Prologue
Max POV
“…I think that’s all
we need. Am I forgetting anything? Max? Max? Are you listening to me?” my
wife, Allie Evans, demanded.
“Um, yeah, of course,” I stammered.
Allie just rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you were. I was
asking you if I’d forgotten to pack anything.”
“Oh. I’m pretty sure you didn’t.” My wife is VERY
thorough. She spent two days taking inventory of everything in our apartment,
and then made a list of the things we needed and things we could sell or leave
in storage. I highly doubt she forgot anything.
“Good. Well, let’s get going. Grab Riley’s diaper bag,
will ya?” she said and walked out the door with our four month old son.
Not that I don’t love Riley, because I do, but I sometimes
wonder what my life would be like if Allie and I had never had him. Allie and I
met our sophomore year in high school. She had just moved to San Antonio from
Ireland and was very different from any girl I had ever met. She had short red
hair, the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen, fair skin, freckles, and an adorable
accent. I just loved listening to her talk. Allie became popular almost the
second she walked through the door, which was fine with me because I was quite
easily the most popular guy in the school.
Allie and I had all of our classes together, with the
exception of seventh period because she had cheerleading and I had football. We
were an item by September. After a few months, our relationship turned physical.
That’s when our problems began. We fought so much that we were broken up every
other week. However, we were convinced that we loved each other and the one who
started the fight always went crawling back. During the summer, I found out that
my family was moving to Roswell, New Mexico. Allie and I weren’t as upset as
we had thought we would be. We stayed up all night one evening in late July and
decided that we were better off as friends. We discovered that we didn’t
really love each other in a romantic way—I think we were both searching for
our soul mates. I don't think we even knew what love was.
So, I packed my things and prepared to move, but things
didn’t go exactly as planned. Right before we were supposed to leave (the
beginning of August), we found out that Allie was about a month pregnant.
Needless to say, I was not about to abandon her. We were both seventeen and
talked our parents into letting us marry. Why go to such extremes?
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to have child out of
wedlock!” Allie shrieked.
Her twin brother, Alex, stared at her incredulously. “Well,
you should have thought ‘bout that before you went and slept with Maxwell,
Alexandra! For God’s sake girl, use your head.”
Alexandra and Alexander O’Connor were the strangest
siblings you could ever meet, but more about that later.
Anyway, for Allie’s sake, we got married and moved into an
apartment near her parents while my parents and my twin sister, Isabel, moved to
Roswell. We started our junior year and kept up our grades to keep the school
authorities off our backs. Allie gave birth to our son, Riley Conner Evans, in
April. Even though we didn’t love each other in a romantic way, Allie and I
were in heaven with our little family. Then, tragedy struck.
One month ago, Allie and Alex’s parents were killed in a
car crash. That’s why we’re moving. The three of us, plus Alex, are moving
to Roswell to be near my parents. Hopefully, it will take some of the stress off
of Allie and me so that we can have a good senior year.
“Maxwell, are ya coming or not?” Alex asked, peeking his
red head through the door.
“Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“’Bout…?”
“My life and how different it is than I imagined it would
be.”
Alex shot me a look. “Well, that’ll teach ya to go and
knock up every girl ya date.”
I just laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Come on, we better get down stairs before Allie
demonstrates the true meaning of the ‘fighting Irish’.”
I nodded and followed Alex, closing the door to a chapter of
my life. Roswell, here I come.
Part One
Max POV
“I can’t do this!” Allie
moaned, rocking from one foot to the next.
“What? Face your in-laws?” Alex asked with a mischievous
grin.
“Yes! I haven’t seen them since Riley was born and I
haven’t seen Isabel since they moved here. You know what happened the last
time we saw each other. What if she follows through on her threat? What if she
really does kill me? What if—“
“Allie! Calm down. She’s not going to kill you,” I
said, fighting the urge to laugh.
