Chapter 17
17
C ALLAN
“Is this about a new woman in your life?”
The housekeeper, Katlin, is a woman in her sixties with auburn hair and green eyes. She’s been with my family from before I was born.
Looking at me with a maternal smile, she nods softly.
“What makes you say that?” I ask, shifting my eyes to the mirror and fixing my tie knot.
A dark suit falls flawlessly over my muscular body, highlighting my shoulders, arms, and athletic legs.
It’s more than I usually do for my appearance, so the woman is right to ask me that.
She has known me since I was a little boy.
She knows the first girl I kissed.How bad it was the first time I broke a woman’s heart.
And the first time I had my heart broken.
She was there when tragedy struck, and we lost our family.She also knows that I have vowed not to bring a woman home.
I finish fixing the lavender tie and glance at her before moving my eyes back to the mirror and running my gaze over my reflection.
Content with how I look, I run my fingers through my hair.
“You look fantastic,” she says in the voice of someone genuinely appreciating something.
Grinning, I turn to her and drape my arm around her shoulders.
“You still didn’t answer my question,” I say as we both walk toward the exit.
“Was that even a question? I thought you were teasing me,” she replies, laughing.
We enter the hallway, and my arm falls away from her as I take in the view.
This year, the Christmas tree sits tall in the foyer, almost reaching the second floor. The house is decorated with wreaths and flickering lights across the window sills.
“I wasn’t teasing you,” I say, checking the dining room where flowers and candles steal the show.
I’ll probably be eating alone tonight. And not to break what has become a tradition these past few years, I’ll go out first.
We own a couple of clubs, but it’s usually the places that don’t belong to us that make us spend some money on drinks and fun.
I’m not going there for women.
Although I did pick up women in the past and ended up in a hotel or a brownstone across town.
I usually go out to meet people like me who want to escape the woes of life.
I love my brothers, but it would be weird for us to sit around the table, dispensing phony smiles and wincing like we have been mandated to be there.
“The place looks nice. Thank you,” I say and lean to her to place a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be late so don’t wait up. Everybody’s off as far as I’m concerned. That includes you.”
Her eyes stall on me a little longer.
“What?” I murmur, pushing back a smile.
“It is about a woman,” she concludes. “Is she nice?” she asks like a mother.
My own mother wouldn’t have probably asked me that had she been alive.
I rest my hand on her shoulder and mull over an answer, my gaze tipped down.
“I don’t know,” I say, lifting my gaze. “And I don’t know if I should even think about that.”
She tilts her chin to my suit.
“You put a lot of thought into that.”
“I’m going to a club. You know that. I’m not meeting anyone.”
“Regardless. There is something about you.”
Her eyes move over my face.
“You're dressed up like you care,” she adds. “I haven’t seen you give a damn about anything since…”
She stops, looking for the right word.
“It’s been a while,” she says.
My eyes tear away from hers as I start tugging at my cufflinks, making sure they peek from under the edge of my black suit sleeves.
“I’m glad you think that,” I say before bringing my eyes to her again. “Although, I’m not so sure I can afford to care about anything or anyone anymore. So, I’m going out. And that will be all,” I say curtly, anxious to end our conversation.
“As you say,” she murmurs. “Just make sure nothing bad happens to her. Especially if you know she won’t be a constant in your life.”
“She’s not…” My voice trails off as my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. I pull it out and check the name on the screen. “I need to take this,” I say, despite rejecting Beverly’s call.
Katlin observes me as I clutch my phone and lift my gaze to her.
“She’s not a part of my life…” I say reassuringly. “But it’s great if you think she’s improved my sense of fashion,” I add, my voice tinged with humor.
Smiling, she wags her finger at me.
“Just don’t play with this girl,” she friendly warns me before pulling away and taking the stairs down first.
“No worries. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you too.”
I watch her carefully climb the steps and head to the kitchen before I pivot and pull my phone out of my pocket again.
