Aaron: Book Three (Scars 3) (4 page)

Luca wanted
creativity so I staged the scene to look like he was some kind of sacrifice. It
was a bad decision. Bodies were a bad idea. Bodies gave evidence. It was far
better if they just disappeared, never to be found in this decade at least,
that way police investigations never got very far, and even if there was a
trial, it would always be circumstantial. Not that I would ever get to trial if
I were ever caught or suspected.

I spread the
body on the floor, arms and legs outstretched, and his chest an open mess of
gore. Skillfully, I carved into his skin. I had studied the occult symbols in
depth before deciding on what this dead canvas would be decorated with. It
wasn’t hard to decide on the most predominant design. One of his girlfriends
had it tattooed on her back. She was some wannabe Satanist or witch. She hung
out with people who slaughtered animals and took a lot of drugs. It wouldn’t be
that far fetched for anyone to believe that she took it a step further.
Especially since he’d dumped her last week and she was pissed. I’d sat in my
car and watched as she confronted the wife. She’d screamed the truth out to the
wife who had just regarded her coolly, unsurprised and ever the ice queen. The
wife would point toward her first and the mistress would be a distraction for the
police for a while. The business partner, of course, would never utter a word
about the mob connections.

I worked into
the early hours of the morning, making sure that my work was perfect before I
packed up my tools and left the cabin. Through a cluster of trees was a small
lake. Taking a bag from my car, I headed toward it in the dark. I burned the
clothes that I had been wearing in the sand. Using an accelerant, they ignited
and burned quickly. Only after I was convinced that they were burned down to
nothing did I scoop up the ashes and send them into the water to drift away and
drown.

The swim was a
whim. Naked, I walked into the cool water until it was waist deep. Moonlight
glinted across its disturbed surface as my movements sent ripples across it. I
dived down and swam underwater for as long as I could hold my breath and
imagined the minor traces of blood and brain fleeing from my skin and
dissolving into the pure lake water. Only when my lungs were ready to burst did
I resurface, slowly and controlled, as not to disturb the now smooth surface or
draw attention to myself if anyone happened by.

She was singing in the morning as she
made coffee. Her voice rose up through the house to me and seared at my ear
drums. What was the song? A lullaby? A hymn? The tune sounded vaguely familiar
but I couldn’t place it.

My head was
pounding as I sat up in my empty bed. It took a few moments for me to gather
myself and make my way down stairs. She had her back to me. Her hair was
scraped back into a high pony tail and she wore a sports bra and shorts. I slid
onto the barstool and she turned to place a cup of coffee in front of me.

“I’m going for a
run,” she told me.

“Why don’t you
use the treadmill? It’s cold out.”

She shrugged. “I
like the cold.” And then she left, through the glass doors to the outside and
then past the pool and through the next gate, never looking back.

I kept my eyes
on the direction that she had gone, until my cell phone sounded, piercing the
silence.

“Shit.” I read
the message. It was from Antony asking where the hell I was. We were supposed
to meet. I threw the phone down. He could fucking well wait. I was gonna have a
long shower first.

He was drinking
by the time I arrived at the restaurant. It was still morning and it wasn’t
open. Only the staff moved about silently at the back as they began
preparations for the day.

“Drink?” He
asked, raising his eyes.

“No.” I sat
opposite him, placing my boot on the adjacent chair.

His eyes slid to
the offending foot which lay where some rich bitch would be putting her ass
later that day but said nothing. He leaned in closer and I prepared to hear him
start on about what I’d done last night, but he didn’t.

“I’ve got a job
for you.”

I stayed quiet.
That wasn’t unexpected. Why was he looking so nervous? It wouldn’t be obvious
to anyone else, but there was that same sheen on his forehead as when I had
plowed my boot into that guy’s face the other day.

“It’s important
that it stays quiet.” He lifted his glass to his mouth with a hand that was
nearly steady.

I refrained from
rolling my eyes. What the hell was he on? Everything I did was quiet. That’s
why I was so good. I just kept watching him. “I don’t want Luca to know.”

I stiffened.
That wasn’t good. Going behind Luca’s back was never good. Pissing him off was
never good. My relationship with Luca made my life easier and guaranteed a
steady income stream. I wasn’t going to fuck that up.

He saw my
reaction and gave a slight laugh. I hated when people could read me. It took
away the element of surprise. “It’s nothing like that. It’s nothing to do with
him. It’s just something I want to keep to myself. That’s it.”