I couldn’t blame her, though. Isabel and Allie started out
as best friends, but Isabel flipped when she found out that Allie was pregnant
and said some rather nasty things to her. Considering how much bigger Iz is than
her, its no wonder Allie is intimidated by her. Isabel is around 5’9 and big
boned; Allie is 5’2 and weighs around 110 pounds. I mean, Iz could crush the
poor girl! Then again, if Iz tried anything, she wouldn’t get away with it.
Cedric would have her killed in the blink of an eye.
Oh yeah, you guys don’t know who Cedric is, do you? Well,
Cedric O’Connor is Allie and Alex’s older brother and head of the Irish mob.
Yeah, that Cedric O’Connor—the most notorious boss in history.
That’s why their parents were killed. No, I didn’t lie to you—it was a car
crash. A car crash that was the result of cut brake lines. Another thing I
didn’t tell you is that Allie’s connection to the mob is one of the reasons
my family moved.
My relationship with her and Isabel’s relationship with
Alex (yes, they were together) got us deeply involved with the O’Connor crime
family. Allie and Alex’s father wanted to go legitimate, so he pulled out,
leaving Cedric in charge. Unfortunately, Allie wasn’t prepared to leave the
family, so she remained a part of the mob. About a year ago, Allie got into a
rather nasty fight with Seamus Finnegan, the head of another family, and she
won. Naturally, he was pissed and took his revenge by killing her parents. Now
Cedric has gone to war against the Finnegan family and has several bodyguards
moving to Roswell to keep watch over Allie, Alex, Riley and myself. The fact
that a bunch of mobsters could be plotting my death isn’t what scares
me—what scares me is that if anything happens to Cedric, its already been
decided that Allie will take over as the first female boss. Scary, isn’t it?
So basically, I’m married to the mob, not to mention a hit woman.
Yep, you heard me right. My lovely, petite, eighteen-year-old
wife used to be a hitter for her brother. She’s killed more people than I’ve
met. However, when she became pregnant, Cedric made sure that no more hits were
passed her way. Thank God for that. So, what do you think of my life? Crazy,
isn’t it? I bet you never saw it coming. Lord knows Isabel didn’t. When she
first found out, she flipped and broke up with Alex. After that, she became
incredibly hostile toward Allie and Alex, though she never said anything rude or
nasty because she was afraid that they’d have someone take her out. A month or
two later, she was fine with it, but all hell broke loose when she found out
that Allie was pregnant. Okay, I think I’ve rambled on enough…
Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell to my parents’
house. A moment later, Iz flung the door open, surprise written all over her
face.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded icily.
Allie, Alex, and I each raised an eyebrow. Who is this ice
queen and what has she done with my sister?
“Um, didn’t Mom and Dad tell you that we were moving
here?”
She blinked. “Yeah, it must have slipped my mind. Come back
in an hour.”
The bitch formally known as my sister then slammed the door
in our faces.
“Well,” Allie finally murmured, “at least she didn’t
kill me.”
Alex and I stared at her for a moment before Alex’s eyes
lit up.
“I got an idea.”
“Do tell,” I mumbled dryly.
“Well, this is your family’s house and you are still part
of the family, so just walk in.”
“That’s your idea? Just walk in?”
Allie and Alex nodded.
“Yeah, it could—“
“—work. Isabel—“
“—would never see—“
“—it coming. She’d—“
“—freak. God--“
“—I wish I had—“
“—a camera.”
See?! Incredibly strange siblings. I shook my head and turned
back to the offending door.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered and opened it.
The three of us looked at each other and the sleeping Riley,
then shrugged and stepped inside. We crept silently down the entryway hall,
trying not to alert my sister to our presence. Allie suddenly giggled.
“I feel like we should be humming the ‘Mission
Impossible’ theme.”
“You would,” I said, rolling my eyes.
A sudden scream prevented further smart-ass remarks.
“Iz! There’s strangers in your house!” a bubbly blonde
with green eyes shrieked.
Isabel, two guys, and the most beautiful girl I’ve ever
seen came running into the hall.
