Devil's Pawn

by SE Chardou

  I felt my face involuntarily flush and knew I was beet-red from the neck up. “Yeah, the story of my pathetic fucking life. I always have to do everything ass-backwards. Not that I have any regrets about what’s happened. It’s one of the most useless emotions to dwell over—”

  “As is self-pity.” Rose took a step away from me before she grabbed me by my shoulders. “You didn’t do anything wrong in Miami. That bitch should have died a lot sooner than she did. You avenged your parents’ horrific murder. Her being your fiancé’s mother means nothing. You got that?”

  I nodded as I smiled at her. “Thank you for everything. Sometimes I believe you are the mother figure I never had.”

  “What is this ‘belief’ crap? I am the mother figure you never had and you know you can tell me anything. I’m not here to pass judgment or tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. However, I am very similar to a priest. You tell me your darkest secrets and they will die with me. Nothing we discuss will ever be shared with Angelo or anyone else. You deserve to trust at least person in this dark, cold world we inhabit. Otherwise you might just go insane and neither Angelo nor I want that. You understand, sweetheart?”

  I kissed her right cheek chastely. “You’re too good to me.”

  Rose shook her head in response. “Nonsense. There is no such thing. Take care of yourself and enjoy that man of yours tonight. Love him right and he will forgive anything you’ve ever done against him, understand? Nothing takes a man’s mind off work like great lovemaking.”

  “Well I could use some sexual healing myself,” I responded as we walked to the front door. “It’s been almost a week and that’s way too much time to pass without sex.”

  “Remember, call me if anything goes wrong or you just need a friendly ear? Will you promise me that? Don’t fall into a pit of despair. That cunt doesn’t deserve any tears shed by you—do you understand that? She tried to take my husband and when her plan failed, she stole his sister from him. What she did was completely unforgivable, understood?”

  “I know that in my mind but I’m trying to convince my heart of that reasoning. It’s hell right now but I won’t feel this way forever.”

  Rose pressed her lips to my forehead. “There’s the fighter I know and love. Take care of yourself.”

  I waited until Rose left before I leaned against the double doors and allowed the tears to fall from my eyes. I wasn’t crying because I’d murdered Mila but I didn’t want to see the pain Max would be in when he found out.

  We knew what kind of business we were in but that didn’t mean we didn’t have emotions. If he didn’t care about his mother, he could have ended her when we’d been in Miami together. Instead the bitch had shot me with a rubber bullet and I’d barely gotten out of her estate alive.

  My life had been at stake and he still hadn’t put a bullet in her brain. There was no way he would be able to let her death go without emotion. I covered my face with my hands as I slowly slid down to the floor and sobbed silently.

  Max would probably understand why I did what needed to be done and maybe he wouldn’t hate me but he’d never look at me quite the same way again. Perhaps he’d worry if I could callously kill his mother then what were the chances I could stab him in the back too?

  Not that it’d ever happen.

  I knew the role he played in my abduction and the cover up yet I still fell in love with him. I couldn’t ever harm him and live with myself. It wasn’t in my DNA. Finding him was the only good part that had come from my parents’ premature death. Why should I self-destruct our relationship over what I’d done in Miami? I did what needed to be done.

  Isn’t that what a partnership entailed? We supported one another when the other was too weak-willed to do something. I’d done the unthinkable so he wouldn’t have the horrible sin of matricide on his conscience. I’d taken out the rotten trash and here I was on the floor, sobbing about how it might have cost me my relationship.

  “Not if I don’t tell him,” I whispered to myself as I viciously scrubbed the tears from my face with the palms of my hands.

  I stood up shakily from the floor and walked past the formal sitting room and up the stairs to the second floor. The place was huge, almost five thousand square feet with four bedrooms including the master suite and a junior master suite. There were five full baths, including his and her bathrooms in the master bedroom; a bathroom in the junior master bedroom and a shared bathroom between the third and fourth bedrooms. There was also a full bathroom downstairs.

