43. Chapter 43
AHREN
"Mauricio Ynesco." I said triumphantly, dropping the file on the dining table between the two women.
Tierney reached for it, reading through the file carefully. I was glad to have another hitter to review the information. Maybe her eyes could catch something I hadn't.
"Sounds like twisted poetry," Connor said, dropping my phone to the table. She reviewed the ramblings I found at Jason's.
One shot, two dead
Two bodies, one bed
One body, one soul;
My turn to fill the hole.
One message on the left-hand wall of the foyer. Another equally cryptic message on the wall to the right. Connor was right. 'twisted poetry' was an apt description .
An eye for an eye leaves the world blind;
You took one from me, I'll take three from thine.
"Thine? Who the fuck says thine?" I scoffed.
"I know, right?" Tierney said, shaking her head in mocking disbelief.
"So, who did Mauricio piss off?" Connor asked.
"Don't know." I answered, "we don't get that information, only the broker knows. It's one of the reasons he's off-limits."
She nodded, instantly understanding. "You're all a bunch of hotheads. If you could off some guy to get info every time a job goes bad, well, you'd need a new broker every week."
"Passionate." Tierney corrected. "Not hot headed. We just know how to find the—simplest path to getting what we want. You act like it's a deficit, but it's a skill."
"More like an instinct. Shit like that keeps us alive. But yes, you are mostly correct in why the broker is protected."
"No complaints here, just an observation. If anything, your hot-headed, paranoid tendencies are keeping me above ground and breathing, so by all means, carry on."
Tierney laughed, but didn't reply, instead continuing to comb through the file line by line. Meticulous. That's another adjective Connor failed to mention. Most of the time, survival was in the details.
My phone chirped, vibrating against the table.
The blank display mocked me. This was my private number, the one I only used for about five people.
I swiped to answer, reaching over Tierney's shoulder and flipping to the last page of the file, scanning until I found the name.
"Lucia Ynesco."
"Aww. You remembered my name. I'm touched. "
I scoffed. "Of course I didn't remember your name. I had to look it up."
"You are a rat bastard," she sighed dramatically. " I guess it was too much to hope for. After all, I'll never be able to forget you."
"I'm flattered." I drawled, doing my best to cover my irritation with the sound of boredom.
"I can't wait to wipe that smug smirk off your face," she hissed.
"So come at me. Why are you dragging all these other people into this?"
"Why did you bring me into it?" she asked, her voice softening for a split second before returning to its saccharine tone. "Killing my father was a job for you, right?"
"Yep. He was nothing more than some dude on the wrong end of my scope."
"Was fucking my brains out and leaving me standing in the rain part of the job too?"
Connor and Tierney both turned to me expectantly. Shit .
"No. Just a perk. Also, I left you in your driveway. And I sure as fuck don't control the weather."
"And I walked inside and found my father's body."
“You would have preferred to find him the next day?”
"I would have preferred you didn't kill him, you fucking asshole." She screamed, the mask of sweet civility falling completely.
"Not possible. He was dead the moment the order hit my phone. If not me, someone else would have pulled the trigger."
"That may be the only true words you've ever spoken."
I scoffed. "I didn't lie to you. Hell, you were trying to suck me off in the club. The only promise I made was to fuck you so hard you couldn't breathe—and I fucking kept that promise."
"Irrelevant. I've worked out a trade. You took what I loved, so I am taking what you love."
"It's funny. I thought killing off the little blonde assassin would fuck you up. But I couldn't have imagined how delicious it would be for you two to actually acknowledge your feelings and get all mushy and sweet with each other. Killing her will be even better this time around."
My eyes slid shut, and I fought to slow my racing heart. I needed this bitch dead.
"So why attack Connor?"
"The lady doc?" she asked. "Funny thing, when I first found you, I thought she was your girlfriend. It took a while to understand she was only a friend—one of the few people you cared for. That's when I saw blondie leaving you roses."
"So what?"
My phone chirped a notification, but I ignored it. Whatever it was, it could wait.
"So what—is I saw you smile when you picked them up—like you were almost proud of her. I studied you for years, but I never once saw you get angry when she stole a kill from you. Little bitch was stealing money right under your nose and you—smiled."
My fingers curled around the solid wood of the table's edge. The tight grip was the only thing keeping me from throwing my phone, smashing it against the wall.
"This has been a fun chat. I wanted to call to let you know I don't appreciate you changing the rules. Play the game as I set it or the consequences will be—severe."
"What do you mean?"
A soft click signaled the end of the call. I reached for the phone, but Connor got there first .
Her face softened, almost apologetically. "We need your phone, Ahren."
I opened my mouth to object, but Tierney silenced me, pressing her body against mine and wrapping me in her arms. "Give it to me," she murmured.
My eyes dropped to hers. "What?"
Her hands slid across my chest, snaking around my neck. "All this tension and frustration. You need to get that out. Take it out on me."
I shook my head. She didn't know what she was fucking asking for. I wasn't sure I had it in me to be gentle for her. I wanted to kill something with my bare hands, rip and smash. Unleashing that on her…
"Larissa, tell him I'm all healed up."
Connor nodded. "I wouldn't go slamming her ribs against anything but, she should be fine for whatever the two of you want to do. Fuck, I wish I could go home." She finished, rolling her eyes.
"See. I'm fine. You can't go hunting her when you don't even know where she is. You're just asking to get yourself killed. Give me all of it and when you're calmer, we can figure things out."
Her lips pressed against my throat, snapping the last fragile thread of self control I'd been desperately clinging to.
I palmed her tits, squeezing them hard. My hands slid along her body possessively, lower and lower. My fingers dug into her ass as I lifted her from the floor.
Our lips crashed together as her legs wrapped around me. She arched her back, grinding herself against my aching cock. "Take me to bed, handsome." She whispered against my lips.
And I did.