“Max,” Isabel seethed dangerously.
Allie, Alex, and I gulped in unison. Izzy did not look
pleased and that’s a very scary thing.
“Iz,” the three of us said in unison.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Well…our plane just got in and we’re really tired and
we didn’t really feel like coming back in an hour—so we just opened the door
and came in. Do you have a problem with that?” Allie asked innocently, though
there was an undertone of ‘I can do horrible things to you, so you better not
mess with me.’
Isabel’s eyes narrowed, but she shook her head. “Of
course not. Why don’t you four go into the living room and make yourselves
comfortable?”
“Thanks, sis,” I said brightly and the three of us, me
carrying Riley, walked casually into the living room. I just love messing with
my sister.
****************************************************************************************
Liz POV
Wow, the guy with the kid
is incredibly hot! I wonder who he is…
“So, Iz, who exactly are those people?” Michael asked as
Isabel, Maria, Kyle, Michael and I walked into the
kitchen.
Isabel sighed. “The one who was carrying the baby is my
brother Max; the girl is his wife, Allie; the other boy is Allie’s twin
brother, Alex; and the baby is Allie and Max’s son, Riley.”
“Whoa, he’s married and has a son?” I asked, sorely
disappointed. “And why haven’t you ever told us you have a brother?”
“Yeah, and how old are they?” Maria added, also surprised
that Iz had never mentioned it.
“Yes, Max is married and a father. I never told you guys
because I prefer not to think about them and all of the trouble they caused.
And, the three of them are eighteen—Max is my twin brother.”
This is too much. Max cannot be married. Oh, my life sucks.
“Why don’t you like to think about them?” Kyle
questioned.
“Because thinking about them acknowledges their existence
and doing that puts my life in danger!” Isabel shrieked.
“Huh?” Michael, Kyle, Maria and I said in unison.
Isabel’s eyes widened. “Nothing, forget I said anything.
Come on, let’s go into the living room before they think we’re being
rude.”
This should be interesting.
Part Two
Allie POV
Oh. My. God. I thought
we’d never get out of there. Max’s parents had us trapped at their house for
four hours. I normally wouldn’t have minded, but Iz was shooting me dirty
looks the whole time and her friends made me a bit uncomfortable. Well, most of
them. I must say that I really liked her friend Kyle Valenti. He’s very
handsome and can actually make me laugh. The only thing about him that bothered
me was the fact that his father is Roswell’s Sheriff.
I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all, but I don’t like law
enforcement of any kind—go figure. I’ve had some nasty meetings with the
Feds and some coppers in Ireland. The Feds are the ones that really have it out
for my family, though. There’s this one agent, Agent Pierce, who’s been
after me personally since I pulled off my first hit three years ago (yeah, I was
15 the first time). We were living in New York at the time and my father was
still head of the family. My oldest brother, Riley, was gunned down at our
cousin’s wedding and I too was shot. I recovered, but Riley was dead before an
ambulance could get there. Everyone in the family was pissed, but none were as
pissed as I was. Riley was my best friend, even though he was 24. I made some
inquires and found out that his former friend, a guy named Ryan Johnson, was
behind the hit and that it had been intended for me. Unfortunately, the FBI was
guarding him—he was under witness protection. That meant that I had to go to
extreme measures to get my revenge.
After I had fully recovered from my injuries, I set to work.