A text message catches my eye.
Beverly: Call me. This is urgent.
I tap the screen, her phone rings, and she answers right away.
“What happened?” I ask in a low, quiet voice, walking toward the window at the end of the hallway and peering outside.
A mantel of snow covers the backyard, and thick fog wraps around the trees.
“Your girl got visitors,” Beverly says.
“What?”
My grip hardens around my phone, my shoulders heavy with tension.
“She called me a few moments ago and talked to me like she was having a gun barrel pressed to her head, mumbling something about booking a cleaning lady. I played along, and it all worked well. Or so I think. Jimmy and Carlos are no longer at her building, but I can go there and check things out for you.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle this.”
I end the call and rapidly move away from the window. On my way down, I call one of my men.
“Jimmy and Carlos have left Brooklyn,” he says when I ask if any of our guys is close to the building.
“Never mind,” I say, and tap my phone before picking up my coat.
I bump into my driver as I walk out of the house.
“You’re off tonight,” I say as he gets ready to return to the car. “I’ll drive. Give me the keys.”
He tosses me the car keys, and I sprint to the black car parked on the side.
It’s cold outside, yet a film of sweat settles under the collar of my crisp dress shirt.
What the fuck is wrong with these people?
I have no time to analyze this as I yank the door open, slide into the driver’s seat, and start the engine.
The car moves swiftly as I steer the wheel and pull it out of the parking spot.
Teeth grinding, I glance at the time on the dashboard and cuss under my breath. The street seem carved in ice and snow and light, a sense of joy floating over the neighborhood, yet all I feel is dread.
A bad feeling hovers over me, and I only had that feeling once before.
When they killed my family.
MACKENZIE
Still in shock, I walk around the room, struggling to process what just happened.
If they’re after him, he needs to know. But where should I go to talk to him?I hate that I can’t call him.
Should I call that woman again? Beverly?
Yeah. I should.
Or maybe not.
I need to find him.
She knew what was happening and played along.
So, chances are, she’ll tell him.
Tell him what? That I talked like a lunatic, making no sense? How come my little ploy didn’t raise a red flag with her?
That is strange.
She acted like a pro.
Like someone who deals with this sort of stuff. And who is she, anyway?
I move to the window and look outside. Not a soul walks down the street. It’s Christmas Eve. Why would anyone be outside?
Slowly, I open the door to my balcony, step outside, and peer up. I can’t see much, so I have no clue whether Carmen and her goon have gone to her place or left the building.
I should’ve paid more attention.
Charlie? Why would she call him Charlie? And why would she really be after him? He stole something from her?
Yeah, right. Like that makes sense.
I can’t stay still as I return to the room, pace to the kitchen, and open the refrigerator. I can’t eat or enjoy a drink.
I need to get out of this place. And maybe go to that woman and explain to her what happened. Why I acted the way I did.
Maybe she can tell me where he is.
Tense, I turn around, go to the closet, and pull out clothes.
Warm pants and a top. A coat and boots.
I collect my gloves and a scarf before putting my ear muffs on.
Minutes later, I head to the door.
I can’t say I’m not crazily anxious to walk out.
I can’t also say it doesn’t stress me out to pace into the hallway and maybe run into those people again.
Quietly, I lock the door and check my surroundings before stealthily moving away.
A door opens on the upper floor as I take the stairs down and rush to reach the lobby and exit the building before anyone can spot and follow me.
I hope it’s not them.
Even without knowing for sure, I still feel like I’m being followed.
Beads of sweat trickle down my neck, and my short coat feels heavy.
“Fuck…” I mutter as I reach the sidewalk and swiftly head up north.
I hate these people. And I hate I'm in their crosshairs. They’re using me to get to him.
They believe I’m important to him.
They believe I’m important to him?
This is not the time to boast about this shit.
My eyes go over my shoulder as I scan the street to make sure no one is following me.
