“Are you okay?”
She exhales heavily before she twists to face me and responds, “Yeah, they don’t have anything. They’re reaching by asking me to come in today.” Her eyes plead with me for patience, and her voice begs me for compassion.
“How and what are they reaching for?”
“I guess now is as good a time as any for some answers.”
“Answers would have been nice before you were taken into police custody.” A bit of bitter sarcasm hangs from my words. This is bad, really fucking bad, and something tells me it’s about to get a whole lot worse once she gets honest.
“Take me to my place. There is something I need to show you.”
She doesn’t need to tell me twice, and when we are safely within her walls, I face her and demand, “Start talking, Rylan.”
She ignores my orders and moves through the house. I’m so close behind her that I swear, her heart beats against my ear. She stops in front of a door at the end of a hallway, unlocks it, and then pushes inside. My eyes scan the walls, and I’m speechless. You see this type of shit in movies, not in real life.
It’s black and white—literally.
The room is papered with newspaper clippings.
Not an inch of the painted walls shows through.
Rylan steps to the side, giving me room to venture further inside for a closer look.
Carter Andrews. Cortland Evans. Sebastian Rutherford. Abraham Montgomery. And Laurence Rawlings—Number One. Their lives are all enshrined here on Rylan’s walls—everything from business announcements to little league scores from years ago. There is a decade’s worth of following and stalking of my targets.
We haven’t discussed the identity of my last kill yet, but she obviously already has that information.
“What the hell is going on here?” I can’t hide the rise of panic fusing my words.
“I hired you, Callen. I’m the person you’ve been working for on this job.”
What. The. Fuck?
A beat of time passes, and then everything clicks into place. I met her at the club where Carter’s body was revealed. She was keeping tabs while I tailed Cortland in East Rock Park. She didn’t follow me to Sebastian’s out of curiosity; it was deliberate. She knew what would happen next.
“You were in the woods that night. The night I killed Cortland. You were following me before I caught you at Sebastian’s,” I voice my train of thought.
“I was. I’ve never experienced anything so perfect as when you came alive from taking the life of someone else. You broke him. He was gone under your hands long before he took his last breath.”
“Why? Why did you hire me?”
Rylan turns to the far wall and stares at more newspaper clippings. “Those men weren’t good people. They needed to pay for the people they’d hurt.”
“These men hurt you?”
“These men had no idea how much they’d hurt me, nor did they care about how much they’d altered my life. They thought they’d gotten away with it. Hell, they did get away with it.”
I move to stand behind her and glance over the clippings neatly displayed on the wall she’s focused on. These articles are different. There is no mention of any of the five men I’ve been hired to take out. There is a different subject on this wall.
Rylan picks up a notebook and hugs it to her chest.
“Rylan, who is Aria Martin?”
“She’s my best friend. She came here to go to school at Yale, and those men took her from me.”
“She’s the missing girl everyone was talking about this morning.”
“She is.”
“And then you hired me.”
“I did, and I’m not sorry either. Seeing Carter falling from the ceiling in the club cemented the fact that I had made the right choice.”
“I need more.” I need so many more answers. “I’m not cheap to hire. How did you even have the money to contract five kills?” It’s not the most pressing question, but it’s the first one to come out of my mouth.
“Apparently, my dad had some money put away that wouldn’t be mine until my college graduation. After the lawyer contacted me and the money showed up in my account, a plan formed and I couldn’t get it out of my head. A few years later, I heard rumors about your work in Florida with the guys who own that business that sells the stolen crap. The one guy’s sister, Teagan, she helped me track you down. She and I went to high school together. I didn’t give her any details, but I told her I needed you for a job.”
“Why did you let this happen?” I gesture between our two bodies, really needing to know if she orchestrated this, too.
“Just seeing the aftermath of their deaths wouldn’t be enough to make the anger inside me go away. When I met you in person, I knew I was missing the real show. I had to see you in action. I followed you, watched you hunt, saw you torment Cortland. I can’t explain the gratifying emotion that overwhelmed me in those woods that night when he begged you for mercy that you wouldn’t give him.”
“You knew who I was the night I kissed you the first time at the club?”
“I knew exactly who you were. I couldn’t resist being touched by the man who was killing those who had hurt Aria.”