  It was way too much house for two people but apparently, neither Angelo nor Rose thought Max and I would be alone for too long. They both hinted around in a not-so-very subtle way they were ready for us to join the league of parenthood though I knew for sure I couldn’t handle motherhood at the moment. It had been a blessing in disguise I hadn’t become pregnant but I would have to go to the gynecologist to make sure there weren’t any mistakes in the near future. There was still too much Max and I needed accomplish in our professional lives before we were ready for children.

  I was far from provincial but I did want a hand in raising my own kids. I didn’t want them passed off from nanny to nanny indefinitely. If I couldn’t participate in their upbringing then what was the point? This was the reason why the only child I had in the world—progeny, which resulted from a long-standing affair with Edward “Kink” Gillespie and me—wasn’t in my possession.

  My son had a mother and father who loved him more than anyone in the world and were happy to have him. Those were the people who deserved children, not selfish individuals who popped them out like a cat having kittens because they wanted to leave their mark on the world.

  After I’d changed out of the casual outfit of yoga pants and a matching cotton jacket, I started the shower, and walked inside the steady stream of hot water.

  Sadly, that feeling, which had started in Miami, refused to leave me. I always felt like I was trying to scrub my soul clean. I washed my body with a loofah sponge from head to toe, the sweet yet seductive scent of Victoria’s Secret’s Passion Struck filling my nostrils along with every corner of the bathroom. By the time I cut off the shower, the whole bathroom felt like a steam room. I wrapped a terry cloth robe around my body and pulled my hair up into a bun so I could sit down and moisturize without my long strands getting into the way.

  This reminded me about how I’d wanted to cut my hair since it had grown much too long for my comfort but Max loved my hair as much as he loved the rest of me. Part of me knew that was the only reason why I hadn’t bothered to trim it.

  I’d barely finished putting on lotion and slipping into a pair of lounge pants and matching tank top when I heard the front door open and close. This was followed by the deep masculine voice of Max and my heart melted. I had no idea how much I missed that voice, his face, his scent and his body until he was no longer around.

  Vincent—aka Shadow—was a great guy and someone I would trust with my life but I never worked in tandem with anyone the way I did with Max. He was yang to my yin. We complemented each other in a way that few people could understand unless they happened to be a hired assassin.

  The double doors to our suite opened as I stood from the bed and walked into our very own private sitting room. Max stood there, and he looked sexy, gorgeous and incredibly inviting. How could I forget his creamy skin, perfect features, lips most men would kill for and those killer blue-green eyes? They swept me under their spell like no other feature on his body—except maybe his lovely and perfect cock—and set a fire in my loins I almost forgot I was capable of feeling.

  “Baby, I missed you so much.” I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his neck, inhaling his scent before my lips pressed against his.

  “I missed you too,” I finally replied once we both came up for air. “How was Vegas? Did you get everything taken care of?”

  Max shook his head slowly. “Nope. I am not going to ruin our first night together talking about business. We can discuss
that after I ravish your beautiful body. Nothing comes between me and you tonight, you got that?”

  I nodded my head as I smiled beguilingly. “Believe me, honey, we’re on the same page where that is concerned. I expect you to ravish me any and every way you want to before the night is through. I have missed everything about you . . . and I do mean everything.”

  His hands cupped my face as he stared deeply into my eyes. “Goddamn, you are so fucking beautiful. How could I have forgotten that about you?”

  I laughed out loud before kissing him fully on the mouth, and then pulled away in a teasing manner. “You’re not so bad yourself. Or should I really stroke your ego and tell you you’re a sight for sore eyes? I didn’t realize how much I would miss being around you until you were no longer there. I felt vulnerable and afraid: two emotions I’m certainly not used to.” I sighed and ran my hands through his silky dark hair. “I’m glad you’re home but I think I should have a talk with Angelo. I would prefer the two of us to work together as opposed to apart.”

