Chapter 16
I scrubbed the blood off my hands, wondering if my heartbeat would ever return to its normal, sedate pace.
My tongue burned from the rush of emotion that stole it tonight.
My parents used to describe me as robotic, with an uncomfortable laugh pinned on the end.
Like it might make my strange behavior dissolve, and they could have the perfect life they envisioned back.
They didn't laugh the day they signed over their parental rights.
There had been words, so many useless words.
Snot dripped from nostrils, and eyelids swelled from endless tears.
I felt faint irritation and embarrassment at the scene they made.
But not enough to prove I wasn't the robot they said I was.
In the years that passed, nothing wriggled past the shell around my emotions.
Resentment, frustration and a desire for revenge.
Those emotions trickled like water into a waterfall.
A slow build to a rush. One I let flow with blood when the time came.
I prided myself on my unflappable calm, but something about unworthy fingers on Lara's thighs drove me insane. Perhaps that was why I cut them off. Cole cried in the end and made a mess of the second location I dragged him to.
My phone rang, and I shook pink droplets onto the floor.
"Update?" a low voice asked as I pressed my phone to my ear.
"Password."
A click of a tongue. "Cobra."
"The mission is complete. I've already sent a request for the clean up crew."
"You allergic to details, Mr. Goldman?" The male voice was wry.
The pointed comment might have chastened a regular agent.
But I was a shadowy cavern on the inside, and right now my focus was getting to Lara and making sure my touch was the only one she remembered.
It had been a hard decision to let her go with the spare and the giant.
But Cole signed his death warrant the minute he insulted my woman.
"The target is dead. I made it slow, and painful."
"Was that part of the mission? To torment our…" The man trailed off like he wanted me to fill in the name.
The back of my neck prickled. The tap dripped and echoed in the small bathroom.
I reported directly to the eleven, and nobody had ever spoken to me like this before. I might not know their names or how they looked. But they had nuances. One had a lisp, and another always ate while de-briefing.
"I completed the mission. Anything else?"
A chill froze each knuckle of my spine as the man chuckled. There was something so familiar about that sound. Memory feathered at the edge of my mind. Where had I heard that sound before?
"What about Adelaide Orazio?" the voice prodded.
The room smelled like bottled death. I tasted it all the way to the back of my throat, and it made me wary.
"What about her?"
"Weren't you asked to investigate where she's hiding Ellington?"
My breath roared in my ears. I remembered where I heard that sound.
Ellington had been given the mission to infiltrate the Thornridge crime family, and I cautioned him about ego.
Going undercover required becoming two people simultaneously.
I didn't think he could handle it without exposing The Unseen.
He'd proved me wrong initially. Before he slaughtered Naomi Thornridge, the heir, and siphoned off their fortune before disappearing.
"I could just ask the source directly. Where'd you get this number, Ellington?"
My heart crashed, though I felt nothing but laser focus.
The chuckle came again, ripe with pleasure. A wind chime that sought to tangle me until the sound cut as the man hung up. My teeth cracked as I ground them together.
Dangerous games were being played.
The heated anger in my veins hardened. Maybe that was the cause of my outburst toward Lara.
Since I was recruited for The Unseen, there had never been anything to change my focus.
Until my Little Liar swept into my life.
She'd been so out of place at the underground boxing fight her boyfriend had dragged her to.
I tasted the wary caress of her eyes as if it were yesterday. The memory flooded back, filling me with bittersweetness.
Her boyfriend, with his too-slow reflexes, pulled her in front of him when I approached. She wore a cropped hoodie, and her dark hair tumbled around her face in waves.
Too young for me. Except those eyes.
Watching with purpose. I felt them like a touch, as if she crawled into the cracks of me and everyone in this place. She scanned the room and saw what I did. That her boyfriend's buddy was skimming money from the bets, stuffing it up his sleeves.
"Hi. I'm Beck. What's your name?"
She shook my hand with a healthy dose of uncertainty.
"Sarah."
I tightened my hold and drew her closer. The warmth on her hand was a brand. That wasn't her name. I'd studied enough facial expressions to know a liar when I saw one.
"You Little Liar," I whispered, amused. "That's not your name. But I'll forgive you if you sit next to me during this fight."
