by A. G. Khaliq
“He took me into intensive care with some private doctors, and as soon as I was better, he threw me into a house in the middle of nowhere. Threatened me that he was using me as leverage. And I was unable to call the police, and unable to escape the house.
“I didn't have an Internet connection, or anything. The windows were made of unbreakable glass. They could only be smashed with bullets. And 564
I didn't have a gun.”
Alfonze let out a heavy sigh. For the rest of the drive, there was an eery silence in the car, as we allowed Alfonze to have some breathing space, to speak about his situation at his own pace without any pressure.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at his sister Felicia's house.
We made our way in to her apartment block, and then to her apartment.
“Felicia, are you in there?” Donte called out, outside her door.
“Coming!” came Felicia’s voice, as she recognized it was Donte.
She opened the door, and me and Donte made our way inside the 565
apartment.
Felicia
furrowed
her
eyebrows, her face falling as she saw me.
She hadn’t seen me since the day I’d came by here to interrogate her about Alfonze. She was bound to be confused.
“Is there a reason you're here?” she mumbled uneasily. “Is there an update in my brother's investigation?”
“Yes, there is,” I smiled at her.
“We have a surprise for you, Felicia,” Donte grinned.
Felicia rubbed her chin in thought, furrowing her eyebrows, not knowing what we could possibly be talking about.
And then her hands leapt to her face in shock, as she saw her brother Alfonze Michael walk into the apartment.
“Hey sis,” Alfonze smiled.
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Felicia broke into sobs, unable to believe her eyes. She rocked herself backwards and forwards as she wept, because this for sure was fucking surreal.
This was the last thing that she was probably expecting us to come with, and it was so emotional.
“Oh my God,” Felicia sobbed. “I thought you were dead…”
Alfonze let out a deep breath, before taking his sister into his arms, hugging her close.
“It's okay, sis…” he breathed. “I'm here now.”
“I don't understand…” Felicia cried. “How are you alive?!”
“I'll tell you everything later…”
Alfonze mumbled. “But for now… We've got Donte and Maya to thank.”
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Both of them turned to face us, their faces filled with kindness and gratitude. It melted my heart. I was happy that me and Donte were finally able to do some good, after spending so much time in misery. The look on Alfonze and Felicia’s faces were priceless… The price of reuniting family with one another.
“I don't know how to thank you,”
Felicia murmured. “I'm eternally in your debt.”
“As am I,” Alfonze heaved. “Thank you so much for saving me… If it hadn't been for you both, I wouldn't be here right now. I hope we can catch up soon, Donte.” He trailed off his sentence, folding his arms. “If there's anything else I can do…”
“I don't mean to be pushy,” I 568
interjected quickly, “but you didn't tell us the name or description of the hitman behind the murders in the car.”
I folded my arms uneasily. I felt a little insensitive for bringing it up again so fast, but I still had a murder to solve, and shit to take care of. I took deep breaths in and out, preparing myself for what Alfonze was about to tell me.
“Of course,” Alfonze breathed. “I'm so sorry.”
He let out an exhalation of oxygen.
“The man behind the murders was a blonde man. His name was Brett. He was a friend of Philip's.”
I felt my heart leap to my throat in shock.
Feeling completely at loss for 569
words.
Rendered speechless.
Empty.
Numb.
A void.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
I couldn’t believe my fucking ears…
“Are you absolutely sure?!” Donte denied, the colour draining out of his face in terror.
“Yes,” Alfonze confirmed.
BRETT?!
No…
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No, no, NO!
571
55
maya
“Are you alright, Sapphire?” Donte breathed, as he continued to drive down the Highway. “You've been so fucking quiet.” He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “I know you must be in shock.
Knowing your ex-boyfriend wasn't the man he claimed he was.” He balled his hands into fists, seething. “But I promise 572
you, we're gonna burn that motherfucker down to the ground. He's gonna deserve everything that's about to come to him.”
I was in a state of shock. I couldn't believe that I thought Brett was a good man. I couldn't believe how bad I felt when I broke up with him.
Did I expect this fucking coming?!
Did I expect Brett to have involvement in a cartel, while he worked in the fucking Secret Service with me?!
I felt the bile reach my throat.
I had kissed a man who destroyed people's lives.
I'd had a relationship with a man for years, who ordered hits on women, rapes on women, murders on little boys and women.
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I couldn't believe my fucking ears.
I couldn't fucking believe it.
And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
Every time Brett would sneakily go off to places, every time Brett said he was on a job...
He'd got Philip on his side, so he must have had this shit going on the whole time. For a very long fucking time at that, too.
He was probably only in the Service to destroy the evidence. The evidence connecting him to the murders.
