Mr. CEO

by Willow Winters

  There's a buzz at the security system, and Darcy looks at me. “Ask, and you shall receive. Good luck.”

  Darcy hurries over to the fire escape and slips out, giving me a thumbs up and a smile as she does. Kneeling once she's out the window, she looks back. “I love you, Katrina. Goodbye.”

  There's a finality to it, and I nod, blowing her a kiss. “Goodbye, Darcy. I love you, too.”

  Darcy goes up instead of down, probably to take the second fire escape on the far side of the building, and I hurry over to the security system, where the monitor shows Jackson standing outside the building, looking at the buzzer. He's dressed differently than I've ever seen him, but the hair's the same, and my heart leaps in my chest. He hits the call button again, glancing between the slip of paper in his hand and the numbers on the box. “Hello? I was given this address. Can someone inside help me?”

  I look back over my shoulder, to the bathroom area of the loft where I have the last piece of my tests for Jackson and hit the door lock release. I watch just long enough to see that he's pulled the door open and is going to come up the three mini-flights of stairs before I turn and hit the circuit breaker that controls all the lights in the loft and run for the bathroom. The dim light still filtering in through the fire escape window gives me enough light, and I pull on the oversized cloak with padded shoulders and Mardi Gras mask with the built-in electronic voice changer, waiting.

  I don't have to wait long, Jackson reaches the door quickly and rings the bell. I come out of the bathroom, and flip the switch that unlocks the loft door, standing with my back against the fire escape, waiting.

  I'm surprised, my heart is nearly in my throat as the door opens, and I see Jackson standing there. “Hello?”

  “Enter, Jackson DeLaCoeur. You have come to the right place.”

  Chapter 29

  Jackson

  It was harder than I thought it would be, saying goodbye to Andrea, but in the end, there was no dramatic embrace or tears. Instead, she gives me a kiss on the cheek, and a smile. “E-mail me when you get a chance. I promise, I'll check it from time to time, although I don't know how often I can reply.”

  “Good luck, Andrea. I will,” I say, watching her climb into the cab. She actually slipped me another hundred bucks from her pile to pay for my cab, which is waiting for me behind hers. I watch her cab pull away, and I get into mine, where the driver is waiting relatively patiently, especially after seeing the Benjamin that Andrea gave me.

  “Hey man, that's one fine lady. Your girl?” the driver, a guy with a non-New Orleans accent, asks. He sounds like maybe he's from up north some, not all the way to 'Yankee land’, but maybe Arkansas or Tennessee.

  “No, she's my sister,” I say, my tone clearly showing I don't want conversation. “Federal City.”

  “You the boss. Mind if I play some music, since you don't sound like you up for talking?” the driver asks, putting his cab into gear. “Federal City's a hell of a drive from here.”

  “Go ahead,” I say, leaning back and closing my eyes. I'm not sleepy, but I still semi-doze as the cabby drives me to Federal City, lulled by the sound of the RnB. I come back to full awareness when he pulls over and turns around. “I'm good, I wasn't sleeping.”

  “All right man, but you need to give me more directions than Federal City. This is a pretty big place, you know what I mean?”

  “Yeah, go along General Meyer here a bit,” I say, recalling what I know about Federal City, “I need some clothes and stuff. Let's find a mini-mall or something, you can drop me there.”

  The cabby shrugs and we drive for about a mile before he finds a strip mall with a hardware store, a dollar store, and a pizza joint. Pulling over, the cabby looks at his meter. “That's forty-five dollars, my friend.”

  I pass him three twenties out of my wallet, keeping Andrea's hundred for later. “Keep the change, man. Thanks for the ride.”

  “Have yourself a good afternoon,” he says, and I get out of the cab, watching him pull out. I look down at the clothes I'm wearing and realize I need to get rid of it. The name brands, the custom tailored gear... that was the old Jackson DeLaCoeur. The new Jackson... he's not that sort of guy.

