The Complete Contract Series (11 page)

Roderick

I eased my way into the warehouse with Julia on my heels. “Be quiet, I told you to wait in the fucking car but you never listen.”

“I’ll be quiet. I don’t want to wait out there alone.”

“Then keep your mouth shut. No matter what you see.”

Julia nodded, avoiding saying anything so as not to be sent back out to the car. I eased my way around corners with my gun drawn. Though I hadn’t seen any parked cars out front I wasn’t taking any chances. I was convinced that Mark had something in that suitcase I’d witnessed him pulling out of the high-rise condominium. I’d followed his every move since Miller told me to tail him. This could be my chance to get in good with my boss, and I had every intention of doing just that. Being on Miller’s good side meant solidifying a career that could take me far.

I made my way back to the solid steel door and pulled the latch back. I flipped on a light and even I was horrified at what I saw. There on the floor lies a dirty, bloodied, and beaten woman who had been drugged to the point of an overdose. Though I had never seen Miller’s woman, my instincts correctly revealed that was who this stranger was.

I nudged Julia and sent her out to the car to retrieve my bolt cutters. She turned and ran with no argument. Julia knew exactly how it felt to not only be abducted, but to abduct. She quickly ran back, being careful not to trip in the frilly kitten heels she donned. She listened intently to the phone conversation that I was engaged in as she made her way over and cut the woman free.

“Miller, I’m sure that this is your woman holed up in this warehouse, but our boy is nowhere to be found. Meet me at your condo in the back alley, there is no way that you are going to want anyone to see her like this.”

I talked Miller down from a full blown rage as I assured him that she was fine, just dirty and stoned out of her mind. 

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes with her. I have Julia watching over her on the ride over, she’ll be fine man.”

I picked up Laura and made my way out of the dingy warehouse. I wasn’t worried about Mark coming back but I was concerned about him returning with some dirt bag to do his dirty work. I highly doubted that Mark had what it took to end someone’s life and I didn’t have time to blow some junkies head off if Mark came back with some back up. For a bag a heroin a junkie would choke the life right out of the poor girl and think nothing of it.

I commanded Julia to sit in the back and watch over the drugged victim as I drove back to the condominium. Sure enough Miller was there parked in the back alley and ready to take over the care of his woman. Getting into the building through the kitchen was easy enough and we were able to make our way up to the penthouse without being seen.

Miller got us settled into the kitchen making coffee while he made his way to the bathtub with Laura. A bath and a few cups of coffee would work wonders. Then he would leave Julia to babysit while he and I went and took care of business. This would send a message to anyone in the business that Laura was now his property and fucking Miller over, was a death wish.

People already knew how ruthless the hit man was but now they would know to steer clear of what belonged to him—and Laura belonged to Miller in every sense of the word.

Laura

My eyes opened to view Miller as he bathed me in my own tub, I was home.

“I knew that you would come for me.” I smiled at the man who had become such a big part of my life. “He was going to kill me, you know? He wants the life insurance money because he owes some Russian gangster gambling money.”

I leaned my head back as he soaped up my hair with my favorite shampoo. I would smell like coconuts now and not like the vile filth I had been subjected to during my abduction.

“How could a man who was married to me be so ruthless as if he didn’t know me? He treated me worse than some dog on the street. I wouldn’t treat a stray animal the way that he treated me.”

I looked up to see something that sent a chill up my spine even though the water was warm. Miller’s eyes had turned yellow and his voice came out in a feral growl, “I’m going to kill the motherfucker with my bare hands and you better never breathe a word of it to anyone. We’re in this together now and we’re bound by blood. You will never be free of me, never.”

“I don’t want to be free of you.” I rubbed my face against his hand as he finished washing my hair and cleansing my body. He lifted me from the tub and dried me off as if I was a fine porcelain doll. He grabbed my robe from behind the door and pulled it onto my tired form.

