughter, the rat? I’d be made an example of, I was sure. He might have paid X to kill me, but that had been before he’d been able to do the job himself. I was sure he’d now do whatever was needed to make sure I’d suffer, and to let everyone know no one got away with ratting on Mickey Five Fingers, not even his own daughter.

  Caroline Bailey had said his paperwork was already being processed, so it would only be a matter of hours until he was a free man once more. My fight or flight response had gone into overdrive, panic soaring through me. My father had the biggest patch in the city, with the most men. As soon as he was able to call them all together, I was sure he’d have two plans of action. One would be to find me and take me to him. The other would be to find my sister. Would he think she’d betrayed him as well by going to Tony? Or would he allow her a little leeway and forgiveness because of her age, and simply because she had always been his favorite? She’d been his sweet little girl, where I had always been the one to push boundaries, to fight him. Maybe we were more alike than either of us would want to consider.

  I ran out onto the street, toward where X had parked the car. I wanted to be with him desperately, as though by being in his presence he would somehow make all of this magically disappear.

  But as I approached the vehicle, my stomach dropped. The car was empty.

  “Shit.”

  I drew to a halt, my hand in my hair as I looked around. Where would he have gone? I was sure he wouldn’t just up and leave me.

  I fished into my pocket for the disposable cell he’d given me. X had programmed Harvey’s cell phone number into it, so I pulled it up and hit the call button. With the phone to my ear, I listened to it ring until finally voicemail cut in, and a dead man’s voice sounded in my ear. I ended the call—not wanting to leave a message in case it incriminated either of us at a later date—then hung up and called again. It rang and rang, but still X didn’t pick up.

  “Come on,” I begged. “Where the hell are you?”

  He’d known I would need him after my meeting with the lawyer. I was sure he wouldn’t leave and not bother to answer the phone. Threads of unease wound their way around my gut. Something must have happened to him for him not to contact me. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him again. It would be the end of me. I only had so much strength, and I didn’t think I had it in me to suffer both losing X again, and my father being released.

  At some point, I would crumble.

  I called the cell phone again, praying for a miracle, and started to walk down the street. I didn’t know what I was looking for—some kind of clue. My footsteps grew faster, my panic and fear rising. What if my father’s men had already heard he was getting out and were watching the courthouse? They must have known something would happen after Vincent went in and gave the statement about me being the one to kill my mother. I didn’t doubt for a moment that my father had been behind Vincent’s confession. I bet he’d threatened Vincent’s family in some way. I doubted Vincent would willingly own up to being present during a murder if he hadn’t been pushed in some way.

  Voicemail sounded in my ear, so I hung up and hit the call button again. I was praying he’d answer and laugh, and tell me I was acting crazy. I continued to hurry down the street, hoping I’d see him step out of one of the numerous cafes, perhaps holding a coffee cup for me as well, so he’d been unable to answer.

  But then I passed the opening to a little side street—barely more than an alley, and something made me pause. There was plenty of noise around me—from the passersby who were giving me curious glances at the frantic expression on my face and the hurried way I moved, to the cars passing by on the road, to the underlay of distant sirens that were always present in the city—but beneath all of that I heard something else.

  A phone ringing.

  My breath caught in my chest, my heart pounding. I traced back the couple of steps I’d taken, and sure enough, the sound of a ringtone grew louder. The phone I held in my hand was also still calling, but then a moment later it hit voicemail once more, and the faint distant ringtone I’d heard also stopped.

  With shaking fingers, I called Harvey’s cell phone again. My ears strained, listening hard. The ringtone started up again.

  Oh, God. Where was X? Did he still have the
phone on him, or had he lost it somewhere, or, even worse, had someone taken it off him and thrown it to minimize his chances of calling for help?

  I turned and walked a few more steps. I reached the opening of the side street, and the phone suddenly grew louder. Glancing down, I saw the shape of someone lying on the ground.

  “Oh no!”

