AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Four
-Dante-
WHEN REMORSE IS NOTpart of your repertoire of emotions, it leaves an uncomfortable feeling under your skin.
Gingerly, I edged Noemi to the back of the couch and managed to stand up without waking her. She had been sleeping for about an hour. Our nights together had taught me to recognize when her breaths were regulated enough for me to leave her, which was something I had done too damn many times in the last two weeks. I thought about carrying her to the bedroom, but I was afraid she wouldn’t fall back to sleep if she awoke, and she needed her rest.
My chest hurt when I looked down at her swollen eyes. She braved my confessions with the heart of a warrior, coming back for more with each wound she received, as each answer to each question revealed more damning information.
When her brain cleared after a night’s rest, there’d be more she’d want to know. I didn’t really want to do it, but if she were determined to visit Willis and get more answers from him, I would drive her wherever he was. It would be a tricky conversation to navigate since they both knew some of my secrets but hopefully, were equally as determined to keep them.
I kicked off my shoes and padded down the hallway to my office. Out of habit, I locked the door when I went inside. I didn’t like surprises, especially when I was working. I’d left Michael’s office door open on Smuggler’s Island because it wasn’t my door to lock. I wasn’t making that mistake twice.
I wanted to check my emails and see if Marco had made any progress on Delacroix’s files. Once he sent them, sifting through them would take time, weeks probably, and after Noemi’s visit from the man in the knit cap, I doubted I had that much time to spare. Experience taught me that the situation was growing rapidly, and my sense of urgency needed to move along with it.
I picked up the files and their scattered contents and sat back at my desk.
Noemi’s parents’ pasts and subsequent deaths, the contract that had been taken out on me, the threats to Noemi’s life and her mysterious visitor - three seemingly separate incidents that all converged... somehow. My gut told me these were all pieces of the same puzzle, but I’d be damned if I could make sense of it.
Reluctant to give up for the night, I poured through the papers again. Until I showed them to Noemi, I hadn’t looked at those files in four years. Not since Phillip McKenzie’s alleged suicide.
The fucking bastard. If I had anyone to blame for all of this, it was him.
Maybe justice hadn’t been served. Maybe the head of the snake had been cut off, but the serpent still lived. Noemi’s father wasn’t alive, but Rubinstein and Bailey were, as well as thirty or more so called “illustrious” men whose money or lawyers had helped them to escape notice after McKenzie’s death.
A fresh new emotion washed over me - guilt.
It wasn’t my job to take out the entire club. I had a contract to fulfill at the time. and I did what I was paid to do. McKenzie deserved it. His game was up. Every sordid, salacious, debauched evil he had ever perpetrated was about to be made public or would have if he had lived. Someone didn’t want his escapades brought into the public eye. Someone with money wanted the innocent to be free of reliving their trauma, but that someone also wanted McKenzie to pay for every crime he’d committed. Before the story of his sex ring could hit the papers, he put a bullet in his temple.
Or so it appeared.
With the information I gathered from Gerald Petrafuso’s case, the investigation I conducted before I took the contract on McKenzie was a no-brainer. To avoid any further investigation by law enforcement or any other agency, McKenzie’s death had to be ruled a suicide. It wasn’t easy, but I made it work. And then I moved on with no regrets.
Until now.
I sifted through the pictures again, looking at the faces of the men who paid the price for their indiscretions and at the men who managed to walk away unscathed. I stopped at a picture of the four men together. I was relieved that Noemi hadn’t asked me how I managed to get the pictures. I’m sure she would at some point and my best bet wasn’t to lie. She’d see through me. How the hell she’d learned to do that, I didn’t know. I would have to be brutally honest with her and tell her that those details fell into the category of things that she was better off not knowing and she’d have to trust me on that.
It would be a struggle, but she’d have to know when the information I withheld was for her own good. If we were going to be together, there would be rules and limits. And expectations.
Fuck. I was going to have to throw my “no expectations” mantra out the fucking window, because weweregoing to be together in whatever capacity I could make it work. For her safety, and her sanity, she’d have to learn to accept that our relationship came with limitations. She couldn’t know everything; couldn’t know the intimate details of my work, the ins and outs of the syndicate, how I did what I did, the where and the why. I’d have to keep her in the dark about how I was able to maneuver through the dark. There were still secrets that needed to be kept, and she’d have to trust me as much as I was learning to trust her.
I tossed the pictures back on my desk and ran a hand through my hair. She was my ultimate distraction, but I couldn’t let Noemi go now. Possibly, not ever. I needed to know she was safe. She was mine to protect. I couldn’t give that responsibility to anyone else because...
What the fuck?
I picked up the picture of the four men together, studying it with more clarity than I had before.
I missed that detail in the past because I hadn’t been looking for it. I probably would have missed it again if he hadn’t been fresh on my mind.
There the cocky bastard sat, cocktail in hand, in the background of the picture, lounging poolside with a trio of smiling young ladies. His face was blurred and slightly pixelated. But not enough. I recognized him.
Damn me. How the hell had I missed that face before?
He was already at the top of my list and now, Christian Delacroix earned a big fat star next to his name.
Another piece of the puzzle fell into place, and while I didn’t know the connections yet, I knew that the matter was snowballing into something that had the power to devour us all.
I steepled my fingers and thought about the many different scenarios that could play out. I couldn’t take part in every single one of them. I was just one man and the variables were too many.
The life of an assassin is a lonely one. Men can’t be trusted and there’s no such thing as a real friend. Willis. Michael. They were as close as I would ever come to having friendships, but even then, it was all work related. Willis and I never talked about the ballgame, and Michael and I never shot-the-shit over a beer. If I had to put my life on the line to protect Noemi, there was only one man I knew who would have my back, and I wouldn’t have to plan for what would happen if he betrayed me. In his world, he held as much power as I did in mine.
I wasn’t used to asking for help. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but Noemi was worth it. I’d grovel if I had to. I couldn’t leave anything to chance.
I didn’t hesitate to call him.
Despite the late hour, Gabriel answered on the second ring.
