Page 47 of Targeted By Vengeance

“Worry? Do you think I like you that much?”

He chuckled. “You like those paychecks, don’t you? Just dropped the last one into your account. The buyer was so pleased with the outcome that they paid a little extra.”

“It was my girl’s idea.”

“The new one?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he mused. “She must be coming along well, then.”

“Yeah, she is. I’ve been really impressed with her lately.”

“Well, when can I meet her? I’d like to see if this impression is coming from her skills or her looks.”

I rolled my eyes. “When you’re medically cleared and rested, we can set something up.”

“Should I book a fancy restaurant? Wear a nice suit and tie? You know it’s not every day, I meet one of the girlfriends.”

“Don’t stress over all that right now. Just focus on getting better.”

“I will,” he promised.

“Alright,” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear. I was about to hang it back up on the silver rack when his voice came through the speaker again.

“Mateo,” he called.

My brows came together as I placed the phone back against my ear. One of the main rules of calls was to never use names, places or assignment information. Why the hell was he breaking one? My fingers tightened around the neck of the phone as I shot back a short response.

“I put you down as my emergency contact,” he said. “Used your pager number. If anyone contacts you, pretend you’re my son.”

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but knowing Ares, he wasn’t going to answer any of them. Especially if they required him to be vulnerable. I learned that a long time ago. “Okay,” I said, swallowing the words I really wanted to say.

There was a click, and then the line went dead. The high-pitched howling filling the silence reminded me of the deafening sound of a flatline. So soft yet so loud.

I stood there for a few moments, stuck underneath the novel stones laying on my chest. They were pushing me underneath the ocean of emotions I kept hidden away. Not deep enough to drown, but not high enough to easily catch my breath.

I wasn’t a stranger to the anxiety of the unknown. After losing my whole family, I almost drowned in it. I had to learn, quickly, how to keep up with the waves - to swim through them rather than fight against them. What had been difficult before came easier now.

Whatever is going to happen will happen, and there’s nothing I could do about it. It is what it is.

I hung the phone on the hook and stepped out of the phone booth. The cool breeze brushed against my face as I walked down the sidewalk towards the apartment complex.

My hand slipped into my pocket and grasped the cell sitting inside. My fingers itched to take it out, text Maria, and let her know what was going on. But, I didn’t know if she would care.

Ares had never been anything to her but the owner of the collars on our neck. And while she could break free at any time, she didn’t because of me. Because of what she thought she owed me.

I remember our conversation about retirement and the soft, quiet life she wanted to live when she left this life behind. I wondered if she’d take it once Ares stepped down and I took up the mantle. Hell, being the handler was a promotion with a little less work. Rather than being in the field, I’d be the one working behind the scenes, managing jobs and keeping the others in check.

I could live a different life while doing that. Get a house on the beach. Open a little store selling knick knacks or some shit. Watch the sunset glisten over the water every night with a drink in my hand and Simone’s head on my shoulder.

It’d be nice - not having to hide in the shadows all the time.

I unlocked the door to the apartment and followed the scent of hot pizza to the living room. Simone was in the same place I’d left her: cross-legged on the floor, a half-eaten slice of pizza in one hand and a pen in the other. A plethora of neon sticky notes, documents, and notebooks filled to the brim with cursive surrounded her.

I leaned my shoulder against the side of the doorway and tried to imagine her the way she was when we were in Turks and Caicos.

The glow of her sun-kissed brown skin. The sunlight in her eyes. The carefree smile on her lips.