I contacted my father’s informant in the FBI and asked him to tell me where
Ryan was. When he said he couldn’t help me, I made him an offer he couldn’t
refuse. Naturally, he told me. Lucky for me, Ryan’s sister, Mary, and I looked
a lot alike so I cut my hair, died it a more brownish red, put in brown
contacts, put on some baggy clothes (she was a bit bigger than me), and talked
my way past the guards. Apparently, Ryan had shown them a picture of Mary and
said that it was okay for her to visit—the guy had a real soft spot for his
little sister. The guards thought I was a real “cutie” and “could visit
any time I wanted”. Losers. Imagine their surprise when they heard Ryan and
myself arguing, then gunfire, then me hauling ass out of the building, killing
them in the process. There were only two of them that day—Anthony Ramirez and
Andrew Pierce. Yeah, Pierce. Agent Daniel Pierce’s little brother. I became a
hitter after that and Pierce became a pain in my ass. A month later, Dad moved
us back to Ireland for a few months while he arranged to hand everything over to
Cedric, who was 23 at the time. Then we moved to San Antonio and Cedric moved
back to New York. Unbeknownst to Dad, Cedric constantly assigned me hits,
especially the most complicated ones. From Ryan’s murder to my last one before
Cedric made me quit, I killed close to 100 people. I can’t say that I regret
doing it—I was a good hitter. I actually want to become boss, but I don’t
wish any harm to Cedric. If he ever decides to pull out, I will jump at the
chance to become the first female boss in history.
“What ‘cha thinking about, Allie Kat?” Max asked me,
sitting down on our couch in our new living room.
“My old life.”
“What about it?”
“I miss it.”
My husband cocked an eyebrow. “You miss killing people?
That can’t be healthy.”
I rolled my eyes. “I miss being good at something and doing
it. I miss the thrill of running from the cops, of plotting, of getting into
brawls with men twice my size, of running for my life, of pulling the trigger,
of not knowing if I was going to live to see the next day. It was such an
adrenaline rush, Max. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Al, you are doing something that you’re good
at—you’re a great mother to Riley and an amazing friend to me and a great
sister to Alex. When school starts, you’re going to be a great student. What
more do you need?”
I sighed. Max really is naïve. “Forget Max, you just
don’t understand. So, did you have as much fun at your parents’ as I did?”
*********************************************
MAX POV
I grinned. “Oh yeah, a blast. What did you think of
Izzy’s friends?”
I, personally, liked her friend Liz Parker the best.
Liz—its like music to my ears. She’s so beautiful, and really kind and
smart. Too bad I don’t have a chance. I think she was a little confused as to
why I spent so much time talking with her and not my wife. If she only knew…
Allie looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, you know how I
am around strangers—they make me a little uncomfortable. Though, I did like
that Kyle guy.”
“Yeah, it looked like you and Buddha boy were really
hitting it off,” I said with a knowing smile. It was so obvious that she had
the hots for him.
Allie just grinned. “Us? What about you and Miss Parker?
You two looked awfully chummy.”
“Well—“
“Oh God, this is so weird,” Alex burst out, joining us.
“What’s weird?” I asked, puzzled.
“You two are married and you’re discussing the people you
have the hots for. Its not normal!”
Allie stared at her brother. “Alex, since when has our
marriage been normal? We haven’t slept together since July of last year. We
didn’t even sleep together on our honeymoon.”
“Way too much information!” Alex cried.
“Alex, you know that my and Allie’s relationship is not a
romantic one. The only love between us is that of best friends. We’re allowed
to be attracted to other people.”
“So what are you gonna do if you two really fall for Liz
and Kyle? Cheat on each other? Get a divorce? You know that Cedric would never
allow it.”
“Thanks for reminding us,” Allie snapped and stormed off
to feed Riley.
Alex watched his twin run off then turned back to me. “Max,
you two have to dismiss any thoughts of other people.”
“What if I talk to Cedric?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“Yeah right, he hates you for getting his little sister
pregnant. Face it, you two are stuck with each other.”
Liz’s face popped into my head. “Not if I have anything
to say about it,” I murmured.
********************************************
LIZ POV
“How was your day, sweetie?” my mother asked as we sat
around the dinner table.
Max’s handsome face popped into my head. “It was really
great. I met Isabel’s brother and his family.”
“I didn’t know Iz had a brother. Is he married? How old
is he?”
“Yeah, he’s married.” To a wife he doesn’t show any
affection to. “He also has a four month old son named Riley. Max and Izzy are
twins.”
My dad raised an eyebrow. “So he’s only eighteen?”