  My first stop is the hardware store, where I find a pair of carpenter's jeans that's way too baggy, but as I change in the bathroom, transferring my wallet and phone to them, I feel somewhat comforted. They remind me of jeans that Katrina would wear, the same sort of functional bagginess, even down to the fact that I cinch the waist tight with a friction buckle web belt. I chuck my pants in the dumpster outside, and toss my button-down shirt behind it, leaving me in just my tank top undershirt. Going down the mall's sidewalk, I stop in the dollar store and buy a two pack of plain black v-neck t-shirts which ironically costs seven dollars, strange for a place calling itself a dollar store, along with a cheap mesh backpack for ten bucks. I peel off my tank top and pull on one of my new t-shirts, but keep the shirt, tucking it into my backpack. I'm down to sixty dollars, and I don't care.

  Content that I won't be recognized as Jackson DeLaCoeur any longer if someone's looking for me, I take out the address from my wallet along with my phone, and do a quick GPS search. My phone still works at least, and I see that I'm about a half mile away, the address being next to the river, in a line of warehouses it looks like. As I walk, I feel myself walking faster and faster, hoping that whoever or whatever is there, maybe there’s a future for me.

  The building is like I expected, although it looks like the former warehouse has undergone some renovations since the BRACing of Federal City a few years ago. The main door's got a security system along with a line of mailboxes, like a lot of office buildings, or maybe artists’ flats. I hit the button for the second floor. “Hello?”

  There's no answer, and I start feeling panicked. What if Nathan was fucking with me? What if whoever gave him the address was fucking with him to fuck with me? I take a deep breath and hit the button again. “Hello? I was given this address. Can someone inside help me?”

  There's a click on the intercom and then the door buzzes, and I yank at the handle, pulling it open before whoever's inside can change their mind. I step inside and take a deep breath, looking up the narrow, steep staircase. It switches back before reaching the second floor, and I start up, my steps echoing off the painted concrete walls. Ten steps, and then a mini-landing, where I turn and go up another ten, and then another five to reach the landing for the second floor. There's a single steel door with a pane of security glass in it. The glass has been painted over though, clearly a leftover from the days of the building being used by the military.

  I see another intercom button and hit it, finding out that it's a buzzer as well. There's a click in the door and I try the handle, finding that it opens easily. Inside, the room is dark, and near the far wall, which has a window that looks like it leads to a fire escape and overlooks the river, is a tall, dark figure. “Hello?”

  “Enter, Jackson DeLaCoeur. You have come to the right place,” the figure says, and I can tell right away that whoever it is, they're using some sort of voice distorter, there's a clear electronic hum to their voice.

  “Who are you?” I ask, stepping in closer. It's so dark I can barely see anything, but there's enough light coming in that I can at least avoid running into anything. “I was given your address by... a friend.”

  “Nathan Black is a friend, is he?” the figure asks, circling around to the side. I circle with it, and as we move, the light from the window illuminates the person a little more. They're wearing a floor length robe, or maybe some type of cloak with a hood, the kind that looks like it's definitely straight out of a Halloween getup.They're also wearing a Mardi Gras mask, one of the type that covers your entire face and has painted decorations over the eyes, the type normally worn by women. But, if this person is a woman, she's a very tall woman, with shoulders bringing her up to definitely a man's size. “I didn't think Nathan had many friends.”

  “I don't know if he calls me a friend
, but it's a convenient word to use,” I reply, not getting rattled. Less than seven hours ago I kicked my father in the stomach and unleashed enough hell to put him in jail for life. Somebody using some parlor tricks and lighting to try and hide themselves isn't going to rattle me, even if it is confusing. “I trusted him enough to come here when he gave me this address, if that's a better definition.”

  “Better,” the figure says. “Have a seat. I have some questions.”

  I look behind me and see a couch, although it's not much. It's probably been sitting here since this was a military building, and I sit down, carefully avoiding the small coffee table in front of it. I see there's some stuff on the table, but the light's too dim now in the early evening to figure out what it is. “Okay, I'm sitting. What are your questions?”

