Chapter 50
“How did you find out?” I ask Tur as I prepare to step into the abandoned warehouse in New Jersey, where they’ve brought Martin.
Martin is alive.
Martin was my hidden enemy.
Martin tried to take my wife away from me.
That last thought makes me want to snap the neck of the man I once considered a brother with my own hands.
I was out of town with Beau when I got the call from the bodyguards saying Jackie was no longer in the room with Taylor and hadn’t left through the hospital’s main door.
Then Tur called, telling me he and Abaddon had saved my wife from an attempted abduction. I hadn’t even known the two mercenaries were working together to hunt my enemy, even though I had hired them separately for the job.
What he said after that first explanation, though, is what froze my blood: Martin Alston is alive. He’s your secret enemy.
While Tur took an unconscious Jackie back to our house, following my standing order to always protect her first, Abaddon brought her bastard brother here.
By now, my wife is sedated, on her way to Louisiana with Beau, to stay with Amber.
I try not to remember what he told me. Beau said that before she blacked out again, this time under a doctor’s hand, she kept repeating over and over that I killed her father. Which is true.
I can’t think about Jackie right now, or the risk she faced, because if I do, I’ll lose my mind.
Beau also told me that before the doctor sedated her, she revealed she’s pregnant, afraid whatever they injected might harm the fetus.
I’d already suspected it, having seen her vomit a few mornings. Obsessive as I am, I researched causes of morning sickness.
I waited for her to tell me. In fact, I was eager for it.
I never pictured myself wanting kids, because I had a shitty childhood, with parents who should’ve been banned from coming within a mile of a child.
Besides, what kind of example would I be for a son?
But when I suspected my wife might be carrying my baby, something shifted inside me. I realized I wanted everything from her, with her.
Today, I almost lost them both.
Maybe you’ve lost them anyway, a voice warns.
No. I can’t allow myself to think that she probably hates me now. I have to focus on why I came here.
Just like Tur and Abaddon told me, Martin had been acting alone, but until I’m a hundred percent sure of that, I won’t take chances. That’s why I asked Beau to take her away.
I need to understand why Martin wanted me dead, and why after all this time.
He could’ve killed me years ago if it was about revenge for what I did to his father. Not that it really matters in the end, because to me, an enemy is always an enemy, even if he was once like a brother. Still, I want to hear his reasons from his own mouth.
“We had exhausted all possibilities regarding your present and recent past,” Tur finally answers.
“There were no viable enemies, so we looked into your childhood. We don’t have all the answers, as you can imagine, but I can tell you that when your .
. . brother-in-law? Should I call the bastard that?
Anyway, when he disappeared over seven years ago, he was the right-hand man of a leader in a global pedophilia ring. ”
“What?” The pieces start to form in my head, but I don’t want to believe it.
Indifferent to my rage, Tur continues, “I know the family, meaning you and your wife, being the only surviving relatives, held a funeral with an empty casket because you thought the plane he was on crashed into the sea with no survivors.”
“Yes.”
“At the time, that was staged. You thought Martin Alston was in our line of work, but in truth, he was inserting himself into something much more lucrative.”
“Pedophilia,” I finish, even as I struggle to believe it.
“Yes. Apparently, he wanted the position that had belonged to his father in the pedophile network. But he got greedy and landed on the FBI’s radar.”
“You’re telling me that all these years Martin was hiding? He faked his own death just to avoid prison?”
“Exactly. He tried to fake his death but was actually injured. He spent years abroad, and from what we’ve gotten out of him so far, he was completely fucked up, without memory.
That’s the only part of what he told your wife that’s likely true.
He had to relearn to walk, to talk, and for years he remembered nothing.
Once his memory came back, over a year ago, he resumed working with the pedophile ring.
Got involved with the boss’s daughter and took a privileged position among those perverts.
Made a fortune. I think it was when he got back into that world of money and power that he learned you were the one who killed his father. ”
“And why come back only now?”
“As I said, I don’t have all the answers. But I think he was carefully planning his revenge. Until that hit in Bolivia, he hadn’t set foot on American soil again. So here’s my guess: I think he returned to the country after learning you and his sister were together.”
“Because he wanted to separate us?”
