The Danger You Know

by Lily White

  The cabin is filled with the tortured voice of a man dying slowly, the loudest one coming when I swing the hammer down between his legs. The only parts of him I’ve left intact are his chest and head because I want him conscious for every moment of this.

  Blood leaks across the wood floor, pieces of the chair broken where the sledgehammer cracked down against his body.

  He’s barely aware at this point, the pain too much, his body going into shock.

  Leaning over him, I pressed my mouth to his ear, smiling at the way he shakes.

  “I’d planned on cutting off your dick and feeding it to you. But there’s not much left of it now, is there? Good luck in Hell, Grant Cabot. I’ll be sure to meet you there when it’s my turn to die.”

  Pushing to my feet, I break every rib, his sternum, crush his throat before finally swinging the hammer down at this head.

  The screaming stops. The cabin so quiet that it’s foreign to my ears.

  Of course Lincoln would be the one to spoil the moment. “Well, that’s one way to do it.”

  Glancing down at the blood and bits of brain matter splattered on my pants, I laugh and turn my head to look at him.

  “I’m not done.”

  His brows tug together. “I’m not sure you can kill him a second time, Ari. Not unless you have a voodoo doctor tucked in that bag who can bring him to life again.”

  My brow cocks. “Damn. I should have thought of that. Now you say something.”

  Rumbling laughter fills the space as I push to my feet and cross the room to grab the bottle of lighter fluid I brought and a pack of matches. Setting them on the floor next to me, I grab the rest of my supplies, hearing Lincoln curse under his breath when he sees them.

  After dousing Grant’s body, I toss matches at him until one finally catches, then I hold out the stick I’d brought, the marshmallow stuck on the end browning nicely.

  “You’re not actually going to eat that are you?”

  I bring it to my mouth, blow out the flame, and bite down, laughing as his face turns a shade of green.

  “You’re fucking sick. Let’s get out of here before the entire place goes up in smoke.”

  Quickly packing my bag, I shoulder it and walk with Lincoln out of the cabin. We’re at the end of the long footpath leading to the waiting car when the propane tanks we’d left behind explode into a violent blast that lights up the sky behind us.

  “Do you feel better now?” Lincoln asks casually as he climbs into the passenger seat while I take the driver’s side.

  “A little. Thanks for asking. But I’ll feel a hell of a lot better when they trace the cabin and car rental back to Grant’s sister.”

  I turn to glance at him as we pull away, another explosion rocking the dead of night.

  “Were you able to plant the phone in her house? Or did you fuck that job up, too?”

  His eyes slide to me, a grin tugging at his mouth.

  “Things should be interesting tomorrow. The stupid bitch will have no idea what’s coming.”

  Smiling at that, I weave through the forest roads, turning onto an offshoot that will keep us far away from fire engines and police cars on their way to handle the blaze.

  “Think the little monster will know we did it?”

  A sense of sorrow hits me that I hadn’t expected. “I think she’ll know it’s done. She can move on with her life now.”

  “And you’re going to let that happen? Why do I not believe you?”

  “I’ll do whatever is best for her,” I answer honestly.

  “Even if it’s not what I want.”

  Adeline

  “It was revealed at the murder trial of Gloria Cabot today that a sexual relationship existed with victim, Grant Cabot. Text messages were read to the jury detailing the incestuous relationship between brother and sister, the details of which were too risqué to air live. As a result, presiding judge, Mark Kinsley, requested that all cameras be shut off during this part of the prosecution’s presentation against Miss Cabot.”

  Leaning against the piano in my family room, I’m eating a bowl of cereal while watching the latest news on Gloria’s trial.

  It’s been a little over a year since Grant’s body was found bludgeoned and burned, and while the police immediately suspected Gloria due to the evidence they found, I have my own suspicions of who set this entire thing up.

  “Gloria was reported to be shaking in her seat while the messages were read aloud, the jury members visibly disturbed by the depraved sexual acts detailed in the messages. It was revealed that Mr. Cabot had a preference for playing the female role in their sexual encounters, making demands that Miss Cabot use inanimate objects to penetrate his body.”

  Chuckling at that, I’m convinced Ari and Lincoln did this. It has their names written all over it.

  “The prosecution is expected to rest their case tomorrow after presenting additional evidence that Miss Cabot planned the brutal murder of her brother after he threatened to go public with their relationship as proof that the claims of his former wife, Adeline Cabot, were untrue. According to the texts read today, however, Gloria agreed with Adeline’s assessment of her former husband, which led to the falling out between brother and sister.”

  I almost choked on my cereal to hear that. Of course, Ari would go there. It’s not enough to simply kill Grant in what I learned was a slow and torturous process, but he had to spit on the grave by destroying Grant’s reputation even after death.

  Although I find it a bit harsh what they did to Gloria, I understand. She’d helped her brother abuse me the entire time I was married to him, had looked away when it was obvious he was treating me like property instead of a wife.

  Karma is a bitch, and unfortunately for her, she got tangled up with the worst of it.

