11. Forever
FOREVER
I hated nothing more than a subordinate who didn’t take me seriously. Especially one that’d come up under my father’s reign.
“I’ve been working on my stance?” I said, my favorite golf club in hand.
Carmen had her gun pointed at my first appointment of the day. He was flat on his back, her foot pressed into his stomach with the gun trained on his dick.
Men only complied when you threatened what was important to them. This one would rather keep his little manhood in one piece than challenge me right now.
I leveled the nine-iron club with the golf ball, eyeing it and then my target—specifically, his head.
“Still needs work,” Carmen mused. “But, I think you might strike on the first try today.”
My father’s minion struggled to speak with the gag in his mouth. I pretended to take the swing, and he flopped around to try to avoid it.
Carmen was laughing her ass off, but made sure that the gun stayed where it needed to be.
My head wasn’t swimming today, and I planned to take full advantage.
“If I step back a little further, it’ll do the maximum damage. What you think, Carm? Is he ready to obey or…”
Michale was nodding, eyes wide as Carmen removed her foot and kneeled to pull the gag out.
He started apologizing the second she stepped back.
“I’m sorry! I was only following orders.”
I scoffed and kept my stance.
“Who’s your boss, Michale?”
“Y-You are!”
I nodded.
“And when my father comes around asking you to let him into my office while neither Carmen nor I are on site, what will you do?”
He was silent for the briefest of seconds, and I knew I’d have to kill him. Even the slightest hesitation was enough for me.
“I-I won’t—”
I hit the ball with enough force to dent the side of his face. He was barely awake when I approached, club lifted on my shoulder.
“The Collective thanks you for your service. Be blessed.”
I brought the club down and beat him in the face with it until he was unrecognizable.
Carmen had to pull me away.
“He won’t die a second time, Forever,” she said, wiping blood from my forehead. “Go shower, your two o’clock will be here soon. I’ll take care of the body.”
I nodded and pushed the hidden door leading directly into my office open and slipped inside. All the lights were still low, while the vanilla candle I ordered burned on the desk.
It wasn’t the real thing, but it helped.
My mind felt clearer, which didn’t make sense.
They’re all lying to you.
Were the headaches and migraines trying to tell me something? I hadn’t felt like myself in almost a year.
One morning, I woke in bed all discombobulated, head pounding so bad I could barely breathe.
My body ached, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember what I’d done the day before.
It was my parents who filled in the missing pieces, telling me I went on a job, and when I didn’t check in at the proper time, they’d used my beacon to retrace my steps and found me passed out across town.
No bodily harm, at least visibly.
But something had happened, and only I had the answer, except I couldn’t remember.
Because I missed you.
I stared at the shower floor, watching suds from my first lather wash down the drain as Demetrius plagued my thoughts.
He really sounded like he meant it.
In fact, the look in his eyes that night felt so… personal .
He’d said he could help me fill in the gaps, but I wasn’t sure.
I couldn’t trust anybody, including him.
Not the man I’m supposed to be killing.
Shaking off remnants of him from my mind, I cut the shower and toweled off.
My office bathroom came equipped with a small walk-in closet, where I kept my wardrobe for occasions like today.
I oiled down and dressed in a pair of navy blue, straight-legged dress pants and a loose-fitting cream blouse.
Thankfully, I planned for being covered in someone else’s blood and slicked my hair back properly at home.
I entered my office and took a seat behind the desk, slipping my feet into the pair of five-inch heels I’d left underneath it.
“Knock knock,” Carmen called before pushing the door open and poking her head inside. “Your two o’clock is here. Can I send her in?”
I nodded, and not even a second later, the prettiest, lanky woman I’d ever laid eyes on entered my space.
Deep, dark grey eyes met mine, and I tipped my head, taking in her all black attire, but more importantly, how gracefully she moved to sit.
She was dark skinned with her hair pulled into two large puffs, exactly how I liked to wear mine from time to time.
The initial vibe I picked up from her was cool and calm, but deadly if need be.