“Maybe. But I don’t think it was just separation he was after. When we saved Jackie today, we heard him tell her she had to die. So it’s likely Martin decided to use her as bait.”
I step into the warehouse, blood boiling in my veins.
Martin is already dead, whether he realizes it or not. This time, I’ll make sure the bastard never comes back from hell to haunt his sister again.
I would’ve killed him just for drugging Jackie and trying to take her away from me. But now that I know he’s also a pedophile, I won’t just kill him. I’ll enjoy doing it.
“There’s something else you need to know,” Tur says.
“What is it?”
“Martin completely changed his appearance. That’s why it took us so long to identify him.”
“And how did you manage it?”
“He was getting desperate, obsessed with revenge. Exposed himself. He even started circling Jackie’s friend, the redhead.
That’s how he found out your wife would be here today.
I’d bet my life he had a hacker working for him, otherwise he couldn’t have stayed hidden on the deep web and gathered so much information about you. ”
“Yes, that makes sense. He hired someone to erase his tracks, because every time one of Beau’s contacts got close, the lead vanished.”
“Abaddon is inside with him,” Tur informs me.
“I want you to leave me alone with him.”
He nods and steps back.
“Tur?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll never forget what you did, saving my wife. Contract or not, I owe each of you a favor, anytime you need it.”
With just a nod, Abaddon leaves me alone with the man I once considered a brother.
Today, all I feel for him is hate.
When it comes to feelings, I realized after marrying Jackie that I’m a simple, two-dimensional man.
I love, or I hate. With her, of course, I understood it’s love.
Not the kind people declare on the street, as casually as saying they’re brushing their teeth. Not shallow, careless, or easy.
Insane. Devoted. Mad.
Healthy?
I don’t know. But what I do know is that it’s love.
Which leaves me with the other side of the coin: hate.
Martin tried to hurt Jackie. Martin is now the enemy. And my enemies always die.
I watch him from the shadows. I’ve always been comfortable there, and that hasn’t changed. I don’t know if he senses I’m here, though he must have realized someone had entered.
I take a few steps, and he lifts his head. He looks dazed, probably from whatever sedative Tur and Abaddon gave him.
They didn’t touch him—I can tell. Not a mark on his face. A face that’s a stranger’s to me. Even the bastard plastic surgeon gave him a dimple in the chin.
I look around for something to wake him up. Not finding anything, I step closer and slap him hard across the face.
Martin stirs, groggy, but his eyes widen fully when he sees me.
“Why?” I ask.
“You killed my father.”
“Yes. And I’d resurrect him just to kill him again. He was a filthy pedophile. But that doesn’t bother you, does it? Knowing he sold kids like merchandise. After all, you picked up where he left off. Followed in his footsteps.”
“I don’t hate children. To me, they’re just business. Merchandise. There’s demand; I supply it.”
I unbind his hands and haul him to his feet, then smash my forehead into his face, breaking his nose.
“Son of a bitch!”
“Was killing your father the reason you came after me?”
“Of course. I want revenge.”
“Try again in the next life. But just out of curiosity, why wait so long to try to kill me, if your memory came back over a year ago?”
“That’s when I learned what you did. My father-in-law made sure to tell me.
He hates you too. You cost him money plenty of times.
As for my accident, yeah, I really got fucked up.
Spent years unable to walk,” he says, confirming what Tur told me.
“And then, when my memory came back, I remembered who I was. I went back to my old associates, especially the boss. I needed work, protection. If the FBI found out I was alive, they’d hunt me down.
I married his daughter, and as some kind of gift, my father-in-law revealed you were the one who killed my father. You killed my hero.”
I laugh, humorless. “Your hero? Unbelievable how you twist the truth. That bastard was nothing but a butcher of children.”
“You didn’t just execute him; you tortured him.”
“Yes. And I enjoyed every second. I took pleasure in making him pay.”
“Bastard!” he shouts, swinging at me, but I dodge easily.
“You know what I figured out, Martin? You told me a dozen times that anger was weakness. You were wrong. Anger is only weakness for those without a working brain. You’re the weak one. The coward. A son of a bitch who tried to hurt his own sister.”
“I’d never hurt Jackie.”