I nodded. “Yeah, so is Allie, his wife, and Alex, her twin
brother.”
“Where are their parents?”
“They died in car crash last month.”
Something strange flickered in Dad’s eyes. “Really? How
sad. So, are their full names Alexander and Alexandra?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s Alex’s last name?”
“O’Connor.”
Mom and Dad both started coughing. Weird. “Alexander and
Alexandra O’Connor?” Mom asked.
I smiled. “Cute, isn’t it?”
“How long are they visiting?” Dad questioned.
“They’re not visiting—they’re moving here.”
Mom and Dad exchanged a look.
“I’ll, um, be right back,” Dad stammered. “I have
to…er…go to the bathroom.”
Mom and I watched Dad run down the hall. I wonder why he’s
acting so strange. Oh well.
“So Mom, how was work?” I ask.
“Fine,” she said vaguely. “Nothing exciting, really.”
“Any new cases?”
Mom and Dad are FBI agents.
“No,” she replied. “But I have a feeling there will be
soon,” she mumbled under her breath.
Part Three
Liz POV
What am I doing here? For some
strange reason, I find myself standing in front of Max’s new house. Why? I
don’t know. Ever since he and his family moved here, I’ve felt this pull
toward him. The way he acts you would never know that he was married. Sometimes
I even forget. Anyways, I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Almost
immediately, a scary looking guy answered it.
“Can I help you?” he asked in a thick Irish accent.
He made me really nervous. “Um, yeah, is Max here? I mean
he does live here, right?”
Mr. Tough Guy studied me for a moment, and then said, “Who
are you?”
“I’m Liz Parker, a friend of Max’s sister.”
“Hang on,” he muttered and turned inside. “Allie!
There’s a Liz Parker here to see Max!”
I could feel myself turning bright red. He just had
to call Max’s wife.
“Hey, Liz,” Allie said cheerily, walking up to the door
with Riley on her hip.
I took a moment to study my competition—whoa. Competition?
She’s already married to him! Still…damn! I had to admit that she looked
good. She had on black soccer pants with white and yellow piping down the sides,
a tight black top that said “CONTROL FREAK” in silver glitter letters, and
her amazing red hair was done in high pigtails. I was no match for her.
“What ‘cha up to today?” she asked, shaking me from my
thoughts.
“Um,” I stuttered, “I was in the neighborhood and
thought I’d drop by and maybe give you guys the official tour of Roswell.”
Allie flashed me her dazzling smile. “That’s so sweet.
Come on in.”
I walked into the house and was at once hit by how much of a
home it was. There were pictures of the four of them plus other people all over
the place and it had lots of homey touches. The big Irish thug still hovering
around Allie did not look right in—like he didn’t really belong there.
“So…who’s the guy?” I whispered to Allie.
She glanced back at him and waved her hand dismissively.
“That’s Todd. He’s a friend of Alex’s and he never seems to leave. Just
ignore him.”
Just then, the world seemed to stop. Max stepped into the
room wearing nothing but white drawstring pajama pants. He was a sight to behold
and I had to pray that I wasn’t drooling. Without warning, his head came up
and our eyes locked.
“L-Liz. Hi,” he stammered.
“Hey.”
“So, what brings you to our humble home?”
“Liz has offered to give us a tour of Roswell,” Allie
supplied.
Max grinned. Oh my God, he has the sexiest grin.
“Really? That’s really nice of you. Excuse me while I go
change.”
I could only nod. Allie and I sat down on the couch and began
to make small talk. In the middle of our conversation, the phone rang in the
next room.
“Uh, Liz? Do you mind holding Riley while I take that
call?” Allie asked, a worried undertone barely detectable in her voice.
I nodded. “Sure.”
“Thanks,” she said and handed Riley to me, then sprinted
for what I guess was the study.
“Where’s Allie?” Max asked, stepping back into the room
fully dressed in somewhat baggy jeans, a tight black shirt that showed off his
well-sculpted chest, and Vans.