  Breaking into a run, I sprinted down the alleyway. My heart was in my throat. Blind panic racing through my mind, with only one thought over and over. Please don’t let him be dead. Please don’t let him be dead …

  I skidded to a halt beside him, dropping to my knees. Frantic, I searched his face for any sign of life. His skin was spattered in red blood droplets, but I couldn’t see where the blood had come from. I had a sneaky suspicion it didn’t belong to him. His eyelids fluttered, and my whole body sagged in relief. He wasn’t dead.

  “X,” I said, gently giving his shoulder a shake. I didn’t want to be too forceful in case of injuries I couldn’t see. “Hey, X. Are you okay? What happened?”

  He gave a groan and then his eyes opened fully, revealing the clear blueness of them that had always grabbed my attention. His hand lifted to his head. “Ah, shit. Where did he go?”

  “Go?” I glanced around as if suddenly expecting someone to materialize. “Where did who go?”

  “Johnny. Your old boss from the bar. Hell, he could have killed me, but he didn’t. He was asking after you, trying to find out where you were.”

  That was the last name I’d been expecting. “Johnny? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, of course, I’m sure. I had a conversation with the guy.” He winced again, sucking air in over his teeth. He started to sit up, but I put out my hand. “Shouldn’t I call the paramedics or something?” I noticed a smear of blood on the ground beneath where his head had been, more blood matted in his short, light brown hair.

  “No, I’m fine. I’ve got one hell of a headache, but I’m all right. He could have killed me. I don’t know why he didn’t.”

  I helped him sit up, my fingers pressing into the hard muscles of his bicep. “You think he’ll go and tell Tony he saw you?”

  X nodded, and winced again. “Yeah, I think that’s exactly what he’s going to do. I could be wrong, but I think he might have been watching out for you at the courthouse. Perhaps if he hadn’t run into me, it would have been you lying in this alley.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yep. Is the car still there?”

  I nodded.

  “And what happened with the meeting?”

  “My father’s going to be released. New evidence has come up that makes me look like an unreliable witness. The prosecution lawyer won’t put me on the stand, and without me, there is no case.”

  He stared at me, dismay on my behalf in his eyes. “Ah, hell, Vee. I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah, me, too. I have to warn Nicole. She’s not going to know he’s out, and he’ll come for her. I’m sure he will.”

  He nodded. “Okay, but let’s go prepared. I have a locker at Grand Central Station which contains a locked box with weapons and money inside. Plus another disposable phone so I can get rid of this one. We’re going to need to dump Harvey’s car soon, too.”

  It was my turn to stare at him. “You remember?”

  His forehead pulled down. “Huh?”

  “You remember where you kept something from before we met.”

  His expression froze, his gaze drifting away from mine, lines appearing on his forehead and between his eyes. Then he looked back to me, a spark in his eyes. “I remember, Vee. I remember all of it. Who I am. My past. What I do for a living.” His hand lifted up and touched the back of his head. “The bang to my head must have recircuited my brain.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “Yeah, it is. It feels insane that I was ever not able to remember. It’s all there now. I guess it always was. I’d just blocked it out, somehow.”

  “This is good, right?” I asked, wanting to be encouraged. “We’ll be better prepared now.”

  He pulled me in and kissed me. “Yeah, this is good. Now I can get back to being the real me.”

  I didn’t want to experience the little dip of disappointment in my stomach, but I did. I guessed I’d gotten used to the slightly softer side of X, but he was right. This was the man I needed now. I had half of New York’s mafia after me, and I needed someone tough enough to defend me. I wasn’t someone who would ever readily admit to feeling the need to ask for protection—I preferred to defend myself—but even I knew I was completely and utterly over my head right now. I’d need a miracle to survive this, and I was worried I was going to drag X down with me.

  I suddenly thought of something. “This might not be the time or the place, but when I thought you were dead, I realized I’d never gotten to ask your real name. And then you came back, but you’d forgotten who you were, so I still couldn’t ask. You don’t have to tell me if you think it’s something you need to protect, but I want to know your real name.”

  A slow smile spread across his lips. “My name is Xavier Creed.”