I grab the back of his head and smash my knee into his face. “Lying son of a bitch. You were going to kill her.”
“Yeah, no point denying it. I wanted the bitch dead.”
“Your sister is mine. Even before, when I was just protecting her, I’d have died for her. Now that she’s my wife, I’ll turn the world upside down to make sure no one ever hurts her.”
He laughs, blood dripping from his mouth and nose. “She’s not yours anymore, and I doubt she still loves you. She knows the truth now. Jackie will never forgive you for killing our father.”
His words cut deeper than I’d like, because I know they’re true. And worse, I can’t tell her I regret sending her father to hell.
I remember the day I discovered it was her father, the man who was supposed to be my guardian, who’d sold me to those pedophiles.
I’d grown suspicious Zimmer wasn’t just some common criminal because there was always an endless flow of money into their house. One day, I followed him.
I saw him negotiating over a girl they had kidnapped. I freed her and killed everyone—almost everyone. Zimmer, I gave special treatment.
The disappointment of realizing the man who’d fed me, who had children of his own and had pretended to give me a home, was hurting other children ripped me apart.
That wasn’t the only reason I tortured him, though. I wanted to know if there were more kids locked away at that time.
I’d already decided to kill him, but I wanted answers.
And then, delirious from the torture, he confessed, without me even asking, that he regretted selling me to the pedophiles when I was a child. Worse: he said God had intervened and brought me back to them, because if something had happened to me, his wife’s heart would’ve been broken.
I shake my head, remembering how I spent over twenty-four hours “working” on that bastard. Used every skill I had to make him suffer.
I enjoyed his screams. I don’t regret causing them.
“She loves me,” I say, even though it’s not nearly a strong enough argument. I killed Jackie’s father, and now I’ll kill her brother too.
How could she keep loving me after that?
“Yeah, I know, bastard. I heard you say that shit. I saw with my own eyes that she always loved you. In fact, I witnessed how much Mom and Jackie loved you. You, a miserable little killer since childhood. Why do you think I suggested to my father that he sell you?”
I step back, stunned by his words.
He laughs. “I always knew what he did for a living. I’m the one who told him you’d make good merchandise.”
“When they took me, you were only fifteen.”
“But I already hated you, damn it. I tried to kill you so many times, and you always survived. Or do you think all those ‘accidents’ after you came to live with us were coincidences?”
“You’re the one who took me there, bastard.”
“Yeah, but I saw you as a pet, a little animal. Didn’t take me long to regret it. I wanted you dead because I couldn’t stand hearing Mom talk about how handsome, smart, and organized you were. The little killer prodigy full of virtues.”
“If you hated me so much, why didn’t you try to kill me again once we were adults?”
“What do you think? Money, of course. You made a fortune as a hitman. You were always better at it than me, and stupid enough to split it with me.” He tilts his head “Actually, I always wondered, was it because you felt guilty for killing our father that you kept my pockets full, paid for Mom’s treatment, and gave Jackie every comfort? ”
“Guilt? I don’t know that feeling. I shared everything because you were my family.”
He laughs harshly. “The pathetic little orphan who, even after nearly being literally fucked because of me, still gave me money.”
I draw my gun and aim it between his eyes.
“What? You’re going to kill me like this? The great Lucifer? The legend of hired killers? After torturing my father, all I deserve is a bullet? I’m disappointed.”
“I didn’t torture your father just because he sold me. For that, I could’ve just put a bullet between his eyes. What made me hate him was that he gave me something I never had, the illusion of a family, and then sold me off like a bunch of fucking bananas. That, I could never forgive.”
“And me? You know everything I did. I hate you, damn it. I’ll hate you even after I’m in hell.”
“I wanted to spend days torturing you. But I’ll give you a quick death and then go find my wife.
I’ll tell her everything, and if Jackie asks how I killed you, I’ll tell her the truth.
I’ve never lied to my woman. I’ve omitted things, yes.
But lied? Never. So when I tell her I sent you to hell, I don’t think she’ll take it well if I also tell her I tortured you.
That’s the only reason you’ll get such a quick death. ”
I raise my hand and see his eyes widen in fear.
For the last time, I regret not being able to work on him the way I want. Then I pull the trigger.