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The Truth
Issac couldn’t focus as he stared blankly at the lined paper, several lines already scratched out. His slip with Dimitri had rattled him more than he wanted to admit. That was another danger of being honest that he hadn’t told Dimitri. Once you started, it got very easy to just keep going until you revealed too much. As a child, that mistake had gotten him moved around from foster home to foster home until he learned it was best to just not- not speak, not get close, not be honest at all- a rule he had lived by for over ten years. Then Felinus came around and started breaking down his walls, making him think he could be seen, and his guard dropped.
He stared at the little picture of a cat he had drawn, frowning at it. He used to draw all the time, but it became a waste of paper, a distraction. He drew another cat, giving it a vest. Felinus leaving that morning had unlocked a lot of things that he thought he had forgotten about.
Was this what it was like for you,he thought, drawing a stick figure and using his red pen to give her curly hair and the blue one to draw scrubs. Did you wake up to the phone calls and feel your stomach twist into knots not knowing if he’d come home? A second stick figure joined the woman, taller, with broad shoulders with simple jeans and a t-shirt, and most importantly, holding her hand. Did you just get into the shower, too, instead of feeling his warmth leave the bed?
His fingers tightened on the pen as a water drop fell onto the faceless stick couple. He pressed the tip into the paper next to the man then scribbled over both of them, hard and fast until the paper tore and he ripped the whole sheet out. Crumpling it in his hands, he threw it away from him and listened to the sound of it bouncing as he buried his face into his hands.
He should have just paid to stay in the damn shelter. This was too much. It was too dangerous. It was going to hurt so much when-
Voices sounded outside of his office, coming from the main living areas at first then drawing closer.
He frowned, recognizing Felinus and Brutus speaking Italian, then Snake doing the same. There was an edge to their voices, anger, maybe desperation, but he couldn’t understand the words.
He rubbed at his eyes and made himself sit up with a slow breath. From Dimitri’s call it had sounded like things at the sit down had gone the way Felinus had wanted but by the raised voices something wasn’t right. He thought about going out there to find out but the less he knew, the less he’d have to lie about. Just go back to studying and pretend like you aren’t here. He picked up the red pen to restart his notes again.
The office door opened and Felinus stepped inside. He looked every bit as good as he always did, particularly in the black-on-black suit he was dressed in. Issac had made a point to not look at Felinus when the phone call had woken them up, not trusting himself not to crawl into the other man’s lap and beg him to stay when he knew he wouldn’t. He wasn’t wearing his guns but there was still a knife hooked onto his pocket.
Issac set down the pen as he turned his chair slowly to face Felinus’s unsmiling expression. “How was the meeting,” he asked, feeling his heart beat faster as Felinus stared down at him.
“No more lies, baby boy,” Felinus said, his voice low and dangerous. “I am giving you one chance.”
“Chance for what,” Issac asked starting to his feet as Felinus crossed the room only to be shoved back into the chair.
Felinus grabbed hold of his wrists, pinning them down to the chair. “To tell me who the fuck you are and who you are working for,” he snarled, glaring at him.
Issac’s wrists hurt as they pressed into the hard plastic, and he forced himself to maintain eye contact with those angry hazel eyes. “You know who I am,” he said, not sure if it was better or worse that his voice remained steady. “I’m not working for anyone.”
“Liar,” Felinus snarled and shoved the chair backwards.
Issac just managed to keep himself from toppling backwards, the chair spinning in the opposite direction as he kept backing away from Felinus. “I’m not-” he started, feeling his back press into the wall. The Cat deserved the name he was given. In the closet turned office, much like his hiding place in the stacks, there was no way around him and Issac knew that even at his heaviest weight, he’d never get through the Italian. “You’ve checked my background. You know everything-”
Felinus’s hands slammed against the wall on either side of him and Issac flinched. “Very convincing,” he said. “The expired driver’s license, the bank card, the complete lack of any history for the last seven years, and a juvie record that my hacker has spent three days breaking into. Did you pay off the doctor or did you actually commit to starving yourself down to this state? Was Volkov your target or are you working for them to get information on the Family?”
“You can’t be serious,” Issac said, feeling a laugh bubble up. “You think I’m an undercove-” He choked as Felinus’s hand fixed around his throat, cutting off his air as fingers squeezed.
“Cop, fed, another gangster,” Felinus hissed. “I don’t really care who sent you here, I want to know why. What were you hoping to do?”
“I’m not-” Felinus squeezed harder and Issac grabbed at Felinus’s wrist. This wasn’t like the warehouse. Felinus had been toying with him back then; this wasn’t playing. He thought Issac was against him and there wasn’t anything Issac could tell him that would convince him otherwise. Tears rolled down his face as he stared into Felinus’s eyes. He was going to die, but at least he was going to do it staring into his killer’s eyes. At least he wouldn’t be shot in the back like they had been.
Felinus let him go suddenly, taking a step back as Issac fell to his knees at his feet. “I’m losing my patience-” Felinus started as the office door swung open with enough force that it hit the wall with a bang. “What is it?”
“Lukas Maus,” Snake gasped.
Issac stopped breathing as his vision swam and his throat throbbed and closed.
“Who is that? Not you,” Felinus said when Snake started to answer. He dropped to one knee and grabbed Issac’s chin forcing him to look up into his face. “You! Who is Lukas Maus?”
Issac stared into Felinus’s eyes. What’s the point, he thought. If he doesn’t believe me, I’m dead. If he does, I’m still dead. “Lukas Maus was a Reaper for the Clovers fifteen years ago,” he breathed, “and my dad.”
* * *
Felinus’s eyebrow raised and he stood up, keeping his grip on Issac’s jaw. A Reaper’s son? He hadn’t expected that but it made sense. A Reaper was supposed to be the best hitman the Irish had. Of course, one would produce someone as impressive as Issac. It explained how well Issac handled Felinus’s job. “So you work for the Clovers,” he breathed. “What is Fergus O’Hare planning?”
Issac flinched. “I’m not working for anyone,” he said, locking his eyes on Felinus, “least of all the fucking Clovers.”
“Boss,” Tiger said from the hall.
