The scope hums lightly in my hand, its weight is as familiar as my own breath. Across the street, ten floors up in the hotel suite I rented under a burner name, I lie flat on the floor, gaze focused, finger steady on the trigger, but there’s no bullet in the chamber. Not yet. This is me working out my plan for how the day will go. I still need to work out if this is where it'll happen, or if I'll follow him and find a better place to end his life.
He’s down there, just stepped out of his office building. Daniel Carson. Mid-forties. Greedy. Smiles too wide, teeth too white. Cain wasn’t subtle with the file: three confirmed rapes, a dozen NDAs, two dead women nobody can connect to him, until now. Corporate scum who believes money scrubs sin.
I’m noting everything down, from the moment he walks out of the office, and tomorrow I'll be at his home to see what time he leaves. What time he comes home, what he does with his family. I need to make his routine my routine for the next two weeks. I need to know what time he takes a shit, what time he eats, every detail. Then week three I'll make sure nothing has changed in the routine, then bang, he’s dead.
I watch him from the lens as he flirts with his receptionist. She’s half his age, wearing fear in her eyes, maybe he tried something with her, and she was too scared to say anything.
My jaw clenches. The reticle trembles slightly, not from the wind, not from a muscle twitch, just my anger. I breathe out slowly to get myself back to normal.
A girl passes on the sidewalk below, her profile catching the corner of my scope. Long brown hair. Soft walk. A novel clutched in her hands.
Just like her.
I blink, and it’s Olivia standing there, squinting against the sun, the wind teasing strands of her hair. It’s not her, but the ghost is so clear, it rattles me. I pull back from the scope and sit up sharply, dragging my hand across my mouth.
Focus.
What the fuck is happening to me?
Two hours later, I’m tailing Daniel Carson in my car. Distance is maintained. No rush. He's got a lunch meeting near the river, private dining room, upstairs in a steakhouse that’s notorious for keeping secrets. Cain said this one would be messy, hard to clean up if I rushed it. So, I don’t rush. I’ve learned from Cain, he’s the best teacher, so I know it’s all about time. The right time will come.
The whole time, Olivia’s laugh keeps echoing in the back of my head. Not the real one, the memory. Treehouse evenings, her telling me about some book with a guy who carves his girl’s name into his chest to prove he loves her. We laughed about it then. Now I wonder if I should’ve carved her name into my bones. Too fucking late for that, because the moment I knew I wanted her, she was in them.
I get back home, Mason and Miles are watching TV, and I take a beer from the refrigerator and join them.
“How was the first look out?” Mason asks.
“The mans a fucking bastard.” I take a sip of my beer. They are both silent, but I feel them watching me. “What?
“You diving into this hit hoping to get her out of your?—
I stare at Mason. “She’s already out.”
“Bullshit,” he mutters.
Miles chuckles beside him. “We all saw your face when Cain mentioned Leo and her. You went stiff like someone kicked your dog.” I know there's no Leo and her, what pissed me off was the fact Leo thinks he still has the right to be close to her.
“She’s just a memory,” I growl, not looking at them. Maybe I can keep lying to myself, but these two will call me out on it.
Mason snorts. “She’s the only memory that still makes you?—”
“Fuck off.”
“Hayden man, don’t snap but maybe you—” Before Miles can keep talking I stand up and walk away from them both.
Those two are the last I need advice from, one of them fucks woman likes an Olympic sport, and the other, if I’m honest I have no idea what crazy shit he’s into, all I know the man likes it crazy.
I get into the bedroom, and lie down hoping to get some sleep, and not think about her.
Fifteen
Olivia
Prom Night
I standat the top of the stairs, Hayden kept telling me that I have to get ready at his house, because he said I would have more room, and so my parents could see us together, they're coming over too.
The fabric hugs my body perfectly, it’s deep emerald green, with delicate straps that shimmer when the light catches them. It isn’t designer, but tonight, I feel like magic.
