I See You #4
“You think that. And maybe you did, but what part of me is going to let you take that chance? If I sat back and watched some piece of shit who was threatening you the way he was put his hands on you? To violate you? You think I’m the type of man who thinks that shit is okay?
” I’d stepped toward her angrily and Vega’s hand went to my chest. Asha didn’t give a shit because she walked up and pointed her finger in my face.
“I can take care of myself!”
Vega backed away when he realized I wasn’t going to lose it. “I’m going to excuse myself now—”
Her eyes went to him the smile back on her face. “Is payment required for your assistance?”
“We’re family. We’re not about to make you pay for help. This is what families do for one another. Ori, let me know if y’all need anything else.”
I walked him toward the door with Asha trailing behind us. Vega gave me one last look imploring me to make this shit right. His fear for my safety gone yet again.
As soon as the door was secured behind Vega I turned to her. “Who was the first person you killed?”
Her head snapped up in surprise and I knew she wasn’t expecting that question. “Excuse me?”
“He might be nosy but he’s right. You’re far too relaxed for a situation like this. You should be—”
Her hands flew up in aggravation but I could see right through it. “What? Screaming? Acting like a damsel in distress? Surely you’ve seen I’m made of stronger stuff than that.”
“Stronger, but not impenetrable. I’ve seen that you’re passionate. That you have a heart. That you’re protective of what you love. None of that reads as heartless. Your reaction right now is one that you’ve been conditioned to.”
“Maybe I’m just crazy.” She smiled so sweetly as to give off the effect I was in danger but I knew I wasn’t.
I grinned back at her despite how awkward it felt just to show how much I liked that shit. “You probably are.”
“Shouldn’t that bother you?”
“No. Being labeled as crazy is just an easy way for them to dismiss something that moves too far from their norms. You should know this since it’s your area of expertise.”
Her smile turned modest and some of her defensiveness melted away. “Touche.”
“Is that all I get?”
“What more could you want?”
“The truth. We’re in this together, right? I think I’ve shown that I’m useful to you in some ways even if you only need me in a limited capacity.” A look passed between us and I felt bad for bringing up the ladder in jest at a time like this.
“So you’re a truth seeker tonight? I hadn’t thought you interested in learning anything about me judging on how you’ve behaved thus far.”
“Then allow me to correct the mistake of not showing you that I am. That only seems fair. It only seems natural that I have an interest in my wife. Something that is far more in-depth than knowing only the basics about her.”
She looked hesitant to respond almost debating with herself with being honest.
“I’m sure you know far more than the basics. An organisation like yours doesn’t do basics. You’re not the type of person who would give up the autonomy he’s gained through his work to be a part of something that didn’t allow him to exert even more power. It’s just not your personality.”
“More of your careful observation?”
“Something like that.”
Another brief truce I wanted to take advantage of.
“Are you going to answer the question or not?”
Hesitation but the wall hadn’t gone up. “That depends.”
This was progress. “On?”
“What do I get in return?”
“You want to hear about the first time I murdered someone?” I knew trading murder stories wasn’t what she wanted but it kept the mood lighter between the two of us.
“No. I feel as though it would be mundane and repetitive. I’m sure you were in the wilds somewhere on a mission for someone and it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as I’d want.”
That piqued my curiosity because there was no reason for her to want to hear about what I’d done in the name of my brothers. I would think it would turn her stomach but yet she acted as though hearing this would be nothing more than an interesting bedtime story for her.
Maybe Vega was right about me sleeping next to her.
“Then what can I bargain for your truth?”
“Your truth. Whenever I ask.”
“You already have that.” She studied me for a moment before I nodded my head in agreement. I felt desperate to know what she’d been holding back and I would be fine with whatever she wanted in return for her truth.
“There was a neighbor boy next door. Some pompous, titled little asshole who frankly was the type of man that would’ve never amounted to much had he been allowed to live.” Asha’s eyes had gotten far away despite her looking directly at me.
“Allowed?”
“He did something completely incomprehensible and therefore he lost his life.”
Now we were getting somewhere. I tried not to tense as she spoke, my body immediately reacting to her having been in danger. My mind went to her thighs and the marks there. Then to her confession of having been harmed. “And what did he do?”