  “First, are you going to use that gun?”

  I reach into the waistband of my jeans and take the pistol out and set it on the table. “I don't think I'm going to need that here. I assume Nathan told you I had it?”

  “He and I have talked. What brought you here?”

  The figure's question stops me, and I think for a moment before answering. “Hope, I guess. Hope that there is a future for me.”

  “You're Jackson DeLaCoeur. Even with your father in police custody, you should have plenty of money and the ability to get in with the right society people. What do you mean, hope for a future?”

  I laugh harshly and roll my eyes. “Money? I've got sixty-three dollars in my pocket, a cell phone that I might be able to hock for twenty bucks, and that's it. To hell with those society people with their connections. And to hell with any money I could scrounge from Peter DeLaCoeur. It's blood money. I can't spend it anymore.”

  “Who could? Hypothetically, who would be clean enough to spend it?”

  “Who?” I ask with a laugh, shaking my head. “Well, I can think of two people. Andrea, my half-sister, and she got herself a share before we left that place... and if she were alive, Katrina. She deserved the whole damn pile.”

  The figure nods, barely moving. “Tell me about Katrina Grammercy.”

  I sit back, shaking my head in disbelief. “Are you nuts?”

  “It’s important to your future,” the figure says, the voice emphatic even if it is distorted. “Tell me about Katrina Grammercy.”

  “What can I say? She was tall, deadly, smart... and so beautiful. I miss her so much. For six years as children, she was my best friend, and in just over a few weeks as adults, I realized she was the one for me.”

  “Do you love her?”

  I stop, and nod, looking down. I reach into the pocket of my jeans and take out the two stones that Andrea gave me, and set them on the table. “If I regret anything about the time I spent with Katrina, it's not that she died. It's not that I'm still living, because as long as I do, there's a part of her that won't die. My only regret... my only regrets are that I didn't have a chance to apologize to her for letting money come between us... and I regret not telling her that I love her. I’ll always love her. As we were leaving the plantation, Andrea gave me these two stones, saying that I should give them to someone special someday. I've carried them for the past seven hours in my pocket... and I don't want them anymore. Because the only woman I want to give them to is Katrina.”

  “How?”

  I look at the figure, who's stepped closer, kneeling down on the other side of the coffee table. “If I could, the diamond would be in her engagement ring... and the sapphire would be in a necklace that I'd give her on our wedding day. The blue is the same shade as her eyes were. So yeah, I guess your answer to your question is, yes. I love Katrina, even if she's gone.”

  The figure reaches for the chin of its mask, pushing it up, and my jaw comes unhinged, dropping into my chest.

  “I'm not gone,” Katrina says, pushing the mask off and the hood back. “I'm right here, Jackson. And I love you, too.”

  Chapter 30

  Kat

  At first, Jackson stares at me, and I can see the thoughts running through his head. The first thought is that he's gone insane, that he's hallucinating, that somehow, the stress and maybe a bit of dehydration have pushed him over the edge for a little while. Next, he thinks that this is some sort of trick, maybe someone in an elaborate makeup job.

  But then the truth comes through, and a complex brew of emotions boils inside him. “K... Katrina?” he stutters, and I nod, unzipping my cloak and pulling it off my shoulders. “But how?”

  “After our fight, I had to be sure,” I say, staying right where I am. It feels appropriate to be on my knees, penitent before him. “I had to make sure that I could complete my mission without you warning or trying to save your dad. Nathan helped me fake the shooting, and Andrea faked the text message from Peter.”

  Jackson sits back, hurt and angry, and I understand. “You didn't trust me enough to do it?”

  “When Nathan and Andrea approached me, no. I loved you, but I knew that you hadn't grown enough at that point. I had to make sure that I could take down Peter. If I didn't, he'd haunt us for the rest of our lives. Hell, I’d be haunted by dedicating so much of my life to it and not succeeding.”