And I couldn't fucking believe it.
And that was when I vomited all 574
over the car, unable to contain it in me anymore.
I was fucking disgusted.
Beyond disgusted.
I was fucking traumatised.
We arrived at Brett’s apartment, and bile was still swimming in my throat. I tried my best to regain my composure and strength, but it was proving to be more and more difficult. I could barely breathe.
I called the police, so that they would be on standby outside the apartment block, ready to come in when I needed them.
I needed to speak to Brett. I needed some fucking answers.
575
I let Donte wait outside for me, because this was something that I needed to do on my own.
“The door's open,” I murmured to myself, as I made my way inside of his apartment.
I searched the surroundings, trying my best to pin-point where he was.
“Brett?” I called out, rubbing my chin in thought.
There was no response. I proceeded to make my way into the living room.
And just when I thought things couldn't get more fucking disgusting…
I walked in on him kissing Hazel.
The very woman I'd caught him 576
with before I went on the mission.
The very woman he denied
cheating on me with.
“Hello, Brett,” I snarled, clenching my teeth.
“Maya?!” Brett jolted backwards before he turned around to face me, unable to believe his eyes. “What are you doing here?!”
“I came here to speak to you,” I sneered, rolling my eyes.
“Of course!” Brett said hurriedly.
He turned back to Hazel. “Get the fuck outta here, Hazel.”
Hazel balled her hands into fists, rattling them angrily.
“You bastard,” she hissed. “Even 577
after all this time, you still fucking love her!”
“Didn't you hear me?!” Brett barked
. “Get the fuck out!”
Hazel rolled her eyes angrily.
“Whatever,” she snapped. “I wouldn't stay here if you paid me.”
She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, her hair bouncing as she walked. I folded my arms angrily, unable to hide the anger and rage written all over my face.
“Maya,” Brett said breathlessly. “I was just -” He broke off his sentence, shaking his head with frustration. “She doesn't mean anything to me!”
“You don't have to explain yourself to me, Brett,” I sneered sarcastically.
578
“We're
not
together
anymore.
Remember?”
Brett jolted backwards, hurt by my words. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again, instead, letting a sigh escape from his lips.
“I've missed you, Maya,” he admitted timidly. “I've missed you so much.”
“Cut me the bullshit, Brett,” I snarled. “Tell me this.”
“What?!” Brett denied, a confused expression on his face.
“When were you gonna tell me that it was YOU behind the murders?!” I accused, seething.
“I don't know what you're talking about!” Brett shot back in his own 579
defence.
“Spare me the bullshit!” I roared.
“Philip's dead, Brett. Nobody can save you now. Tell me the motherfucking truth!”
I watched the colour drain out of Brett’s face. He looked like somebody had just walked over his grave, when I gave him the news of Philip’s death.
He was guilty as hell.
“I was only in the Sinaloa Cartel for money, Maya…” he breathed. “I wanted us to have a good life. What we made at the Service wasn't enough.”
He shook his head, running his hands through his hair, a tear sliding down his cheek.
“It felt like no matter how much I 580
tried, you were never impressed by me.
Never impressed by my efforts. It was like anything I did wasn't enough for you.
“Whenever I tried to take you out on dates, or for sightseeing. You still didn't love me back. I could feel that you didn't love me back.”
I folded my arms uneasily, feeling my blood pound through my body, tidal waves of emotions shooting through me through hundreds of directions all at once.
“I would do anything to win your love,” Brett breathed. “Whether it meant killing lots of people for money. I wanted so badly for you to feel the same way that I did, for you to want me just as much as I wanted you. So I started buying you expensive gifts with the money that I was making, and took you on fancy holidays.
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It was so nice to see the smile on your face…”
He let out a deep sigh, coughing up a sob.
“But whenever you kissed me, there was no passion. No sparks, no fireworks.
I would feel on top of the world…
“Yet you would feel nothing.
“And after you went undercover, and I found out you'd fallen in love with another man…
“I just lost it. I ordered even more hits and murders. I was even more damn hurt and broken. Knowing how quickly that man had managed to catch your eye, but I'd been trying for years, and you still didn't love me.”
I could feel tears begin sliding 582
down my own cheeks. I couldn’t believe that Brett had turned into such a monster, and it was all because of me.
“But I'm willing to leave it all,”
Brett pleaded. “I'm willing to leave it all if you give me another chance.
“Please, Maya.
“I can't live without you.”
I was at loss for words. My throat suddenly felt so dry, and I could hardly compose a sentence together. I had to pull myself together, and keep myself strong for the sake of myself and for Donte. Nothing good was ever going to come from this.