I was trained to know a killer when I saw one.
“You’re exactly his type,” was the first thing out of her mouth.
But it was the soft cadence that threw me first, not the statement.
“Hi, hello,” I said, leaning back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too…”
She smiled.
“Violet O’Sullivan.”
O’Sullivan?
My day had just gotten much more interesting.
“You recognize the name,” she said, leaning back and stretching her legs out. “Good. I was hoping I didn’t have to do much explaining on that front.”
I waited for her to continue, but it seemed she was waiting for me.
Mm.
“It’s not every day I get to meet someone from outside of Everwood,” I mused, waving my hand over the candle flame. “What brings you to my neck of the woods, Ms. O’Sullivan?”
“Mrs,” she corrected, sitting up a little straighter. “And I came for you.”
She reached into her leather jacket, pulled a thumb drive from inside, and slid it across the desk to me.
“I put the hit out on Demetrius Cannon,” she revealed, watching me closely.
But I wasn’t processing as quickly as usual.
This wasn’t normal.
Her being her, revealing herself as the person behind the contract, wasn’t normal.
Not society-like at all.
“Why?” I finally asked.
Violet shrugged.
“Because he deserves it, and if he weren’t an ally already, I might’ve done more than shoot his tires out the other night…
” She leaned forward, eyes pinned intensely on mine.
“But he managed to charm his way into the O’Sullivan fold by righting a few wrongs for us, and now I’m here to help him do the same. ”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Everything you need to know about his six or so months away from Everwood is on that thumb drive. What I can tell you, from my mouth to your ears, is he’s family now and we take care of family in my world.”
She stood, and I did the same, not sure where any of this was going, but intrigued nonetheless.
“You shot out his tires to get my attention, right?”
Violet nodded.
“His request. He’s going to great lengths to get and keep your attention. I’m simply the messenger.”
I rounded the desk and leaned against the edge of it, opposite where she stood.
“And what are you getting out of this?”
“Business in forbidden land, and hopefully, an alliance with the Broker when this is all said and done.”
Ah.
Now we were getting down to it.
“You’re unfamiliar with Everwood, but an alliance between us would never happen.”
She shrugged and started toward the door.
“Your choice, but in case you were wondering, you’d fit right in with my little crew. My contact info is on the drive.”
And then she was gone, and I stared at the slightly ajar door until Carmen entered and closed it behind her.
“While you two were meeting, I did some digging and managed to learn she’s the wife of Finnegan O’Sullivan, whose brother is the head of the mob.”
“What’s Finnegan’s ranking within the hierarchy?”
“Underboss of Philadelphia. She’s his second-in-command.”
Interesting.
“Plug this in for me on the monitor.”
Carmen eyed it but didn’t question my command and did as I asked.
“It’s a timeline,” she said, wheeling the monitor to me.
I stood in front of it and swiped through the secured documents on the screen.
“Florida,” I mumbled. “Constanzo. Weren’t there some issues with this family and the iron pipeline deal?”
The Constanzos had a foothold in Miami with ties to Cuba’s drug trade. Until a few months ago, they were leasing the rights to move product up and down the iron pipeline from the Collective.
But once the contract was up, the head of the family, Augusto, didn’t want to pay the renewal fee.
Dealing with those kinds of deals wasn’t in my job description, so some of the details were unknown to me.
“From my knowledge, yes. Augusto’s son was willing to pay the fee but was murdered before the deal could happen. They’ve been investigating since.”
We had the answer right in front of us, and it all led back to Demetrius.
He killed him for the routes and ended up in New York afterward, the documents told us.
“Why the fuck would he get in bed with the Albanians?” Carmen mumbled, not looking for an answer as I swiped one document away and enlarged another. “Ah. He used them to get close to the O’Sullivans.”
It was all laid out for us in black and white.
The Constanzo and O’Sullivan families had both been in the running for control over the pipeline. It’d been a highest-bidder-takes-all situation back then.