I didn't give her much of a choice, intrigued. Even more so when she pulled out her phone. She didn't scroll through social media. Instead, she logged into an app and searched for Wi-Fi networks.
"Give me some good news," she muttered to herself as the screen lit up.
My mouth went dry as I watched her spot the thief, as I did, while simultaneously hacking into the building.
I leaned over her shoulder as she balanced her phone on her thigh and let the wireless interface work.
I wasn't a tech guy. Brute force was more my forte, but I recognized a sophisticated hack when I saw one.
"Having fun?" I asked her as hungry heat pushed out the cold sludge inside me.
There was something about this girl. Youth clung to her mischievous grin, but her eyes reminded me of myself. A darkness I wanted to drown in.
"Oh, loads." She tapped the screen. "My boyfriend is about to learn an important lesson, though. You don't take girls to underground fights on their birthdays. Not if they're the vindictive type."
"That right?" I slung my arm around her shoulder and shot her boyfriend a chilly smile.
He blanched.
"Who is running you, sweetheart?" she whispered to herself. "What do you know? Someone doesn't like doing updates."
"What are you going to do with that?" I nudged the screen.
She made a noise and pushed my hand away. My flare of interest flamed. No one was ever so relaxed around me. They knew better than to provoke the man who was dead inside. But I didn't feel it at that moment. With her vanilla scent in my lungs, and her warmth pressed against my body.
"Some of the software is out of date, and I'm using the flaw to gain access to the system."
I leaned closer. "Should you be telling me this?"
"What are you going to do about it?" She snorted.
A bark of laughter shriveled in my throat as the man I'd been sent to watch planted himself in front of us, hands on his hips. If my Little Liar wasn't afraid of me, she would be of him. He was a beast of a man, dressed in a gaudy pinstripe suit with his shirt unbuttoned to his navel.
"She's with me," I warned.
She, as I refused to think of her as Sarah, looked between Reggie and me.
Her careful gaze lingered on the gun Reggie flashed at his hip. I took her hand in mine, surprising myself. Physical touch was not something I sought with strangers. My fingers found her pulse. It thumped like a rabbit, and I wanted to hold her in my arms and devour her.
"Don't you know who I am?" Reggie sneered, and his gold tooth glinted.
"Reggie D'marco. Your brother runs this town, right?
He gives you all the straightforward jobs to try to keep you out of trouble, but you got a taste for white powder.
It's hard to stay focused when all you care about is your next bump.
In fact, didn't you just come back from a two-week bender?
Got sent to lockup for three days. I know how that is.
Your brother was real petty letting you sweat it out there as punishment.
Isn't tonight your last chance to prove you can still be an asset to the family business? "
I rubbed my thumb over my Little Liar's hand, gentle in contrast to my rough calluses. Reggie puffed up like a rooster, and his cheeks turned almost purple with apocalyptic rage. Compared to the intriguing puzzle next to me, it bored me to death.
"Did my brother send you?" Spittle flew from Reggie's lips as he tried to wrench back his temper.
Vodka seeped out of his pores. His eyes were bloodshot and vacant. Except for a well of rage, close to overflowing. I considered how I wanted to play this out.
"The Unseen," I replied and leaned back in my chair.
The color in Reggie's cheeks drained, and he fidgeted his pocket, as if debating whether to call back up. Good. The threat terrified Reggie enough he dropped his head and took a ragged breath.
"Don't tell them about this. Please, I'm begging you. I learned my lesson, and I'm clean and sober for a week now." He lifted his gold ring laden hands.
My Little Liar let out an incredulous laugh. I joined her, winking.
"You reek, Reggie. Sober my ass, what'd you do? Pour the entire bottle of vodka over yourself?" I rolled my eyes.
Little lightning bolts sprang as I dragged my thumb over her hand. I enjoyed this part of the job, immensely. Juggling powerful men, playing with them like puppets, until I moved onto new toys.
Reggie had spluttered, and his fidgeting intensified.
"Look, sober from drugs. What do you want from me? I'm only human," he whined.
I clicked my tongue, pointing a finger at him.
"I want you to keep your greedy nose out of the public eye. No more arrests, no more public temper tantrums. Snort a truckload of powder for all I care, but keep it quiet. You're a liability, and you know what The Unseen does to those, don't you?"