  Grabbing the remote, I turn off the television and walk into the kitchen to put my empty bowl in the sink. I’m exhausted after the first day of my new job, a photographer for an up and coming online magazine that promises to be the next big thing in entertainment.

  Already they have me running around to take candid shots of the numerous celebrities, authors, politicians and other notable people giving interviews within the city, my camera snapping away as those same people give me tours of their private domains and illustrious lives.

  I finished five shoots today and still have to go through the shots to choose the best ones to turn in tomorrow. But even though the work is more exhausting than I imagined it would be, it’s fulfilling.

  In every way that counts, I’ve arrived. My life is better than I imagined it could be. I’m stable, still know how to let loose and have fun, but I’m smarter about it now, no longer chasing oblivion to escape pain.

  I’ve made peace with my past and everybody who hurt me. Mostly, I made peace with myself. With my strange likes and dislikes, my habits, my disorders that will always plague me.

  There’s no cure for what I have. No magic pill that can make it stop. Not that I’d take it if there were.

  My shadow still watches over me. He’s diaphanous, something I can’t grasp, but he’s a reminder, I guess. To keep fighting. To remain true to who I am. To never let another person take advantage of me or change me.

  As for Ari? Who knows where the hell he is. Every so often I feel someone watching, the familiar tingle across my skin that makes me stop, look around, pay attention.

  It breaks my heart every time I don’t see him, but I’ve learned to live with that as well.

  Knowing him, he’s still out there, cold and heartless as ever, making money ending the lives of powerful men. But I like to think he still visits me every once in a while, checks in, ensures I’m okay, that I’m breathing, that I’m safe.

  Water streams down into the sink as I soap the bowl and scrub it, the small window in front of me open to the yard outside my house. While turning to place the bowl in the drying rack, a flicker of motion catches my eye. Everything stops except my pulse which speeds faster, my eyes lifting without tu
rning my head to see if I can catch it again.

  There.

  Behind a grouping of trees.

  That shadow isn’t natural.

  I’m careful to appear as if I don’t notice, even though every instinct I have is to run out and chase him down. But I know better, know he’ll slip away if I make it obvious I see him.

  Rather than running out, I turn and pretend I’m getting ready for bed, flicking off lights in the rooms as I pass through them, making my way to my bedroom once the house is dark.

  But then I backtrack and exit a side door on the other side of the house, tiptoeing out until I’m hidden by the plant life and bushes.

  Creeping around, I peek out from the corner of the house, my breath held. I’m so scared to make a sound.

  Dashing across the only open space until I reach the thin line of woods on the other side of my house, I creep slowly once I reach them.

  Almost there.

  So damn close.

  My foot hits a raised root in the ground, and I go tumbling, an oomph sounding from my throat as I land face first in a pile of dry, dead leaves.

  “You would make a shitty stalker, kid. I hope you realize that.”

  I recognize the gritty voice just as Lincoln grabs the back of my shirt and tugs me up to my feet. Chuckling as I brush the leaves from my clothes, he steps around to look down at me.

  “I’ve been tracking you since the second you walked out of your house. Although, I have to admit, the army crawl behind the bushes was amusing.”

  His brown eyes glimmer with warmth when I look up at him, his arms stretching out as I lunge forward to give him a hug.

  “I thought you were Ari,” I say against his chest.

  “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not because he would never let you live that down.”

  I step back from him and crane my neck to look up at his face. “Did he send you to spy on me?”

  Something unsaid rolls behind his eyes and I feel a pang of worry about it, my heart constricting painfully in my chest.

  “Has something happened to him?”

  Ari’s job isn’t the safest, and although I know he can take care of himself, I’ve never considered the danger he was in. God knows how many people are looking for the person who has a habit of making men disappear.

  “He’s still functional, but that’s about it. And he doesn’t know I’m here.”

  Blinking at the cryptic statement, I wait for him to explain.

  “Sit down, kid. Let’s chat.”

  “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if we go inside?”

  He glances at the house and back to me. “That’s not a good idea. He’ll see us on his cameras.”

  Annoyance flickers through me, but not surprise. “Of course he has cameras.”

  “He’s Ari,” Lincoln explains, as if that should excuse the behavior.

  All this time. An entire fucking year. And the asshole had an eye on me constantly. I don’t know why I even bothered to close my curtains.

  “Sit.”

  We settle down on the ground, and I lean back against the thick trunk of a tree.

  “I’m not going to dance around what I came here to tell you. So, the long and short of it is you need to forgive Ari. I know he told you what he did, but if I know him well enough, he didn’t give you the full story. Most likely because he wanted to spare you the truth.”

  I did forgive him, I think. At least, I remember telling him I did. It had been a dream, but he had to have been in my house that night. How else would I have woken up in my room when I knew damn well Grant found me? I had the lump on my skull to prove it the next morning, the scrape on my cheek, the pain.

  It pisses me off to learn there’s more to the story than what he gave me the night I kicked him out of my house, to think there’s more pain I have yet to suffer. Why not just tell me everything? Rip the full bandage off while he was ripping my heart out?

  “What more can there be? He killed my dad. Made it look like a suicide.”