He put his hand
in his jacket pocket and drew out a crisp white envelope before sliding it
across the table. “It’s all in here. I just want it done and then to never talk
about it again. Understand?” There was a rare serious look to his face and his
hand rested on the envelope for a moment as if he wanted to take it back, but
finally he removed his hand.

I waited a
moment before taking it. “Is it business or personal?” I asked as I slipped it
into my inner jacket pocket without opening it.

“Does it
matter?”

“Guess not.” I
stood. “I’ll be in touch.”

I left him and
walked out into the sunlight.

She had finished
her run by the time that I got back. Freshly showered, she smelled like
vanilla.

“How are you
feeling? You didn’t get in until late last night” she asked with a hint of
amusement in her voice.

“Just great. How
was your run?”

She flicked her
hair over her shoulder. “Great. It made me feel…empowered.” Her body, always
slim, was now more muscular. Her arms were shapely and strong. She lifted
weights in the gym, even though she said that she hated it in there. Sometimes
I would watch her, enjoying seeing all the muscles glide under her skin with
each movement.  She slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed her car keys.

“Where are you
going?”

“I’m meeting
Thomas for lunch. I’ll be back later.” She left with her gaze never swinging
back up to me from the keys in her hand.  I reached out for her, trapping her
wrist in the palm of my hand. That, at least, was as still thin and frail as
always.

“What?” She
finally lifted her eyes to mine. They were sharp but unreadable.

Slowly, I let
her wrist slide from my grasp. “Nothing.”

She held my gaze
for a few seconds later before turning for the door.

I waited for the
door to hiss and automatically lock behind her before I made my way to my
office. It was a spartan room decorated with just a clean glass desk with a
black lap top sitting in its center. The only other object in the room, besides
the chair, was the door to the built in safe.  Everything was on digital file
now, encrypted by the best, but I kept cash in the safe. It always paid to have
emergency funds. Sinking down in the desk chair, I pulled out Antony’s
envelope. Sliding my fingers under the seal, I pulled it open and tipped the
contents out onto the shiny desk surface.

The instructions
were type written and the names weren’t familiar. There were three of them. Two
men and a female with an address in the north. Most of the work I did for the
family were familiar names from rival groups or from within and they had
betrayed Luca or begun to cause problems. This was odd, in both location and
name. Not that it mattered. I freelanced. I had an agent who would pass on jobs
to me on behalf of employers who wished to remain anonymous and have their
hands clean of the dirt involved. Anonymity was powerful. It meant that your
problem could be wiped clean with a transfer of funds before sitting down to
dine with your wife and children, free of guilt that your business partner or
rival was about to be removed from the earth.

I reread the
name of the town and raised an eyebrow. That was a coincidence. I committed the
names to memory before sliding the paper back into the envelope. I would do my
homework and then those names would be burned and nothing would ever connect
them back to me…well, except for Antony, but I had so much dirt on him that I
could always negotiate my way out of any shit storm.

And if not,
identities and money were safely hidden away in several locations. It always
helped to have a contingency plan, especially with the things that I had done,
and especially when dealing with Luca and his ilk. It never paid to leave
anything to chance.

My phone buzzed.
Luca was summoning me, and to his home of all places. Shit. They were having
drinks that afternoon and really wanted Rachel and I to come. I looked at the
message and waited a while before replying. I wasn’t his bitch and I didn’t
fear him. Still, he called so I came. I wasn’t stupid. He provided a steady
income stream for me. Rachel wouldn’t be thrilled. She liked his wife, but she
could read what Luca was and I tried to keep her away from him as much as
possible. It was easier to have her locked away. That was the best way to keep
her safe. I texted her the news and her reply didn’t come straight away. When
it did, it was a short ‘Fine. I’ll be there soon’.

She took her
time coming home, and when she did, she went straight to the bedroom to get
changed. I followed her impatiently and stood there as she studied her
wardrobe, one delicate finger tapping against her chin like this was an
important decision.

Finally, she
pulled out a white dress that had long sleeves but a deep neckline. She’d worn
it before and it hugged her body like a second skin.

“Not that one.”

She frowned. “I
look good in this.”

She was right.
She did and that was the problem. The last thing I needed was Luca’s predatory
eyes following her and appraising her. She wouldn’t appreciate his sadism and I
didn’t need her sexiness fucking up my business relationships.

“You look good
in everything but it’s cold out. Try something more…” I snatched at a dress,
pulling it off the hanger. “Here. Try this.” She took it from me and stared
down at it.

“I look like an
old lady in this.”

“No you don’t.
Just wear it. Please.”