The Don at the time, the current Don’s grandfather, backed out after his wife was murdered by what they thought were the Albanians. Turns out, it’d been the Constanzos all along.
Violet said he righted a wrong for their family, and now she was helping him do the same.
My head was spinning.
He put the hit out on himself to get close to me. That’s what I got from all this.
I had more questions, only he could answer.
And since I’d been invited to seek him out, that’s exactly what I planned to do.
Something Demetrius seemed to have banked on happening.
“Take a ride with me to Cannon towers,” I said, kicking off my heels and reaching for my Sambas. “You’ve been before, right?”
She sighed and nodded, picking up on exactly why I’d asked the question.
Trying to reason with me about seeing Demetrius again, with my father lurking around every corner, wouldn’t work.
My mind was set.
I refused to kill him until I knew the full truth.
We rode most of the way across town in silence, but I couldn’t keep my thoughts to myself.
“Is there something I should know?” I asked, pulling over in case I had to kill her.
They’re all lying to you.
“I’m only doing my part, Forever,” she replied softly, cutting her eyes at me. “That’s all I can say.”
I pulled from the curb, and neither of us spoke another word until we reached our destination.
“You go in first, and I’ll follow a minute or two afterward. Oliver is expecting me.”
I regarded her for a moment and then got out, not sure why I trusted her, but suddenly feeling like I could.
Security was much tighter today. I was stopped twice before getting to the elevators, and once I made it to his floor, the receptionist who was usually absent from her chair was there.
“Good afternoon, Ms. James. How can I help you?”
For a second, I actually hesitated.
She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place where I had seen her. Even the way she said my name resonated with me.
“Have we met before?” I asked, earning a smile.
“Plenty of times…” She stood and motioned me back. “Mr. Cannon has been expecting you.”
I walked to his office, feeling weird all over.
Where do I know her from?
My head was so unusually far in the clouds that I walked into Demetrius’s office without realizing it. And when I finally put it together, I had a set of eyes on me that didn’t belong to the man I came to see.
“Forev—”
His sister, who I’d created a small file on, jumped up excitedly, and then her entire face fell as she stared at me.
“Uh, Demetrius will be back,” Solei muttered, picking up a box from the desk and walking toward me.
She stopped, and our shoulders brushed a little as she added, “He really misses you. We all do. Try to remember soon, okay?”
I couldn’t fix my mouth fast enough to ask what she meant. By the time it registered that everyone knew something I didn’t, she was gone, and Demetrius was standing in front of me.
“I wished she would’ve let me explain first.”
He was so close.
My heart raced.
“You smell so good,” I whispered, unable to hold it in.
The tips of his fingers touched mine, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull them away.
“How’s your head?” he asked, taking a step back and then around me.
I shook it, too focused on the distance.
What is this feeling?
“They’re all lying to you,” I said, repeating his warning back to him. “What did you mean by that?”
He walked until he reached the digital panel across the room, tapping twice until the automatic shades started to drop.
Dim overhead lights came on, and then he turned.
“How’s your head?”
My fingers were shaking. He’d closed the blinds for me.
“It’s… better today.”
He tipped his head as if to say he didn’t quite believe me. There was always a dull ache dancing at the surface, but it was tolerable today.
Still, he somehow knew.
“Almost eleven months ago, you went on a job that was only meant to take two days max.”
I nodded, waiting for him to go on, but he just stared like it pained him to say whatever needed to be said. My body wanted to go to him, but my mind wouldn’t let me do it.
“And?”
He started in my direction.
“And, I’m feeling a way cause you promised to come back to me, but didn’t.”
I blinked and squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to put the pieces together.
What the fuck happened to me?
“We knew each other before?”
Our eyes met, and I swear his were begging me to understand.
He loved me.
He loves me.
“I forgot you?” I asked, the sudden pressure behind my eyes giving me pause.
I pressed my palm into my temple and whimpered.
“Forever, baby—” was the last thing I heard before everything went black.