Vince knew why he did it, but he didn’t know how. And that scared him. If he could have a powerful woman killed in a jail without any trace of it happening, what else could he do? No, it wasn’t possible… was it? The only way he would know for sure is if he asked him. But he was afraid. He didn’t want to know the truth.
Arianna happily accepted Dutton’s offer. She would have to leave her mother again, but it was okay. At least she would see her mother while she was back in the states. They planned a road trip to Ohio to take Charlotte home, and see a few sights in between. But they couldn’t do that in DC, there were too many protesters still amassed at the mall and the white house.
Jordan planned the route out, made sure they all knew as much information about the sights they would see, and basically kept everything organized. Arianna drove since Vince’s shoulder was still injured. Jordan navigated from the passenger side, and that left Charlotte and Vince in the back seat together.
“You really love them, don’t you,” Charlotte said warmly. Vince nodded, and tore his attention from Jordan to meet Charlotte’s eyes. “Something’s bothering you, Vince.”
“Yes, but I have to handle it alone,” he answered. “And I can, I can handle it.”
“You’re jealous of Jordan and Ari.” Charlotte was nothing if not perceptive. Charlotte placed her hand on Vince’s. “He reminds her of her sister. But you don’t need to be jealous, you remind me of her. You are both matching pieces for her puzzle.” Vince tried to smile as he stared out the window.
When they arrived at Charlotte Becker’s house the trio realized they couldn’t all sleep in one room unless one of them slept in the floor. Arianna and Jasmine had shared a room with bunk beds, even until they were teenagers. Their small house only had two bedrooms.
Jordan offered to take the couch on the first night, and Vince would take it on the second. Bringing Charlotte home was not the only reason to come to Ohio. Arianna had left a job unfinished, and she refused to start a new job before finishing the last.
She put on her Florian Desjardins wig and clothes, and snuck out of the house on their first night in Canton. She’d done it enough times since she was 13. The only person who knew she was gone was Vince, she didn’t tell Jordan where she was going or why.
“Just be careful,” Vince warned as she climbed out of the first floor window.
“I will, I promise.” And then she was in her SUV and on her way to Martinsburg. She found his apartment easily enough, but she didn’t normally take care of them on the first night. She got to know their routines and approached them when they were comfortable.
But she didn’t have the time. She saw a light on, and she knocked on the door. He opened it and stared at the pretty blonde on the other side as if he’d won the lottery.
“Are you alone,” she asked innocently.
“My roommate is at his girlfriend’s apartment,” Robert Thompson said. He smelled of cigarettes, beer, and body odor. He was a light-skinned black man with no hair and sunken eyes. He was an addict, his skin was horrible and his teeth were worse. Probably meth, she thought as she took a step around him and entered his apartment.
He wasn’t hard, the easiest she’d done in a long time. She struck him in his sweet spot, right under his ear, as he walked toward the couch. The blow rarely left a bruise, and even if there was a bruise it wouldn’t be questioned by the coroner. He had several syringes lying around his apartment. She used one to plunge an air bubble into his vein. And then she knelt down beside him in his dirty floor and watched him die. She tried to rouse him long enough to look into his eyes as he expired, but he was too far gone. Good riddance, she thought as she left the apartment and returned to her mom’s house.
She crawled into Vince’s bed when she returned. She’d never had the chance to spend the night with someone after the hunt was over. But this time the adrenaline high didn’t go to waste. She shook his shoulder, still dressed like a teenager in her super short skirt and crop top.
He seemed bewildered, or bewitched, for several moments. He held her at arm’s length and inspected her, as if he’d never seen her before. She snickered as she bent to kiss his neck, right under his ear. “Don’t you want me,” she asked in her best drama-queen voice.
His dark eyes held shock, and desire. She straddled his naked body in the skirt, and just her panties separated their most sensitive areas. She rocked her hips, rubbing herself against his thick hard shaft.
His hands dove under the shirt that barely covered her breasts. He breathed faster as he watched her, using her body to seduce him. She’d been pliable in bed, but not aggressive. Now she seemed like a different woman, especially with the blonde hair and the violet contacts. He felt like he was cheating on Arianna with Florian, and in the back of his mind he liked it.
She didn’t wait for him to take control, and he didn’t know if she would have allowed in anyway. She moved her hand to his cock, and without removing her clothes she took him inside.
He felt that creeping fire inside him again, and he couldn’t breathe as if his heat burned up all the oxygen in the room. Her rock hard body rode his like a cowgirl on a bucking bronco.
He watched her performance as much as he felt it, fueled by her hormone high. She had no idea how amazing, how unbelievable, how incredible he found her. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t speak, he could only enjoy her.
She rode him harder and faster, trying to find her own orgasm. As she did, she brought him closer to his own edge. “Don’t you love me,” she asked naively. “Don’t you want to cum inside me?”