  Max kissed my forehead as we separated and walked over to the loveseat. He sat down and I stretched out beside him, nestling my head in his lap.

  “There was nothing you could have done in Vegas. It was tedious and I’m glad you were back in New Orleans arranging to have our stuff brought here. No such talk is needed with Angelo and Raymond—they understand we’re a team but they needed me by myself for what went down in Sin City,” he explained as his fingers pulled the scrunchie from my hair and allowed it to fall freely around my face.

  “Speaking of . . . what went down there?” I clicked my tongue. “Shit. I forgot. We aren’t going to talk about work.”

  He nodded while a mischievous grin lit up his face. “What did you do in New Orleans once I was gone?”

  All the sudden, I felt like the one who had something to hide. The flush from my cheeks spread and I tried to cover it up by turning away from those penetrating aquamarine eyes. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

  “Don’t think you get to change the subject that easily towards sex. Answer the question, Mags.” His voice had a slight edge to it as he becomes serious.

  My eyes wandered back to his face as the thought of my actions replayed over in my mind.

  Ha! If you only knew. I wasn’t in New Orleans but Miami disposing of toxic waste previously known as Mila Koslakova, your mother. It was decadent, enjoyable and way too much fun. So much exhilaration flowed throw my veins, it was like a sudden rush of blood to the head. I felt oh-so-naughty for what I did but killing her slowly felt so satisfying. In fact, afterwards, I hated a part of myself because I know it will break you in two when you find out she’s dead.

  Of course I didn’t say any of that to Max. I merely continued to stare at him, my features tightened to the point where I felt like I was living out my own personal agony. His face changed to show sudden concern but I schooled myself and thought about how the whole point of our conversation was to basically rid myself of a guilty conscience. If I couldn’t get away with murder facing my fiancé then how the hell would I ever conduct a police interview if asked? He was the first—and only person—I had to convince of my innocence.

  “Well, I explored a bit. I ate dinner on Bourbon Street and helped supervise the packing up of our apartment. It was quite mundane and boring to be honest. I missed you so much and then when I flew here, well, the pain of not having you around was palpable. This big, empty fucking house is full of possessions—old and new—and yet, none of them mean a damn thing because you were nowhere to be found,” I explained in all honesty.

  Tears had formed in my eyes but I willed them not to fall. I refused to feel guilty about what I’d truly done. Time to get my story straight to the point where I knew it front to back and back to front. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, not with Max. He knew me too well.

  And more than knowing me, we were both assassins for hire.

  He would be able to smell a fresh kill on me like a shark could sense the scent of blood in the sea. If I wasn’t careful enough, I would give myself away without even trying too hard.

  My heart thundered in my chest as a dubious look crossed his handsome features and I wondered if he could smell the lie. Could he see it in my eyes the way detectives could pinpoint a guilty suspect?

  Before I could give it too much thought, the double doors swung open and a feminine voice inquired, “Mmm, aren’t you two cozy?”

  I turned and came face to face with a woman who could be Mila Koslakova’s doppelganger if she were only three and a half decades younger.

  “Yeah . . . I meant to get around to mentioning my sister is going to stay with us for a while,” Max began in a commanding voice. “She’s emancipated from both our parents and since my mother is indisposed at the moment and her father is a psychotic bastard bent on revenge, I thought this was the safest place for her to be. I hope you agree.”

  I finally faced him again before I sat down next to him. “Of course. This is our home and it’s too big for just the two of us. It would be lovely to have her here.”

  He stood and walked over to where his sister stood. “I’m going to show Karina to her room. I won’t be gone long.”

  “Take your time,” I replied. “She’s free to use the junior master bedroom. It gives her all the privacy she needs.”

  “She is right here—please don’t talk about me like I’m not standing in front of you.” Karina’s ice blue eyes looked me up and down with a mixture of curiosity and seething jealousy.

