The Truth: Love and lies 1
1
Who the hell was that guy?
Blinking into my scope I choked on an irritated mouthful of air. It wasn’t overly surprising that more than one person would want that piece of shit dead. But I was the one who should have been pulling the trigger. Me. Not him.This was supposed to be a nice, simple, little pre-dinner job. I should have been calling in for a clean-up right now, and then I should be giving my boss a quick rundown as I made my way home to fill my painfully empty stomach with a stupid amount of leftover Chinese food.But that wouldn’t be happening, because some dumb-fuck arsehole decided to come waltzing into the dark carpark where my mark—Rob Baxter—had been standing, fumbling with his keys, and had shot him in the back of the head before my finger could tighten around my own trigger.I kept my sight on the shooter, wondering if I should take him out too. It wasn’t what I had planned for, but what was one more body to the tally?He wasn’t leaving in any kind of rush; he was casually leaning against Rob’s black BMW. I watched the mystery arsehole as he shrugged off his black leather jacket, slung it over his shoulder, and slid his gun into a holster sitting on his hip over the top of neatly pressed trousers. He proceeded to slip a tattooed hand into his pocket and pulled out a phone, bringing it to his ear.I kept my focus on him as he spoke. One of the many skills I had learned over the years was lipreading. Maybe I could find out something that could give me a clue as to who the arsehole was, who he was working for, anything. My boss would be a lot happier about this screw-up if I could at least tell him something useful about this guy. Something more informative than “He dressed well and radiated big dick energy, kinda like you, boss.”Drawing in a slow breath to clear my head, I focused on the task at hand, narrowing my gaze on his plump lips.
“It’s done.” Well, that wasn’t much to go on.
“Are you doubting my skills? He’s not coming back from this. One shot is all I need.”
Arrogant ass. A tiny part of me wanted Rob Baxter to survive this—he absolutely wouldn’t, but it would be funny if he did—just to shit all over this arsehole’s ego. There was nothing worse for people like us than thinking someone is dead when they’re not, and that kind of fuck-up didn’t go down well in our world. Presuming he’s from my world. He’s definitely not one of ours though. My boss liked to keep our circle small, unlike most of the other oragnisations in Westeroak. So unless someone had been brought in within the fifteen minutes that had passed since my last call with the boss, this guy was not a member of The Brotherhood.“I’m being watched.”
As I watched the words leave his mouth his eyes shot up to mine. I knew that he couldn’t see me, not really, but that didn’t change the fact that my mouth had become instantly drier than the Sahara.
How didhe know that I was up here? Surely it was just a lucky guess that he had pinpointed my exact location, right?“Hey princess.” He raised a hand and waggled his fingers in a lazy wave, his dark brows jumping up as a shit-eating grin split his lips.
My stomach twisted into a knot and irriation peeled back my upper lip. I hated being called princess.
“Oh calm down. I’m behaving myself.” He continued to speak, frowning and shoving his hand into his pocket.
I was certain that he couldn’t see me, and there was no way he’d be able to tell that the sniper on the roof was female. It would have to be a lucky guess. Although most of the guys in these circles forget that I even exist, they presume they’ll find a man in their way, not little old me. Still, years in, I’m repeatedly underestimated.
No. He wasn’t guessing. His expression was far to smug, even while frowning, for a man who was bluffing. He knew exactly who he had just got in the way of.
How. The. Fuck.His call must have ended as he put his phone away, but his eyes remained locked on my location, a deadly smirk playing on his lips that sent an unexpected shiver up my spine. Everything about this guy was pissing me off.The feeling of dread began to disappear, draining from my body, replaced with intense irritation, a feeling that burned my insides the longer I looked at him.He wasn’t moving. He knew that I was here, and he made himself an easy target. He had to either be the cockiest man I had ever laid eyes on, or was just plain stupid. Unfortunately, I got the feeling that it was the former.The buzz of my phone finally pulled my attention away from him. Fuck. I didn’t bother to look at the screen; I knew who was calling. I should have called him by now. The fact that I hadn’t would be more than enough to piss him off.“Get back here, now.” The command snapped down the line like a whip.“Boss, I need to take care—”He cut me off before I could push my idea, my plan to shoot the arsehole down below. “No, Mallory. Get back here. Now.”Without saying another word, he hung up on me. Of course, he already knew that Rob Baxter had been taken care of. He would be sitting behind his beautiful mahogany desk, watching a live feed of the CCTV cameras scattered around the car park. He was always watching.I let out a long breath and tucked my phone away in one of the side pockets of my holdall, noticing that dark eyes were still staring up at me.I could end him right now. It would be so simple. But the boss would know, and he gave me an order. He’s angry already, I’m not dumb enough to piss him off even more than I already have. Not by doing something like that anyway.With a growl of frustration, I threw my head back, ignoring the arsehole below, and began to pack up. Swiftly, I dropped down the fire escape, careful to not be noticed by any of the residents going about their evenings, then slipped through a maze of dark alleys to reach my silver Mercedes.