We made our way into the bedroom and he assured me that I would be fine with Julia watching me. I knew he was going with Roderick to deal with my abductor. It was something he had to do and I had no intentions of trying to stop him.

I knew he meant what he had said, he was going to kill the man that had tried to kill me. But more than that—we were bound together now, bound by blood. We would be accomplices in the murder of a man. I didn’t feel the least bit guilty though, not one little tinge. What I did feel was relief, relief that I would no longer be a marked woman. What I would be now was a
made
woman. My lover and I would be bound by secrets, oaths, and blood. The thought not only intrigued me, it excited me.

Suddenly the fact that I recognized my baby sitter pulled me out of my daydream. “I know you, weren’t you engaged to the Governor?”

“I was engaged to the Governor,” she replied as she held a spoonful of soup to my lips.

“I have no regrets about not being engaged to him anymore. I found my true calling when I met Roderick. He is the only person who has ever loved and accepted me for me. I have always been expected to be perfect and to fit in with all of the upper echelon society I grew up in. You have no idea how much pressure I had to live under—until Roderick that is. He loves and accepts me for who I am.”

“Sounds like Miller.”

“It’s because they are gangsters, they kill for a living.”

“I suspected something like that from the beginning. Miller just seemed way too intense for a mere private investigator.”

“Oh, so you’ve seen those crazy eyes of his that turn yellow when he is pissed, huh?”

“Oh yeah,” I chuckled. “That isn’t the only time that they change colors either.” I winked at her and she knew exactly what I was referring to.

“Yes, our men are intense in the bedroom too. The same thing is true for mine.”

I wanted to ask her if Roderick was kinky, if he was sadistic like Miller was, but I was too embarrassed to ask about something that intimate and private. Suddenly I realized I was really tired. “I hate to be the worst hostess ever, but I’m exhausted. Feel free to make yourself at home.”

“No problem. I’ll get a cup of coffee and watch TV in the living room.”

I had already turned over and was well on my way to sleep, the drugs in my system had seen to that. I was exhausted and sleeping would keep me from worrying about what that crazy man of mine was doing. I didn’t even want to think about what Mark was being subjected to by the two men. The best thing that he could hope for was that they killed him quickly and didn’t subject him to too much torture—but I highly doubted it.

Miller

“Oh fuck, that is going to leave a mark,” Roderick jumped out of the way to keep from being sprayed with blood after the butt of my gun crashed into Mark’s mouth. When he spit his front tooth came flying out of his mouth with a mouthful of blood.

“You won’t be needing those anyway where you’re going motherfucker, because today is the day that I’m going to kill you!”

I couldn’t remember ever feeling the magnitude of rage that I felt at this moment. This guy made a huge mistake kidnapping my woman. This was dangerous, this level of fury couldn’t be a good thing for a man such as myself who prided himself with always being in control. I had to remain on top of my game in my line of work and Laura was throwing off of my ability to remain in control. I didn’t like it one bit.

Screams, the blood curdling kind that I relished pierced my ears when I took my glock and shot through my prisoner’s kneecap.

I watched as his legs crumbled beneath him and he passed out. The only thing holding him up was the chain holding his arms above his head. The fun was over and it was time for retribution. I stuck my gun in the dirt bag’s mouth and blew the back of his skull off. I am of the belief that if I am going to torture a man to the point of passing out—then I just need to go ahead and kill him. I needed to render him helpless while exacting my revenge and if he passed out from the pain I caused him, then that need in me was met.

I turned and walked out of the warehouse with Roderick on my heels. He was turning out to be a good employee. He was ruthless, kept his mouth shut, and did what I told him to do. I could see us working together in the future. I had been surprised when Laura hadn’t been freaked out about them being in her living space. That was a plus too. The girl Julia had seemed to get along with her well. I could envision this being a long term working relationship. In my line of work it’s hard to find people that you can trust, and Roderick had proven to be trustworthy—you can’t put a price on that. I was ready to go home and see my woman. Now that our problem was taken care of I could focus on more important things like fucking her senseless.