“The phone rang.”
Max’s brow furrowed. “Really? I didn’t hear it.”
I shrugged. “It rang in the other room.”
“I’ll, uh, be right back,” he said with wide eyes and
ran into the room Allie had disappeared into.
Huh, both of them seemed upset about that particular phone
ringing. I wonder what’s going on.
**********************************************
Max POV
Oh my God. When I saw Liz standing in my living room studying
me without a shirt on, I just wanted to scoop her into my arms and kiss her
senseless. Whoa, where did that come from? Still, she’s just perfect. Allie
was watching us the entire time with a knowing grin and a twinkle in her eyes. I
really hope she doesn’t try to play matchmaker because that would be so weird.
Then I saw her holding Riley and my heart just melted. She was being so gentle
with him…
Okay, I really need to stay focused on my current crisis.
When Liz told me that Allie’s office phone had rung, my
heart stopped. Only members of the family call on that line. I ran after my wife
and found her sitting at her desk with a dazed expression on her face.
“Allie, what’s wrong? What happened?” I asked, gently
shaking her shoulders.
She opened and closed her mouth, apparently at a loss for
words. Her next action caught me off guard. Allie, who didn’t even cry when
she gave birth to Riley or when her parents were killed, threw her arms around
my neck and began to sob uncontrollably. To say that I was stunned is an
understatement. Completely bewildered, I just rocked her back and worth,
stroking her hair. After her sobs had subsided, I pulled away and looked into
her red eyes.
“Allie, what happened?”
She stared straight back at me and whispered, “They killed
him. Finnegan and his fuckers killed Cedric. I’m the boss now.”
I sat back on my heels and looked at my wife in horror. Sure,
I had known that this day would come and so had Allie, but I don’t think
either one of us expected it to happen when she was only eighteen.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I have to go to New York, now,” she said and walked out
of the room.
I followed her and said, completely forgetting that Liz was
in the room, “You’re going to New York now? Are you sure that’s a good
idea?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll assign more guys to you, Alex,
and Riley while I’m gone.”
I grabbed her arm and turned her to face me. “Wait a
minute, you can’t go by yourself. We should go with you.”
Allie shook her head. “No, you guys are gonna stay here
where its safe. I’ll call you guys every night to let you know that I’m
alright.”
I just stood there, staring at her. I was so torn. Part of me
wanted to go with her and protect her, even though she has bodyguards for that.
Another part of me wanted to take advantage of the situation and spend time with
Liz. Does that make me a bad person?
Allie walked over to where a confused Liz was sitting and
kissed Riley’s cheek. “Mommy has to take a little trip, sweetie. You stay
here with Daddy, Uncle Alex, and Liz. Be good, okay? Mommy loves you, Riley.”
Liz looked shocked that Allie had included her in her little
speech to Riley. I could only shake my head—only Allie would still play subtle
matchmaker at a time like this.
“What do you want me to tell Alex?” I asked as Allie
grabbed her bag and headed for the door, followed by an upset Todd.
“The truth.”
“He’s not going to be happy about it,” I said gently.
Allie nodded. “I know, but he knew that this day would
come. Give him my love. I’ll call you guys tonight. Have fun on your sight
seeing tour today,” she said and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Bye Liz!”
she called.
“Uh, bye Allie!” Liz replied.
Allie nodded and was gone. I slumped into the closest chair
and ran a shaky hand through my hair.
“Max,” Liz’s soft voice asked, “what’s going on?”
Crap, what was I going to tell her? I sure as hell didn’t
want to tell her the part about the mob.
“The call was from Allie and Alex’s…cousin—their
older brother, Cedric, is dead.”
Liz gasped. “Oh my God. What happened?”
“Random drive-by shooting in front of his apartment in New
York.” It wasn’t a total lie; he was shot in front of his place. I only left
out the part about it being a hit.
“That’s awful. Poor Allie and Alex, they just lost their
parents and now they’ve lost their brother. Do they have any other
intermediate family?”