“Oh lord, Ari, you have no idea how much I want to,” he sighed as he shuddered, and lost every bit of himself inside her. She smiled as she took it, and found her own release as well.
“I love you,” Vince whispered.
“I love you too, Vincenzo Argento.” His lip quivered as she said it. His heart melted. He was completely hers.
Epilogue
Arianna slept late the next morning, as she had since she left jail. She felt free and loved. Her life couldn’t possibly be more perfect. She stretched and grinned at her family, and kissed all three on the cheek. “What’s for breakfast,” she wondered as she smiled at Vince.
“Breakfast was four hours ago, princess,” Vince growled. “We’re thinking about going out for lunch.”
Arianna pouted. She didn’t want to wait to eat, and she didn’t like Vince’s nickname. “Why do you call me that,” she whined like a spoiled child.
“Why did your mom give you a name that sounds like some cartoon princess?” Vince reciprocated. Charlotte chuckled as she took a sip of coffee.
Jordan knew something had changed between the two, he just wasn’t sure what. Arianna grasped her pinky with her thumb on one hand, and drummed her three fingers on the table. Jordan frowned and shook his head slightly. Vince coughed, and Arianna shrugged as she headed down the hall to shower.
Charlotte rolled her eyes as both men followed after her, Vince first, then Jordan several minutes later. She couldn’t say she was thrilled that her daughter would be travelling the world chasing criminals, but at least she had two men who would give their lives to keep her safe. Charlotte smiled as she returned to her room to dress. Thankfully it was on the other side of the house from Ari’s bedroom.
“What were you trying to tell me earlier,” Jordan asked as he joined Arianna and Vince in the bathroom. They cavorted in the shower, as they tended to do.
Arianna popped open the shower curtain and said in a smug voice, “Scratch number three off your list.”
Jordan’s eyes and mouth grew wide, forming huge O’s. He sat that way for several minutes, until Ari and Vince were finished with their shower. Ari wrapped herself in a towel, then led him to her bed. “What’s wrong, sweetheart, I thought you’d be glad it was over.”
“I am, I’m just...” He couldn’t finish. Finally the tears came, and they racked his body with loud, ugly sobs. She held him close and rubbed his hair and his neck. Someh
ow Vince climbed in the other side, and the three of them lay together in the twin bed. Ari and Vince were in the odd position of comforting their lover.
Vince’s attention remained on Arianna. Her hand moved to Jordan’s hair, and Vince’s covered it. He gave her an encouraging smile, and she kissed Jordan’s forehead.
He recovered relatively quickly, though, and he dried his tears and asked, “Are you going to get dressed so we can eat?”
Ari laughed and rolled out of the bed. “Sure, I’m starving.”
Vince and Ari both traipsed around the bedroom in states of undress, both stealing glances at the other. Jordan couldn’t believe how lucky he was, to have two strong, gorgeous people to love him and care for him. So why couldn’t he trust them? Why couldn’t he tell them what he had done? Arianna admitted to killing men, two of them she killed for no other reason than Jordan asked her to. So why couldn’t he admit it? Why couldn’t he admit that he had Margo Tremblay killed in her jail cell? It took planning, and money, but he did it. And no one would ever know it was him. He would be fine with that, he told himself. He would be fine, eventually.
They spent a week with Ari’s mother and promised to return to Ohio for the next holiday. Jordan would introduce Ari and Vince to his parents somehow as well, he agreed. But he needed time. Vince and Ari agreed to give him whatever he needed.
On the way back to DC Vince decided to drive as his shoulder felt much better. Ari was more than happy to allow it. She’d rather sit in the back and watch the scenery go by. It took Vince an hour to get up the nerve, but he finally spilled it. He couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Jordan, who killed Margo Tremblay?”
Jordan tried to remain cool, but he swallowed. And then, he said, “How am I supposed to know?” His voice was half a notch too high. He turned toward the window. He rubbed his hands against his jeans. He lied. He didn’t trust Ari and Vince enough to tell them the truth, and that hurt Vince more than the idea that he’d killed someone.
Vince wondered if, sometime out in the field, he and Ari would need Jordan and he wouldn’t be there. And he knew he’d never be able to do the job if he doubted Jordan. How could he trust Ari’s life with him? Vince looked up into the rear-view mirror. Ari didn’t seem to notice the tension between the two.
“I just thought you knew everything,” Vince chuckled. But the seed was already there… and he had no idea if it could ever be uprooted. He would just have to work twice as hard to keep Ari alive, Vince realized. And he would do it. There was no way he was losing Ari, ever. She was the only person he trusted completely. She was his other half. They were exactly alike. They were soul mates.
Table of Contents
This novel is in no way a justification for vigilantism, but a fantasy that started the same way my o...
The Executioner: A Love Story
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
The Executioner: A Love Story Page 21