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“Have a seat.” He motioned as he took his seat. I sat and fought the urge to fidget. Selling the house and farm had given me quite a bit of money, but I needed something to do to keep me sane and it was a bonus that it also brought in an income. I couldn’t believe my luck when the weasel mentioned that there was a high-end stable looking for employees. I realized suddenly that Vince had been talking while I wasn’t paying attention. “Any problem with that?” he asked.
“No, not at all.”Shit, what had he said?
“Great, we’ll go do that and make sure you can lift the bales. Sorry, boss’s rules. Everyone’s gotta pull their own weight. If you can, then I’ll have you start work tomorrow. Your shift would be Monday to Thursday, five a.m. to one p.m.” I nodded and followed him to a truck that had a bunch of hay bales in the back.
Vince handed me a set of work gloves and stepped back while folding his arms over his chest. I stepped up onto the lift of the truck, grabbed a bale and easily swung it onto the waiting pile on the ground. I noticed out of the corner of my eye when his eyebrows shot up. I wasn’t a body builder, gym type, but I’d always been strong. My solid frame ensured that. Add in the last five years of working a farm with huge animals, bales of hay, and everything else that came with it and I could lift impressively heavy things. Tony had always razzed me about being an Amazon.
“Yeah, that’ll do,” Vince said with a grin. “You can start tomorrow and unloading this truck will be your first task.” I nodded and followed him around as he showed me the employee break area and where we were supposed to clock in and out at. Simple enough.
“See you tomorrow.” I bid him farewell and walked the three miles back to the bus stop. It gave me time to think. The ride back into the city went quickly and smoothly. I hopped off the bus and walked into a restaurant for a late lunch. The taste of the burger exploded on my tongue and reminded me of home. There was a time I never ate out. I cooked all of our meals and actually enjoyed it. Especially, with all of the fresh beef and meat we had.
On my walk back to the hotel, I spotted an apartment building with a sign saying it had an apartment for rent. The area looked decent enough, so I ducked into the building. About an hour later, I was the newest inhabitant of Lido Villas. I went back to the hotel and packed up all of my stuff, though it wasn’t much, then headed over to the fully furnished, if tiny, apartment. Once I had unpacked everything, I sat on the bed and opened my laptop. Pulling up Facebook, I opened my list of names, and typed in the first. Rafael Santos.
The weasel had been kind enough to include an address of Santos’s last whereabouts. I started researching, completely losing myself in it. Five hours later, I lifted my head, surprised I’d been working for so long. Stretching out muscles that had long since gone stiff, I moved over to the window and looked out onto the quiet, dark street below.
It was late evening now, and I couldn’t do anything about the new information I had tonight. I’d look into it tomorrow after work. Since I was getting up so early, I figured I’d better go to sleep. I hated sleeping now. I couldn’t escape my dreams when I did. Checking to make sure the bus ran as early as I needed, I was pleased to see that it did. I laid down and soon fell into a restless sleep.
Chapter 2
Havoc
“Tony you’re such a jerk!” But we were both laughing as he hugged me, and I stared up at him adoringly. My mom laughed at us from the back seat of the rented SUV and my dad just shook his head, but smiled at our shenanigans.
“Go inside and pay to fill us up, love.” Tony smiled at me as he readied the gas pump so he could fuel it up. I had always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty and Tony and my parents had surprised me with a trip. We hardly ever left the farm, so I was happy to be in a new place. New York was huge, loud, and more than a little dirty. I actually missed home, but it was going to be worth it to see the sights.Next time though, it’s going to be Italy or somewhere tropical.I just needed to get New York done first.
It had always been my number one spot I wanted to travel to see. I lounged against the counter in the convenience store, waiting to pay. The clerk indicated he was ready, and I handed over cash before stepping out of the store. I stopped and smiled as I looked at my family. Tony had gotten back into the vehicle and Mom had kept her window rolled down.
“Hurry up, slowpoke.” She smiled lovingly at me.
I don’t know what caught my attention other than the movement. A huge Suburban pulled into the gas station wildly, tires squealing. It stopped for what seemed like seconds, before pulling out again, and suddenly there was a huge explosion that knocked me backward, through the glass door, into the store.
I jerked awake, breathing heavily, tears rolling down my face as my alarm screamed in my ear. Three a.m. was too early for normal people to be awake, but I was so thankful to have been pulled out of the nightmare. I curled into the fetal position and released my grief. After I was depleted, I ran around getting ready for my new job. Luckily, there wasn’t a dress code, so I opted for my usual jeans, t-shirt, and boots, but I threw on a sweatshirt since it was getting chilly early in the morning.
The trip out of the city was a quiet one, I was the only one on the bus at this hour. It gave me plenty of time to think, and too much time for the grief that came with remembering. I saw the sorrowful eyes of the police officer who had explained what the detectives found. They didn’t know who killed my husband and parents yet. But they would find out. I believed that sweet man thought that was the truth. But obviously the corrupt detectives in the NYPD didn’t have any intention of bringing the murderers to justice. They had to have been paid off.
It had taken me three months of moving around and constant searching until I found the right contact and got the information I was looking for. I found out through the weasel and a few of his contacts that there had been two Suburbans with eight men split between them and that they’d lit and thrown Molotov cocktails at the gas pumps.
The explosion took out our SUV and one other car; all the occupants died instantly. There had been a few other cars there when we’d pulled in, but they must have left just before this all happened. It took me a minute to realize my jaw ached because I was clenching both it and my fists. It didn’t matter, I didn’t need the police. It had taken a few months, but now I knew the identity of every man who had killed my family. That list was burned into my brain.
I was going to torture and kill them all, one by one. It didn’t matter if I lost my humanity in the process. I had nothing left to live for. Revenge was all that was left inside me. I smiled grimly as the bus pulled up to the station. I had time, so I opted to walk.
* * *
I usedthe mindless job of stacking bales to start planning. My first victim was going to be the man, according to the informants, who threw the first cocktail. They all played a part, but he was the one who started the action that ended my family’s lives and destroyed mine. Before we bought the farm, I was in law enforcement. I’d enjoyed it, but not enough and I wanted to live a slower paced life. Then I met Tony, and everything fell into place. We were blissfully happy. I had always been a good girl, never stepping a toe out of line.
My amazing, gentle parents would be shocked to see who I was today. They would be horrified at what I was planning but I didn’t care anymore. The only thing left in my life I cared about was my best friend and my dogs. Sam owned a kennel in Austin, Texas, and she was keeping my animals safe there. I hadn’t told her my plans. I wanted her to have plausible deniability in case the cops tracked me back to her. I would do my best to make sure that didn’t happen, though.
My phone dinged. I tossed a bale up onto the top of the stack and pulled it out of my pocket.They are doing great, although they miss you. We’re all fine here. Miss and love you.I slid the phone back into my pocket. I was relieved that they were all safely across the country.
Chapter 3
Dante
“You all have your shift assignments. Remember, no accidents, no memos,” the sergeant laughed as he finished up our daily muster and we all chuckled along with him. He said it every day and yet someone always managed to mess up and usually had to write a ‘Dear Chief’ memo. I looked over when my partner nudged my shoulder.
“Dante.” Ciro pointed to our sergeant, who was motioning to me.
“I’ll be right back,” I muttered. I stood and adjusted my gun belt before heading up to the podium at the front of the meeting room in our police station. “Sir?” I eyed him curiously as I approached.