I saw the
surprise in her eyes when I said please. It always shocked her. Every single
time. Silently she dressed, pulling the dark fabric over her pale skin. The
turtleneck of the dress covered her graceful neck and the long sleeves
disguised her powerful shoulders. The skirt dropped down respectably to below
her knees and was loose enough not to hug her ass.

She still looked
sexy as hell though. She always would.

“Better?” She
held her hands out to present herself, a petulant look on her face.

“Yes. Let’s go.
We’re late.”

She stared out
the window for the entire car ride and didn’t speak. Luca’s home was a mansion,
maybe the kind of home that her mother had aspired to but never achieved. It
loomed over the neighborhood‒a material structure that represented money
and power. There were legitimate businesses that acted as a front for his more
illicit endeavors. That was why he was free to show off what all of his
conniving had earned him and why his wife could respectfully lead P.T.A
meetings and run charity events.

The waiter at
the door passed us glasses of champagne and directed us to the garden at the
rear of the house. Outdoor gas heaters disguised as real fireplaces prevented
the afternoon chill from reaching their guests. Luca’s wife was the first to
spot us and greeted us with air kisses like we were normal people. Did she ever
ask her husband what his associates did for a living? Did she care? Did she
know what
her
husband was?

Rachel greeted
her warmly even though I knew that she regularly found excuses to avoid invitations
from the woman. She didn’t like the power there. She didn’t like anyone having
more power than her. She was a smart girl.

Luca caught my
eye and sent a nod in the direction of the house. I gave his wife a tight smile
and excused myself, ignoring Rachel’s cool gaze. “I won’t be long.” I let my
fingers dip under the turtleneck right at the base of her skull as I bent down
and kissed her cheek.

“You two are so
cute,” Luca’s wife cooed and I could almost feel Rachel rolling her eyes. “It’s
like you can barely stand being away from one another,” I heard her say as I
walked away. I didn’t hear what Rachel said in response.

Predictably,
Luca had a fire roaring in his study. He sat behind a polished wooden desk. It
was probably mahogany or oak‒something assholes loved. Me, I preferred
glass. You could see through it and clutter never seemed right in its presence.
Plus, it shattered with ease. You could destroy it and start over, but wood,
that was here forever unless you burned the thing down to ash.

He had a
fountain pen in its original box open on the desk, lying in a bed of satin. Who
the hell used pens anymore? It was just for show. He didn’t even have a
computer or laptop in his office. It was all for show‒from the moose head
on the wall to the map of the world taking up an entire wall. There were a
selection of novels bound in leather sitting in the bookcase behind him. I’d
bet my life that they had never been opened let alone read. The psychopath
liked to give out an image. I couldn’t blame him. Sometimes I liked to act like
the boy next door and charm and smooze my way into people’s lives to get what I
wanted, but it always got boring quickly. Plus, the charm act always felt
wrong; as if I were wearing someone else’s face for a time and I was constantly
waiting for the person, my prey, to figure out that I was just one big lie, but
they never did, not until I wanted them to. That right there…that was power.

“Cigar?”

“No, thanks.” I
didn’t sit at one of the chairs in front of his desk that were set up for his
minions or anyone else that he wanted to intimidate. I took a chair by the
fire, raising one leg up casually to rest my foot on the edge of the matching
footstool.

“Did you handle
Antony?” he asked.

“He didn’t need
to be handled. He understood.”

I felt Luca’s
eyes on me but I just stared into the fire. I didn’t know why his lack of
respect for his brother irked me, but it did. Still, I made sure that my voice
remained even and didn’t reveal any of what I felt.

Luca gave a
grunt. “He’s not a natural.  He’s too soft and he cares too much about having
fun rather than the business.”

I stayed silent.

“There are
several interests in which you would be better at handling.”
Crap.
This
was exactly what I didn’t want. I didn’t need shit like this hanging over me,
giving me more cause to be trapped with these people and brought to the
attention of people who could fuck up my life.

I gave him a
grin in response. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t work well with others.”

His dark eyes
were on me, hard, with nothing in them, and his face was immobile. He was
thinking, but what? Good or bad? Every muscle in my body tensed and I didn’t
take a single breath as he kept his eyes on me. The inadvisable urge to get up
and leave tore through me, but of course I didn’t give into it. I wasn’t about
to show weakness. If I pissed him off, so what? He may have an army of brutal
yet moronic goons at his bidding, but none of them were me. None were as
stealthy or smart. They took orders. They didn’t think for themselves. I could
take all of them down if I wanted to, one by one, piece by piece. Maybe I’d
even make him watch…