  “I’m sorry.” I stood and pulled my hair back away from face. “It’s been a long day for me and I don’t feel quite like myself. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

  “No harm, no foul. Just don’t treat me like an idiot because I’m sixteen. I’ve seen my fair share of the world’s cruelty. I’m not some sheltered Bratva princess you know. If I were a true woman, I would hunt down my father and put a bullet in his brain. For all the money and possessions he lavished on Mother and me, they meant nothing when he wasn’t ever there.”

  I continued to stare at this young, embittered woman and I could have been looking in the mirror of my own past.

  She was damaged goods and no stranger to suffering and humiliation. In fact, she was like a wounded animal and everyone knew they would attack if cornered. She might have been able to pull the wool over Max’s eyes but I recognized my kind when I saw it.

  If we weren’t careful, there would be a third assassin in this home of ours before long.

  And God knew I had no intention of being her first target. However, if she discovered what I’d done to Mila, there was no doubt in my mind I would be her first kill.

  That shit was enough to scare me straight because frankly, I had little to worry about when it came to Max. Unfortunately with Karina, I had everything in the world to be concerned about, and walking on eggshells in my home was the least of my fears.

  Chapter Six

  Max

  “What’s up with your fiancée? She looked like she just saw a ghost.”

  Max stared at his sister after he showed her around her new suite and shrugged apathetically. “No idea—I’ve been gone the last week, remember? I don’t know what’s wrong with Mags but I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  “You said she was in New Orleans, right? The look she gave me when she saw me—that was the fright of someone who knows they’ve done something very naughty. Are you sure she was there? Who was with her if everyone was in Vegas?”

  He sat on the bed next to Karina. “Angelo had a man with her—one of his most loyal and trusted soldiers—”

  “You sure she didn’t fuck said loyal and trusted soldier? The look on her face is one of guilt . . . you should know that better than anyone. I may not know how to shoot a gun worth a damn but I did inherit my father’s bullshit detector. You’re too close to her so you can’t even see it but that woman has secrets and you, brother dear, don’t know the half of them.”

  “What makes y
ou such a fucking expert?” He looked toward the deep brick red painted walls, his jaw flexing involuntarily.

  “How much do you know about her, Max? Have you hired a private investigator?”

  “I don’t need one, Karina. I was with her the whole time. There is absolutely nothing about her life that is a mystery to me.”

  She smirked. “So, you also followed her on jobs and knew who she was fucking? If you were so smart, why did it take you so long to find out she carried on an affair with your twin brother?”

  Max’s blue-green eyes coldly glanced at his sister. “And how would you know anything about that?”

  Karina stood and walked toward the window before she opened the wooden Venetian blinds. The view of Lake Tahoe during the day would be awe-inspiring but at night, the water looked inky black below a dark sky with a bright full moon.

  “I’m talking to you! Answer me, goddamn it.”

  “Listen, I can hack into other people’s shit. Of course you let me use your MacBook Air on the plane so I didn’t have to hack anything—the files are still on your desktop. It’s not the best place to leave sensitive material but I needed something worth reading—I was bored. However, I must admit everything I read was very entertaining indeed. Better than a romance novel any day.

  “I perused through all the reports you had your homo lover do on her. Never knew you swung both ways but then again, that’s your business, not mine. It must jazz up your sex life though,” Karina explained as if she were talking about the weather.

  “It’s not any of your concern. Remember, you’re a guest in this house. No matter how much you don’t like Mags, you’ll still respect her. Think what ever you want about her but you have no idea what she’s been through. Her life has hardly been a bed of roses.”

  She shrugged carelessly. “What makes you think I don’t like her?”

  “It’s pretty obvious you don’t.”

  “Fine, I don’t like her but I will tolerate her because I have little choice in the matter. Besides, who has an easy life, Max? You don’t know shit about me either. I recognize the hardness in your fiancée’s eyes. She’s a lot stronger than you give her credit for—I highly doubt you believe that bullshit story she fed you about being in New Orleans while you were gone.”