I shook my head. “No, their other brother, Riley, was
killed three years ago. Allie and I named our son after him.”
Liz just gave me a sympathetic smile and leaned over to
squeeze my hand. When our skin touched I felt something like a jolt of
electricity run through my body. Her skin was so warm and smooth. Bad Max! Your
wife has just been made the head of the most feared crime family in history
because her brother was brutally murdered—you should not be thinking about
other women right now. But I wasn’t thinking about other women, just one
woman. One who had captured my heart in the short time I’d known her.
“What do you say I go ahead and give you the tour right
now? Help you get your mind off of your poor brother-in-law,” Liz offered.
I could only nod. Driving all around town with Liz while my
wife was out of town? Oh boy, it was going to be a long day.
Part Four
Kyle POV
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“Hello?” I groaned into the phone, rubbing sleep from my
eyes.
“Valenti! Finally! Why aren’t you up? Its already eleven
am in your time zone.”
“What’s your point? Wait, who is this anyway?” I asked
in confusion.
“This is Charlie,” he said simply.
My eyes widened and I cursed under my breath. I just had
to be awakened from a great dream about a certain red head to talk to one of my
“employers”.
“When and where?” I questioned, praying I didn’t have
to go too far.
“New York City. You leave today, but the hit will take
place tomorrow.”
“What? Great, just great. Who am I supposed to take out?”
“I’ll discuss that with you tomorrow. Just know that
she’s a very dangerous enemy of our boss.”
She? I’ve never killed a woman before. I guess there’s a
first time for everything.
“And how much will Mr. Finnegan be paying me?”
“That’ll also be discussed tomorrow. You better get a
move on. Your flight leaves from Albuquerque in two hours. The reservation is
under a Thomas, Dean. See ya in New York.”
I mumbled my good bye and hung the phone up.
“This is just what I need,” I moaned and rolled out of
bed.
While I rushed around packing my things as quickly as
possible, my dad came to stand in the doorway.
“Where ya going?” he asked, though I think he already
knew my answer.
“Camping.”
Dad nodded. “That’s what I thought. So, where are you
going camping?”
I just shrugged.
“When will you be back?”
“Two, three days tops,” I replied, looking anywhere but
him.
“Buddha sure takes up a lot of your time.”
My excuse whenever I went “camping” was that I needed to
connect with Buddha and clear my head. I glanced back at my father and knew that
it was time to play my least favorite card.
“It helps me feel at peace about mother,” I said with
tears in my eyes.
Just as I knew he would, Dad immediately softened. You see,
Mom died six years ago when some asshole broke into our house. Being the
obnoxious twelve-year-old that I was, I pissed the guy off and he shot at me.
Only, Mom jumped in front of me and took the bullet. She died almost instantly.
Naturally, Dad had no problem letting me go camping if I was upset about her. I
kinda feel bad about using that as an excuse, but oh well.
“Well, I hope you find your trip relaxing.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said and gave him a hug. Then I picked
up my things and ran out to the car.
“I’ll call you in a day or so from a gas station or
something to let you know I’m okay,” I called and drove off.
I hauled ass to the airport and made it with time to spare. I
boarded and took a seat by the window.
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? I’m your
boss and I will be spoken to with respect!” a woman’s angry voice
said from behind me.
I turned around to see a red headed girl my age talking on a
cell phone. I couldn’t see her face because her gorgeous hair was down and
created a sort of curtain around her face. She didn’t sound too happy, though,
and the guy sitting next to her looked pissed. He made me nervous—he was
really built, dressed in all black, plus he had black hair and these really
creepy green eyes.
“I don’t care!” the woman said in a deadly tone.
“Just know this: the next time you conveniently forget to gas up my
private plane and I am forced to ride on a commercial flight, there will be hell
to pay. Don’t mess with me, Ronald.”