A sigh of relief rolls off my lips when I spot the next block in the distance.
It’s about five or ten minutes away. What if she’s not home? Do I want to return to my place?
Do I feel safe there?
No. And no.
Speaking of feeling safe. Still pacing away, I shift my head and look back.
My heart jumps to my throat.No fucking way.
I slow down so I don’t stumble and fall. It’s hard to tell, but two silhouettes slide quickly past the buildings.
Normally, it would mean nothing.And I wouldn’t straightly think they had something to do with me.
But things are different tonight.
I just had Carmen and her man push their way into my place. They threatened me and bullied me into cooperating.
What if that whole thing was about making me go to him and leading them there.
My pulse spikes as the possibility of doing more harm than good to him settles in my brain.
I stop and pull to the side, trying to hide in the entryway of a building.
The space is dark, but not for long since I trigger the motion sensors, and bright light pours over me.
“Fuck,” I mutter, zipping away from the building but not before glancing at the two dark silhouettes.
The men walk steadily toward me, and they have picked up the pace.
I start running. Skidding on the ice. Catching myself a couple of times. Getting desperate.
What am I doing?
Beverly’s building looms in the distance, and my mind has been made up.
I won’t be able to walk into her building with these two people following me.
More desperation jabs at me.
What a horrible evening.
There’s not much time to process what’s happening as I run past Beverly’s building, searching for a crowded area.
A lit space.
Sadly, not many people are out at the moment.
They’re baking cookies, cooking dinner, or drinking mulled wine in their homes.
I wish I could do that instead of dealing with the freezing cold and the two dark shadows that seem awfully close to me.
Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing when I enter a busier street, step off the sidewalk, and run into traffic.
Luckily, only a few cars crawl down the road.
I manage to avoid them and not fall in front of them.A couple of drivers honk at me, and I pull away, but I still can’t find a safe spot.
Quick breaths leave my lips, my apprehension growing. I reach inside my jacket to grab my phone and call someone.
Maybe I can call that woman again.
It takes a moment of distraction, and my foot slips while my phone tears off my hand, falling in the middle of the road.
A car approaches me, and I signal the driver to slow down, rushing to pick up my phone when the car draws to a stop and the driver’s door opens.
The last thing I want right now is a confrontation with some knucklehead who can’t keep his temper under control.
“Give me a fucking second,” I bark, bending over to pick up my phone.
The headlights of the car create a glowing wall in front of me, momentarily blinding me.
I snap up, phone clutched in hand, and struggle to get to the side when a voice rings behind the light.
“Mackenzie?” the man calls, and I freeze. “Get in the car,” he demands in a rough voice. “Now.”
I don’t waste another second.
I walk into the light, falling straight into his arms.
“People have been following me,” I say when he grabs me by the elbow and walks me around his ride.
He opens the other door and lets me fall inside while I still float in a cloud of male cologne.
Firm but without rushing, Callan rounds his car and claims the driver’s seat, a line of cars already behind us.
He glances at me.
I momentarily forget about my predicament, swept into his secret world.
Man, he looks all right.
Where was he going?
“Mackenzie?”
As he sets his car in motion, I become more focused, and the two men outside catch my eye.
“It’s them. They’ve been following me. And so have Carmen, your acquaintance, and some nasty-looking guy. They have paid me a visit. They roughed me up a little. They said they were looking for you. And your name was Charlie.”
I’ve probably wasted one breath to relay the entire story in a long string of unpolished sentences.
He moves his eyes to the side. The two men check every car moving down the street.
“Don’t worry about them,” he says, composed, tearing his eyes away from the two men. “They won’t bother you anymore,” he adds, an almost imperceptible sigh flowing between his beautiful lips.
He seems relieved.
Or maybe I’m projecting.
I, for one, am ecstatic that I’m no longer running down the street like a crazy woman looking for him and not knowing where to find him.
“So I was right…” I murmur, drinking in his profile.
My eyes float over his smooth coat and suit.