“The first time he didn’t get caught. The girl’s family had no power. And even when his attentions resulted in a pregnancy, they forced her and her family to agree to get rid of it.” Asha looked so sad at her memories it immediately pissed me off more.
“What the fuck do you mean forced?” Depending on how long ago this happened I had enough pull at Interpol and Scotland Yard to help this girl.
“Meaning that they threatened to have her family deported. Again, these are people that you so eloquently pointed out have only been in the country for a few generations. Like so many countries can attest, hatred toward immigrants and migrants grows once their utility to whiteness has been completed. For African Americans, it was when they could no longer have their labor exploited. Then there were the calls to return everyone to the Motherland. In England, it was similar because immigrants helped to rebuild the country after the Second World War. They used their labor and then expected them to head back to their countries afterward. Instead, they made their homes on the country their labor at home and in England had built.” Her bitterness at the injustice seeped through every word.
“And just like here, so many people have a problem with that.”
“Precisely. So there was genuine fear that they would be deported and then unable to care for the child.”
“And you came in to be a harbinger of justice.”
“No.” Her face fell at her words the cloud of disappointment lingering heavy over her. I wondered why she was internalizing this so I pressed her again.
“No?”
She ran a hand through her hair as she took a deep breath to steady herself.
“No. I had heard the rumors and implored my father to do something. He couldn’t stop the harassment despite the man being a neighbor and he felt as though the girl would endure a social shunning.
Instead, he forced them to do more than they’d done.
She got to go to university and her family was set up with a lump sum to buy a home and live comfortably without being bothered. ”
“So what made you—”
“Because he tired of what he considered low-hanging fruit. The easy pickings. So he set his sights on a challenge.” When she looked at me her face tight she told me everything without saying a word.
“You.”
“Yes. Thought that I was in a mentally fragile enough place not to report what he tried to do. Emphasis on tried because my father didn’t raise a weak bitch.”
“You killed him at home.”
She scoffed as though she couldn’t believe I would think so little of her. “Of course not. I killed him at his home.”
“An accident?”
“Well, not exactly. I made it look like a robbery. A bloody one, but a robbery nonetheless.” She smiled softly at the memory, which seemed to bring her joy.
“You stalked and murdered a man.”
“Yes. But I didn’t need to stalk him since he came after me first.” Her face was blank, emotionless and devoid of regret.
“What was your weapon of choice?”
“A knife.” A flicker of a smile and a twitch of her hand, her body’s memory taking over.
“You wanted to be up close and personal.”
That smiled deepened yet again. “Of course I did. And thankfully his father couldn’t find anyone who would speak a kind word about his son no matter how much money he put forward and like so many cases it was quickly forgotten.
The good earl died and his younger son inherited the title.
He was far better than his brother and had done well for the family. So, I guess alls well that ends well.”
“Maybe.”
“You seem as though you think he might have changed.”
“Oh, I’m not saying that. Hearing that someone had tried to harm you after what I just walked in on has me livid. But if you hadn’t killed him when you did, I would’ve had it done.”
The promise of violence put that smile back on her face. “Is this more of that protection that I’m supposed to get used to?”
“I don’t know if you’re going to get used to it or not. But the fact remains that it’s there and it’s not going away.”
“Sounds like a threat to my sanity.”
“Your sanity is based on what you’re used to. I’m happy to know I’m not like any other man you’ve ever dealt with before.”
“That wasn’t meant to be an ego stroke.”
“And again, I’m different from men. What insults them doesn’t put a dent in my ego because I know who the fuck I am and what I’m capable of. Your words can’t harm me if they’re not true. You can do your worst and I’d sit back with a smile.”
“You’re irksome.”
“Thank you. Now, to get back to what we were discussing.”
“I’ve told you enough of the particulars for you to investigate and see if they’re true or not.”
“I already know they’re true.”
“Trust me that much or did you read that somewhere in my file?”
“As thorough as our research was this didn’t come up as you being a suspect so good job on the clean-up. But that’s not what I mean when I said we had to get back to it. You lied.”