  Lincoln rolls his eyes, shifts his posture and breathes out. “That’s what I thought. Ari is never the best at giving the full story. Your dad did kill himself, kid. But he couldn’t pull the trigger. He needed help. I don’t think he could do that to you, but the pain was too fucking much. At first, he approached me to do it, but I refused. I knew he was messed up from the death of your mom, but I refused to be the man that pulled the trigger and left you alone.”

  My brows tug together. “What?”

  Resting his forearms on his bent knees, Lincoln looks me in the eye, his expression soft, stare assessing.

  “You’re strong enough to accept this now. A strength I’m proud to see, by the way. I wanted to kill you several times when you were younger just to make my life a little easier.”

  I laugh at that, and he lifts his brows to silently tell me he’s serious.

  “Oh. Well, sorry.”

  A crooked grin. “It’s fine, seeing where you’ve ended up makes it worth it.”

  You know, it’s strange when I stop to think of it. I’m sitting in the middle of the woods outside my house because I have to avoid secret cameras inside my house, and I’m talking to a man who kills people for a living, yet all I can feel is warmth for the pride in his eyes and the genuine praise he’s giving me.

  If you’d have told me years ago I would end up like this, I would have told you to lay off the crack pipe because it was getting to your head.

  Lincoln scrubs a hand down his face, blows out another breath.

  “What Ari didn’t tell you is that your dad ordered the hit on himself. In fact, he’s the reason Ari and I know each other. We worked for him. I was the first guy your dad hired to take care of problems, but after Ari started at his firm, like recognizes like, you know? We both could tell Ari was a cold son of a bitch who would be excellent at this job. So, he was brought into the fold.”

  “Wait,” my mind struggles to process this. “You’re saying my dad-“

  “Used hired killers to get ahead in life, yes. You’ve met me before. You were just a kid and probably don’t remember, but I’ve known you since you were ten or eleven. Your dad had me to the house a few times, and I watched you dance around the living room in a tutu, driving both of us crazy.”

  Unsure how I feel about this information, I realize it doesn’t surprise me. My father wasn’t exactly the huggy-feely type of person. He’s was a softy when it came to me and mom, but a hardass on everybody else. I can’t count the number of times I’d overheard him in his office chewing someone out.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “So you’ll forgive our boy. He did what he was paid to do, and he didn’t see you until that night. I have a feeling if he’d known you ahead of time, he would have refused. Your dad got to him before I could. Ari did the job and regretted it immediately. It’s the only one he’s regretted. And I think it played a huge role in why he set out to watch over you. He was paying penance. He just happened to fall in love at the same time.”

  Letting all of that information absorb, I tried to make sense of it. Sadly, I wasn’t sure that any of it mattered. Not anymore. What’s done is done. Ari more than made up for it.

  “I forgave him already,” I admit. “My dad was fucked up after my mom died, I get that. None of this surprises me. I just wish Ari would have told me the entire story the night I kicked him out. I wouldn’t have hated him so much.”

  Shrugging, Lincoln casts his gaze over the expanse. “He needed you to hate him. It was the only way to ensure you’d let him go and learn to rebuild your life on your own.”

  Pausing, his eyes return to me.

  “He’s cold again. Which was who he was before you. I’ll admit that. But it’s different now. All he focuses on is work, and he can’t keep going like this. He won’t approach you on his own because he thinks this is what’s best for you.”

  It breaks my heart to know he’s hurting. I thought Ari left because that’s what he wanted. I never i
magined it’s for me.

  “What do you need me to do? Just tell me where he is, and I’ll go talk to him.”

  He chuckles. “Good luck getting close to him. Unlike some people, Ari is not the easiest to sneak up on.”

  “So, what do I do?”

  His mouth stretches into a wide smile.

  “Ari is due back from a job tomorrow night. And lucky for you, I just happen to have a key to his penthouse.”

  I finally catch on to what he’s suggesting. “You want me to be waiting for him when he gets home?”

  The smile stretches wider.

  “It’s the only place you’ll have him cornered. He won’t be able to resist you.”

  My mouth stretches to match his grin. “Then let’s do this. Cornering Ari sounds like fun.”

  “He’ll kick my ass for this. But if you ask me, the asshole has it coming. He’s been toying with your life for a long time. It’s about damn time you step up and demand he makes up for it.”

  I can’t agree more. But I don’t think going to his place is the best way to do it.

  If Ari is going to accept we belong together, he’ll need to make that claim himself.

  And I know a better game to play on him.

  “Actually, I have another idea, if you’re willing to help me.”

  Lincoln’s brow arches, and I smile.

  “Ari always did admire my devious nature.”

  At that Lincoln laughs. “Okay, kid. Out with this idea of yours.”

  I tell him my thoughts, and after an hour of working out the details, Lincoln and I settle on how we’ll corner a man who is a master game player himself, both of us smiling to know just how well the plan will work.

  Ari

  Setting my bag down as I walk into my penthouse, I flip on a few lights and head to my room to change clothes. Being out in bumfuck North Dakota for four days wasn’t worth the four million I was paid for the job, but in the end, I got it handled, regardless of how much of a pain in the ass it was.