Once I was out on the road there was only one question consuming my thoughts; how much shit was I going to be in when I arrived at the mansion?
My boss usually conducted business from one of his venues, more often than not I would meet him in a bar called The Crown, it was no secret that it was his favourite establishment, but this evening was different. This evening he was at home, hosting an intimate dinner for his trusted circle and their families, just as he had done on this day every year since he had taken over The Brotherhood.I hated socialising with the guys’ families. Their wives didn’t bother to attempt to hide how they felt about The Brotherhood”s only female member, and if Frank’s sons were invited then my ass would become a recurring topic of conversation.My boss had invited me tonight, I was one of the five, but I had turned the invitation down, instead offering to be his eyes for the night. I was far more comfortable staying home and handling business for him. Not that I actually wanted to do that either, I wanted a night off, but I knew I couldn’t refuse him without giving a decent trade-off.It didn’t take long for me to reach my destination on the outskirts of Westeroak, and I only had to wait at the front gate for a few short moments before it slowly opened. The staff had likely been told to allow me in without checking with the boss first, something which I wasn’t sure was necessarily a good thing.The long driveway allowed me a small amount of time to swallow down the nervous energy that had started to bubble in my stomach. There was only one man who had ever been able to bring that emotion out in me, but I would never let him see that. My boss’s ego was already dangerously engorged. When I emerged from my car my mask would be firmly in place, and he’d have no idea how I truly felt.I pulled up to the left of the front door, smoothly aligning my car beside a black Cadillac. Great, that means that Grey was already here, and he was probably over the moon about my little fuck-up.
I took another moment to check my makeup in the mirror and ran a finger under my eye to remove a small smudge of mascara. Once I was satisfied, I stepped out and managed to fight the urge to key Grey’s car. Instead, I headed straight for the front door, smiling to myself as it opened before I raised my fist to knock.“In the office please, Mallory,” the man who had opened the door told me as I paused in the white marble foyer.“Thank you, Clive,” I replied, offering him a genuine smile before schooling my features into a mask of cold composure. Most of the men who frequented our boss’s home ignored his staff. I hated that. Manners didn’t cost a damn thing, that was what Jase had drilled into me for as long as I could remember.The office was located just past the double doors which opened into the dining room. As I passed, I curiously glanced inside, hoping to catch a glimpse of my boss’s extravagantly laid table, wondering if he’d use the gold tablewear this year, or the black like he had last year.
Instead of fancy tablewear, I found myself met with the hard glare of a statue of a woman standing in the doorway. Grey”s wonderful wife, Deborah. She looked less than pleased to be here, which probably had something to do with the fact that she had been dragged here half an hour earlier than expected. She had probably rushed to get herself ready, and now had to sit alone while her husband handled business.
And that was all my fault. What a shame.
I scanned her slowly from head to toe with assessing eyes before humming disapprovingly. It was petty of me, but it had the desired effect as her jaw dropped and an outraged noise escaped her throat. Deb had hated me from the moment she first laid eyes on me, and there had been no changing her mind. Over time, pushing her buttons had become one of my secret little pleasures, and I needed a little pleasure right now, especially knowing that behind the next door, I’d find a man who was even more annoyed with me than Deb was. Pleased with myself, I continued towards the closed office door and knocked twice.“Enter.” One single word, clipped and sharp. It was almost enough to break my mask and reveal my nerves. Almost.I pushed open the door and strode towards the huge desk, stopping between two empty chairs and placing my hands on the backs of them both. Inhaling strength, and exhaling fear, I locked my gaze with the man sitting on the other side of the desk.“Boss.”