Page 21 of One for the Money

“Ah, now I know why I didn’t remember what you said,” I commented, looking back at Bear. “This type of work makes my eyes bleed, so I banished it from my memory to protect myself.”

Watching Bear as he rolled his eyes in exasperation is an experience that never gets old. The man was a scary motherfucker, but no one could look scary when rolling their eyes—it was impossible. As far as I knew, I was the only one to ever see it happen, and that made it even more special.

“We need to talk about Erik,” Bear said, switching the subject. “It’s been three, almost four days since he went missing. The police are still investigating. I sent a cleanup crew, but they didn’t have much time before the cops showed up. Our people are good, but a rush job isn’t a good job. It might come back to bite us.”

I scoffed, falling back against the mound of pillows I used to get comfortable on the couch. “They can’t. No one has my DNA or fingerprints, yours either. Trust me, I pay handsomely to make sure no one ever gets that information.”

“What if they don’t know who it's from, but they can link it to other crimes?” Bear countered. “It would be best if we killed him and dropped his body somewhere for them to find. The trail will go cold, and we’re off the hook.”

He was right, but why did I feel reluctant to kill the man? Plucking at my lower lip, I tried to put my finger on it. This wasn’t like me. I never had a problem tying up loose ends or doing whatever it took to keep the police out of my business. Yet I wasn’t ready to let go of my new toy. There was something about him, almost like an intuition, that if I got him to admit he didn’t want to go back to his boring life as a veterinarian, I would have won.

No, it wasn’t about winning, not really. It was the knowledge that for all he wore his morals like a badge of honor, it wasn’t what he really wanted out of life. The closest thing I could compare it to was Ivy when she first came to me, broken and afraid. Cedro begged me to help get her out of Nepreea and free from being a possession used by his grandfather. Ivy had been forced to see the darkest part of our criminal world. Her family was murdered before her eyes, then she’d been snatched up by the human trafficking ring and sold to the De Santis Family. Now, thanks to my help, Ivy was one of the top assassins and master manipulators, pulling the deepest secrets out of her targets.

Did I think Erik would become an assassin? No. What I saw when I looked at him was a man who was trapped by the rules society demanded we abide by. People like Bear and myself laugh at those rules, knowing they are only there to keep everyone in line. I’d looked up Erik’s military history and had one of my connections unseal his personnel file the military kept. He’d enlisted at eighteen and showed such promise he was encouraged to continue his training in hopes of joining a special forces team. According to this file, two different units were after him, but Erik chose the one specializing in nighttime operations. After four years, he requested a transfer and began medical training.

It wasn’t long after he completed his education that he’d been discharged from the military. Whatever it was had to have been for a rather major situation since that information had been sealed, and my connection couldn’t gain access without raising red flags. That was fine with me—it would be far more interesting to get Erik to tell me the truth. My hunch was he left the special forces team because he couldn’t look himself in the mirror anymore and not in disgust like many would assume. No, I think he liked it more than he should have, so he left. What could be more opposite to playing cat and mouse in the dark than becoming a doctor? Funny how I couldn’t find any record of him going to veterinary school either, but somehow, he has an official license.

“No one’s killing him just yet,” I announced. “Have someone hack into his emails or find another way to plant evidence he made a run for it. Something like he staged the whole break-in to cover his tracks.”

The growl I got in response had me raising a brow.

“This is stupid, Von. Keeping him alive only creates more problems for us. What if he gets access to a phone or computer? We’d have every law enforcement agency raining down on us, and for what? So you get to play with him longer?” Bear accused.

I slowly set my feet on the floor, and with a fair amount of swearing, I stood. Bear merely sat there watching the whole thing, knowing better than to help me. Trying to keep this disgruntled exit as dramatic as possible, I slammed the lid down on his laptop, knowing it turned the thing off. Head up, shoulders back, I spun and left the room, but every movement took me ten times longer than it should have. When I finally made it to my bedroom door, I grabbed the edge, and as I stared Bear down, I slammed it, wishing his head was squashed in the process.

Fights happened between the two of us on a fairly regular basis, but most of the time they weren’t about things like this. He understood I was the boss, and this operation was mine to command as I saw fit. On the rare occasion he chose to speak up, it was because I’d been lacking some key information, none of which was happening here. He was simply being an asshole.

Knowing the door from the living room to the hall was closed, I slipped out of my bedroom into the hall. I went down the hall to the cleaned-out guest room Erik was being held in. Bear had the windows sealed shut and covered so Erik couldn’t see out. A cot was placed on the floor for him to sleep on, and that was about all there was in the room. The key to the door was hanging on a hook since we weren’t really worried about someone trying to break him out since no one ever came up here. The women hired to clean had learned a long time ago keeping their mouths shut and forgetting everything that went on here meant more money in their pockets.

Entering the room, I flipped on the light. “Fuck me, why is that light so goddamn bright?” Erik swore, shielding his eyes with his arm.

“If I were you, when you hear the key in the door, I’d cover your eyes. Then your eyeballs don’t have to get assaulted quite the same way,” I offered, closing the door and taking a moment to lean on it.

You never knew how much you used a muscle until you’ve had it cut into and every fucking bit of movement pulled on the damn thing.

“What are you doing up and fucking walking around?” Erik demanded, getting to his feet. “I get you don’t want to be in bed, but dammit, at least sit the hell down.”

“I was sitting down, then the environment became less than ideal for recuperation, so I came to talk to my doctor about it,” I quipped.

“Meaning Bear pissed you off,” Erik translated.

Grinning, I moved away from the door. “Look at you, three days here, and you’re already learning the lingo.”

“Trust me, you’re not that hard to figure out. I saw plenty of women like you join the military. You all have something to prove and a chip on your shoulder the size of a crater in the moon,” Erik muttered, making his feelings on the matter clear.

“Hmm,” I grunted, stopping my progression just beyond what Erik could reach. Bear wanted to put him down in the cells, but I pointed out that if we needed him, he would be too far away, not to mention have him seen by others. “Interesting, so what I’m hearing is you have a problem with women being in a space meant for men. That says a lot more about you than it does me, if I’m being honest.”

“Like you’re worried about your integrity,” he snapped. “It’s clear watching people around here that you're the one in charge, not Bear like I once thought. At first, I assumed you were his woman and why he was so desperate for me to save you, but you’re not. You’re his boss.”

I bobbed my head from side to side. “You’re not wrong but not right, either. Things between Bear and me are beyond complicated. As for me being the boss, yeah, you’re a hundred percent correct on that.”

“So you’re the reason I’m here, chained to a wall, and waiting for the day you get bored of me,” Erik said in realization.

“Ta-da,” I answered, giving him a big toothy smile. “Winner winner chicken dinner.”

He just looked at me like I had a screw loose, but I also caught the barest flicker of laughter in his eyes. “I suppose the question now is do I play your game or do everything I can to end things quickly?”

“Well, let me correct you on one thing… if you force my hand to kill you before I’m good and ready, it won’t be quick. I really hate being used or manipulated into doing other people’s dirty work. Just the other day, I had one of my clients spreading misinformation, hoping I would be mad enough to take out his competition. It’s plain rude if you ask me,” I huffed, shoving my hands in my sweats pockets.