He was planning to go someplace. Perhaps he’s expected somewhere.
“They were after me,” I say.
He glances at me again, with that look on his face as if he knows where we’re going, while I have no idea.
“They are after me,” he says, calm.
“The two men?”
He nods while I study him in silence, his unabashed confidence turning me on like nothing else.
“Charlie?” I toss at him with a flicker of amusement in my voice. “Is your name Charlie?”
He turns right and then left. And then he pulls his car to a stop before turning the headlights off and checking something in the rearview mirror.
Looking like a postcard, the park sprawls out in front of us. No car or person crosses the road.
Satisfied with how deserted the place is, he moves his eyes to me.
“My name is Callan. I’m sorry about what happened tonight. You weren’t supposed to be their target.”
My eyebrows move slowly like caterpillars brought back to life.
“Their target? How do you know about what happened tonight?”
His eyes glint with wavering light as he soaks me in like I soaked him in only a few moments ago.
“Beverly…” I murmur. “Did she call you?”
“She did.”
“Why can’t I call you?”
He weighs his answer.
“Because I thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know much about me.”
“Do you still think that?”
“I do.”
His answer takes me by surprise.
“Even after what happened tonight?”
He leans back in his seat and unbuttons his sleek suit jacket.
I can’t help myself and ask.
“Are you expected somewhere?”
A soft smile tilts his lips.
“I’m not,” he says. “But I was going somewhere.”
Resentment falls through my chest.
“Are you still going there?”
He gives me an amused look, his stare moving down.
There’s not much to entertain himself with. A bland look is all I have to offer.
He brings his hand to my head and removes my ear muffs.
“I don’t know… yet. ”
I purse my lips.
“You think it’s funny?”
He shakes his head, his smiling eyes saying yes.
“No.”
“Yes, you do. Who is Beverly?”
“She works for me,” he says, his playful tone gone, his eyes moving away from me.
Maybe that’s not a lie.
But it can be a signal that he doesn’t want to talk about her anymore.
“What made you place that call?” he asks in a business-like voice, all attention all of a sudden. “Did they threaten you?” he goes on, looking at me with concerned eyes.
“They weren’t nice. And that woman…Carmen…”
I stop, not knowing how important that woman is and how much I can bash her.
“She’s not my friend.”
“Obviously.”
He flashes a smile, amused by my keen perception.
“Obviously,” he says.
“She said you’d stolen something from her.”
His expression shifts, his eyes darkening, his lips carved out of steel.
“She said that?”
I nod, struggling to read his expression.
“Yeah.”
“Did she say what exactly I had stolen from her?”
“No. But she was pissed. Like really pissed. And she went on and on about you being Charlie. Someone had seen us kissing, and she knew that.”
“Of course she did.”
“Yeah. Well, I had to make up a story about you being someone other than Charlie.”
He searches my eyes before he laughs quietly, his chest vibrating with his deep voice.
“You fucked with them,” he says, and I must be glowing like a lamp, feeding on his genuine admiration for my skill and courage.
“It was impossible not to.”
Tilting his head to the side, he cocks an eyebrow and stares at me with renewed interest.
“Care to go on?”
“I kissed Manny.”
He straightens in his seat, his lip rolled under his teeth as he stifles another chuckle.
“Manny?”
“From Emmanuel. The lady was really picky about the details. Anyway, you were some bum I met at the deli.”
This time, he has a good laugh, and I can tell he hasn’t had so much fun in a while. His features relax as he chuckles a little longer.
“You’re fucking nuts.”
“I don’t know about that. She didn’t like my story. I guess she knew it was a fabricated one. Even so, she huffed and puffed since she had nothing against me. But she had her men following me…”
My voice trails off before the silence thickens, and he no longer laughs or smiles.
“You’re involved in some bad stuff?” I eventually ask, my voice shaking as I fear the answer.
“What if I were?” he says, and the night goes darker.