For some reason, I wanted nothing more than to go comfort the
angry young woman, but the look the big guy shot me was enough to get me to turn
around. Something about her reminded me of Allie. I know I shouldn’t be
thinking about Allie—I mean she’s married to someone I can’t compete with
and has had a child with him. Still, I really like her. Hopefully I can deal
with just being friends…
Anyway, the rest of the flight passed without incident and I
got off the plane looking around casually for the red head. Alas, I couldn’t
see her anywhere in the crazy NYC airport. I sighed, collected my luggage, and
hailed a taxi.
“Where to?” the guy behind the wheel grumbled.
“The Plaza,” I replied with a grin. I always stay at the
Plaza when I have a job in NYC.
When I walked into my room on the fourth floor, I nearly had
a heart attack. Sitting on my bed smoking a cigarette was none other than Seamus
Finnegan, my “boss”.
“M-Mr. F-Finnegan, what are you doing here?” I stammered.
“I’ve come to discuss the details of your job.”
“Oh. I thought Charlie said that we were going to do that
tomorrow.”
Seamus waved his hand dismissively. “Charlie’s an idiot.
Besides, this is a big hit and I want you to be fully prepared. If you don’t
succeed in killing this woman, I’ll kill you with my bare hands. Got it?”
I could only nod.
Seamus began to pace the room. “Do you know who any of the
other bosses are, Kyle?”
“N-no. You’re the only one I know of.”
He nodded. “Well, there are five bosses all together and
one of them, the one I want you to kill, is THE boss. She rules over all of us.
Granted, she only became boss today because I had her brother killed, but
she’s been a pain in my arse since she was fifteen. My informant tells me that
she will be attending a meeting with Daniel McIver, another boss, tomorrow at a
warehouse downtown. That’s when I want you to kill her.”
“How will I know who she is?”
Seamus grinned at me. “Simple, she’ll be the only woman
there. Kat is the first woman boss in history. There won’t be any other women
there. If, for some odd reason, there is, Kat is short with long, bright red
hair, and bright green eyes. You can’t miss her.”
I nodded and he showed me where the warehouse was located and
we discussed tactics for an hour, then he left. For some reason I felt really
uneasy about this hit. Normally, Finnegan wanted me to kill someone who had
killed someone in his family. This is the first time my target hasn’t been a
killer—as far as I know, at least.
The next day I grabbed my bag that held my most trusted rifle
and caught a cab. I got out three blocks from the warehouse the meeting was to
take place and made my way over there casually. Once I was sure that no one was
watching me, I jumped on top of a dumpster and then jumped onto the fire escape.
When I was inside, I positioned myself so that I had a clear view of the front
door and could go back out onto the fire escape easily. After two or three
hours, the door opened and McIver and his men came inside. A few minutes later,
I heard another car pull up and sure enough, in stepped a beautiful red headed
woman. She was wearing black leather pants, a white spaghetti strap shirt, and a
black leather trench coat. She was absolutely stunning. I shook my head as the
thought passed through it. I wasn’t supposed to be checking her out; I was
supposed to be preparing to kill her! I picked up my gun and was about to aim
when I heard another gun cock and felt the barrel of a handgun being pressed
into my neck.
“Drop it,” a low voice growled.
Normally I would have fought, but for some reason I did as I
was told and dropped my weapon.
“Good lad,” the voice growled again and hauled me up,
leading me downstairs.
He threw me into a chair and two other men swiftly tied me to
it.
“Who was your target?” the voice demanded and I was
shocked to realize that it was the same guy I’d seen on the plane with the red
head. That’s when I knew that I’d been on the plane with the woman I was
supposed to kill. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this.
“I asked you a question!” the guy yelled.
“Th-the w-woman. I was supposed to kill the woman boss,”
I stuttered, knowing that I probably sounded like an idiot.
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I heard the
distinct sound of high heels heading in my direction. I stared at the door as it
came flying open. It was the red head. Our eyes meet at the same instant—
“Allie!” “Kyle!” we exclaimed at the same time and
then everything went black.