  “Xavier Creed,” I repeated, liking how it sounded on my tongue. “So that’s where X comes from.”

  He gave me a wink. “Got it in one.”

  I spoke, knowing in my heart what I hoped he would say, but feeling I needed to put it out there. “You can go, if you want. When you got into this with me, neither of us knew how fucked up this would all end up. It’s too much to ask you to stick with me when chances are we’re both going to end up dead. If you need to go, I won’t hold it against you. You have your memory back now. You have no reason to stay.”

  He frowned and stepped forward, caught my chin with his fingers, and lifted my face to his. “Hey. Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not going anywhere. I meant what I said back at Harvey’s apartment. I am in love with you. As crazy as it might be, I knew my feelings for you were real within a day of meeting you. If you think I’m just going to abandon you when you need me the most, then you’re mistaken.”

  My heart swelled with emotion, but I was still too frightened to give voice to it. I wasn’t someone who admitted her feelings easily. I hadn’t thought X was either, but he proved me wrong on that count.

  He released my chin, but caught up my hand. “I’m not going anywhere. Got it? We’re in this together.”

  “Okay,” I said, though my voice caught in my throat. I cleared it and repeated, “Okay.”

  “Right, now that’s agreed, we need to get out of here. Too many people know where you are, and I think we both know how dangerous that is.”

  I nodded. “What about your head? Shouldn’t you get it looked at?”

  “Fuck my head. It’s fine. If I can handle getting stabbed by you, I can handle a little bump to the skull.”

  He pulled me back out onto the street, checking for anything suspicious as we went. We both tried to keep our heads down as we hurried back toward where the car was parked. X had blood spattered down his clothing—something that would draw attention—though he’d wiped the worst of it from his face with his sleeve. I assumed it was Johnny’s blood rather than his, and wondered what sort of mess the other man was in.

  I expected gunfire to shatter around us at any moment, and I flinched from every car that drove by, thinking the window would roll down and I’d be staring into the muzzle of a gun. I didn’t think my father would take the easy route of shooting me in the street—that would be more like Tony’s way of dealing with me. My father would take his time. He was cocky, and knew his own power. He wouldn’t want this to be over as quickly as simply shooting me. He would want to punish me.

  We reached the car without event. “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “To the train station so I can get to my locker. Then I guess we need to pay our friend Tony the Hound a little visit.”

  I nodded. I still remembered Tony’s fingers around my throat, the marks on my skin still visible. I needed to warn Nickie that our father was being released a
nd the trial wouldn’t happen, but I also needed to let Tony know exactly how I felt about him putting his hands on me.

  I pulled the car door shut with a slam.

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  X

  I negotiated the traffic toward Grand Central Station.

  The place where I’d left a suitcase of my belongings wasn’t in the station, as security didn’t allow lockers there anymore, but in a building close by. I rented long term luggage storage there, in case I ended up in a situation where I’d need some emergency supplies. Just like I did now.

  My head pounded from the knock I had taken, but I didn’t care. That frustrating fog had lifted, and I knew who I was again. I remembered the man who had shot me, and how I ended up in the water.

  As far as I could tell, we had several options. We killed both Vee’s father, and Tony, before they could get to us. Or else we took off, changed our identities, and became new people. As far as I could tell, the only reason Vee was dragging her feet on the leaving part was because of her sister.

  “You know,” I said, staring at the road ahead, mainly because I didn’t want to see her reaction. “We could always just leave. Your sister doesn’t want you to be responsible for her, and you said yourself that she turns eighteen in a couple of days, so you won’t be legally responsible for her either. She wants to live her own life, so why don’t you let her, and we can go on to live ours.”

  I risked a glance across to where she sat in the passenger seat, looking forward, her jaw rigid.

  “This isn’t only about Nicole,” Vee said eventually. “I’d believed my father would be punished for what he made me do to my mother by spending the rest of his life behind bars. But now he’s going to be out again—if he isn’t already—and he’s going to carry on as though nothing happened. Where’s his punishment for what he did to us? I can’t let him get away with it.”

  “So you want to go after him?”