  Jackson gets up, trying to control his emotions, and walks around the table, pacing back and forth in front of the window, wringing his hands. “You let Nathan and Andrea know—you obviously had their help in all of this—and you couldn't tell me? Was I just some pawn in your little game? Some puppet to be controlled, like the way Peter controlled other people?”

  I lower my head, his words stinging, piercing to my very heart. “Jackson... I'm sorry. To get a monster, I became a monster, and nothing was more monstrous than what I did to you. If it means anything, after Darcy and Andrea talked with me, I did put it all in your hands. That was no lie. You had full control of when to take down Peter. The only thing I did was edit the information released to make sure that it was as tightly focused on Peter as I could make it, to limit the collateral damage.”

  Jackson stops and turns, looking at me carefully. “Why?”

  “Because the first thing I thought of after Andrea woke me up was the look I saw on your face when the fake drive-by happened. Because I realized I'd made a mistake and rushed too quickly. I was too concerned about trying to get it done fast so that you and I could move on, and not doing it the right way. But it was too late. I couldn't take it back. I had to sit here, waiting for the whole thing to come to a head. I put you through hell, and all I could do was sit here and hope that you’d follow Nathan's paper. All I could do was hope that... that you're better than me.”

  I look down, resting my hands in my lap, ashamed to even look at Jackson any longer. What the hell was I thinking, setting up this elaborate scheme, and all to do what? Test his mental strength? What the hell is wrong with me? What was the purpose of this? I love him, and he loves me. Isn't that supposed to be more important than anything else?

  I'm still looking down when I see Jackson's shadow fall over me, and I don't move, closing my eyes instead. I deserve to have him walk out on me and never come back. Instead, I hear Jackson shift around, and I open my eyes to see him kneeling down in front of me and take my hands in his. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he says softly, squeezing my fingers. “You had every logical reason to doubt me, and it was only after the past weeks of living in your loft, living the way you have for ten years, that I really understood in my gut what you've put yourself through. You opened your heart to me, wanting me to show you that there's a future between us, and I took the most precious gift you could have given me, and I was worried about money, of all things. Can you forgive me?”

  I nod, looking up into his eyes. “I love you, Jackson.”

  Jackson lifts my chin with his fingers and we kiss, his lips a cool balm on the searing pain that's been eating away at my heart since Miami. He cups my cheek, and I wrap my arms around his waist, tears still flowing, but these tears are of happiness and relief, not of sadness.

  “I love you, Katr
ina,” Jackson whispers in my ear. “I want to be with you forever.”

  I nod and hug him. “I want that, too.”

  He hums and pulls me close. “Then let's get out of here. I have only two things on my mind right now.”

  “What's that?” I ask, laying my head on his chest, listening to the heartbeat that I've missed and the heartbeat that I want to build my future around.

  “One... I want to get some food. I haven't eaten today, and I'm going to need energy for later.”

  “Why?” I ask, giving him a smile, knowing exactly what he wants. It's what I want, and it's the right thing to do.

  Jackson notices me smile and returns his own. “I think you know exactly why. Let's just keep it cheap, okay? Like I said, I've only got sixty bucks.”

  “No you don't,” I inform him, getting to my feet and helping him up. “Andrea gave you a going away present. Besides the stones.”

  “Oh?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

  “A numbered account in the Bahamas. I checked it this afternoon... you've got three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.”

  Jackson considers it, then nods. “Okay then. I guess we can get extra cheese on the pizza.”

  Chapter 31

  Kat

  The bed is actually more comfortable than my old loft bed. It’s a simple queen-size mattress thrown on the floor, and as Jackson lies down next to me, he hums. “So is this what life in the underground is going to be like?”

  “Maybe,” I tell him, smiling. “But before we do this... I have to tell you something.”

  “What?” he asks, and I take his hand, placing it on my stomach.

  “Jackson, I'm pregnant. I took the test yesterday.” I'm a bit nervous saying this, but Jackson takes the news wonderfully, smiling. “You're happy?”