I’d solved the murders. It didn’t matter what his reasoning was behind what he did. It wouldn’t fucking erase all of the sick, horrific, monstrous things 583
he’d done.
He needed to pay…
And he needed to pay now.
“I
understand
how
you're
feeling…” I murmured. “But it's too late, Brett! You can't force me to love you!
You can't force me to reciprocate your goddamn feelings! You can't buy love!”
I was seething. I wanted to bark at him until I couldn’t scream anymore. I wanted to bellow bloody murder until I was blue in the face.
He was such a monster.
He was such a fucking monster…
“Please don't speak like this, Maya!” Brett sobbed. “Everything I did, everything! I did it for you! Can't you see 584
what you're doing to me? Can't you see that you're destroying me?!”
“You can't turn back the clock,” I snarled. “You can't undo all of the people you fucking murdered, all the lives you fucking destroyed! You make me sick!”
“Baby,
please!”
Brett
cried
hysterically.
He was crazy.
So fucking crazy.
“Don't do this…” Brett pleaded.
“I'll kill myself!”
“Answer me this one question, Brett,” I said quietly, my voice dropping to barely below a whisper.
“What?” Brett mumbled.
585
“Did you tell Fibonacci where I was?” I asked, folding my arms. “Did you order Fibonacci to kidnap me?”
Brett’s heart hammered against his chest into a frenzy. From the look on his face, I knew what the answer was going to be.
And I could feel the bile swimming in my throat all over again.
Unable to process this.
Unable to comprehend any of this.
Unable to believe that I’d allowed such a bastard to be a part of my life.
“Yes,” Brett whispered. “I was hurting… After seeing Donte with you at the funeral. I wanted to pull you both apart. To push you away from him.
586
“I thought that if I let Fibonacci take you, and then helped Donte to find you after, that you would realise how much I love you.
“And that we'd be in for another chance.”
I couldn't believe it had taken me so many years…
So many years to realise how sick and twisted Brett really was.
He'd helped a man who abused me, made my life a living hell, locked me in a cage…
To kidnap me.
And my blood was fucking boiling.
Boiling to the point that it almost dried up.
587
Knowing how many lives Brett had hurt.
How much damage he'd done…
It felt like I was struggling for air.
I felt no fucking sympathy for him, despite how much he loved me.
Even if he claimed he did this out of love for me, he was a sick, twisted bastard, and he was going to get what he deserved.
Him
confirming
he
helped
Fibonacci was just icing on the motherfucking cake.
I didn’t want to waste my breath on him anymore. I didn’t want to waste any more time.
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I opened my mouth, and allowed five words to tumble straight out of it, as I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“YOU CAN COME IN NOW!”
“Maya, what are you doing?” Brett asked quietly, his voice laced with venom. Sounding like he wanted to murder me. Sounding like he wanted to kill. “Who are you calling inside?”
Brett’s jaw dropped in terror, as he watched fifteen armed cops break inside of his apartment, with their guns all pointed straight at him, all of them in position, ready to fire if he put a foot wrong.
“You're under arrest!” a cop screamed. “Armed police, don't fucking move!”
�
��You're a sick bastard, Brett,” I 589
breathed. “Enjoy spending the rest of your disgusting life in prison, you worthless, disgusting piece of fucking scum.”
The only thing that could be heard next…
Was Brett’s blood-curdling scream, as he finally became the next man to become victim to feeling his whole world come crashing down on him from millions of directions all at once.
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56
maya
One week later.
Me and Donte were at the beach, staring out at the sunset. Watching the day turn into night, taking in the beautiful view.
Giving ourselves some breathing space and some time together after all of the fucked-up shit that had happened in our 591
lives lately.
“It's a crazy world we live in,” I murmured. “The people we least expect can be really sick in the head, and we have no idea.”
“I know, baby,” Donte whispered.
“I know.”
He turned around to face me, taking my hands into his, his eyes burning into mine.
“But it's all over now,” he reassured me. “Your mother is alive, your boss is dead, Brett is behind bars, and me and you are back together. That's all that matters, baby girl.”
I let out a deep breath, my heart hammering against my chest.
“You're
right,”
I
admitted
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sheepishly.
“Come with me,” Donte smiled.
“There's somewhere I want to take you.”
“Okay,” I nodded, and then followed him out of the beach, wondering where else the night would take us.
Donte covered my eyes with his hands, so that I wouldn’t be able to peak as to where he was taking me.
“Where are you taking me?” I giggled, doing my best to keep myself upright in my high-heels.
“You'll see, baby girl,” Donte grinned.
Before I knew it, Donte removed his hands from my eyes. I let out a little 593
gasp as I took in my surroundings. He brought me to the same place we went to on our first date. The wall where we spray-painted a masterpiece.