AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m to drop you at Gibson’s Mill,” he replies.
“Great. And how far’s that?”
“About three hundred miles, give or take.”
“So it’ll be awhile, then?”
“Afraid so. Four or five hours depending on traffic on the freeway.”
“Any chance of some tunes, then?”
“What would you like?”
“Oldies, preferably.”
He switches the radio on. Buddy Holly blasts out. That’ll do for me. I get my sketchbook out and start to doodle, letting my mind wander.
Strange how life can go. Yesterday, I lost my job, my home, and the last of my cash. Then out of nowhere, I got to spend the night in a luxury hotel I could never afford in a million years.
Now I’m off to start a new job in the country. All because of Marco Donatello. The man who I don’t want to think about. The man who’s giving me a job.
Yeah, I’m sure this will all go absolutely peachy.
Seven
Marco
* * *
This place is perfect for hiding out. An enormous house in the middle of nowhere. Bristling with security measures. Surrounded by high walls. Miles from prying eyes. Alessandro has vetted the employees. Many of them have worked for me for years. I know the layout like the back of my hand.All the corridors and rooms. The cameras. The alarms. I chose the security system. It’s impenetrable.
I’m as safe here as I could hope to be. That means I can concentrate on planning my revenge.
I’m not sure how I’m going to do it. What I want more than anything is to cause Piper a lot of pain. I could just kill him, walk straight up to him at one of his meet and greets, pull out a hidden gun, one shot him to the center of that smirking face of his. All over.
It isn’t enough. Death is what he deserves, but I want him to feel agony before he dies, same as my family will have felt while they burned up in our house. Maybe I should burn his house down with him in it.
I decide against it. Unlike him, I don’t want innocent people to suffer.
I’m up in the attic while I think, looking at the corner where Sophie used to play every summer. All her toys and games are still up here, mine too.
The battered old cardboard box is where she left it before she went away to school. Inside are her figurines. Knights, princesses, dragons. I remember her laying them out in one battle scene after another, occupied for hours while my father and I were down in the basement at the firing range.
I take the figures out of the box one by one. There’s a backdrop painted onto wooden boards, one of several. It leans against the wall of the attic, creating a scene of a castle high up on a mountainside, green slopes running down in front of it.
I position the figures the way she used to. A memorial to her. I’m just setting out the princess when my cellphone rings.
I stand up, walking over to the ladder as I answer. “Alessandro,” I growl down the line. “This better be good news.”
“I’m sorry for what happened,” he says.
“Don’t waste my time. Tell me what you found out.”
“I have good news.”
I climb down the ladder; the phone wedged against my ear. “Go on.”
“You know how Piper wants an heir to his empire.”