“Is that what this is between us? Is that all this is—your compulsion to be closer to your vendetta?”
“Callen, no. Maybe that was the initial attraction, but there shouldn’t be any doubt in your mind what this has become. It’s not like you had pure intentions that night you saw me with Tatum. Neither of us expected this to take us here. I wanted the man killing the men who had hurt Aria, and you wanted the woman who wore her sexuality like a badge of honor. But that’s not who either of us are anymore. You aren’t the same man who wanted what you saw when you first met me, and I’m not the woman who wanted you for only what I saw. Together, we aren’t those same people.”
She’s right.
I hate to ask, but the doubt is there. “Rylan, how can you be sure these men hurt Aria? They had alibis.”
“I’m positive it was them. She had been telling me for weeks about the group of entitled guys who were giving her a hard time. She was the one who told me their names. Aria and I were on the phone when they approached her the night she went missing. It was my statement that pointed the police their way, but somehow, they managed to get out of this. Even Aria’s dorm mate knew it was them, but she changed her original statement a few hours after she was first questioned by the detectives. Obviously, either Margaret Elena Franklin was bought off, or she decided she couldn’t speak out against the other socialite families she had been raised with.”
“The woman from the hotel?”
“The one and the same. For whatever reason, she helped those guys cover up what they had done.” She shakes her head and balls her hands into fists. “The cops picked me up because the murders started shortly after I came to town. It looks suspicious since I am the best friend of the girl who went missing.”
The front door slams, and both Rylan and I spin. She stands behind me, and I pull out my gun. Footsteps race toward us, and I click the safety on my weapon just as someone comes skidding to a halt in the open doorway.
Recognition.
The bright colors catch my sight first.
The fucking strange headband gives away her identity next.
Tatum throws her empty hands into the air and backs away until she’s flush against the wall behind her. “Don’t shoot!”
All of us stand frozen in one hell of an awkward predicament.
Rylan
“Put the gun down, Callen! Now!” I demand.
Callen shifts and flicks his eyes at the walls covered in newspaper clippings. Without words, he asks if Tatum knows what I’ve been up to. I answer by rigidly shaking my head.
“Callen. Gun. Now.” I once again attempt to get him to take his aim off my friend.
Tatum just stands frozen with her hands still high.
Callen ignores me and takes a step forward. “Why
are you here?”
Her response is stuttered, “Th-they t-t-took Rylan. I w-w-wanted to m-m-make sure she w-was okay.” She takes a deep breath. “I saw your truck in the driveway. Please don’t hurt us.”
“Sit on your hands on the floor.” He directs Tatum and then turns to me. “Don’t hurt us?” He shakes his head dismissively. “I’m really not surprised you kept your secrets from Tatum, too.”
Tatum nervously follows his orders and gets down on the ground.
“I didn’t come here to make friends or to…” Find whatever it is I’ve found with Callen. “Everything just sort of happened,” I try to explain it to them, but it doesn’t seem like enough.
“Nothing just sort of happens with you, Rylan. Everything you do is deliberate.”
“Tatum can’t get hurt because of this. She isn’t part of anything we’re mixed up in.” I steel my voice and straighten my shoulders.
Tatum’s safety is nonnegotiable for me. Callen laughs, but it’s dark and heavy and full of incredulity.
“She is already involved, Rylan. I’m certain, in just the few minutes she’s been inside your room of crazy, she’s been piecing things together. I won’t go down for this, Rylan. I won’t let this bullshit ruin everything I’ve built. Did you think this through at all before you put things into motion?”
“At first, the only thing that was important to me was getting the people who hurt Aria.”
“What about now? Do you care now about what happens to you? What about me? Do you care what happens to me? Or even Tatum, do you care what you’ve dragged her into?”
My eyes connect with Tatum’s. Tears fall freely down her terrified face. For the first time, she sees me for who I am. A monster.
I’m a terrible person who, only a short time ago, couldn’t see past my own vendettas. No one and nothing mattered, except my revenge. I didn’t have anyone or anything that I cared about.
I do now.
I break eye contact with Tatum and look toward Callen. “I care. You know I do. I care about you and Tatum, and I care about what happens to me. When I hired you, I was in a different place. I’m sorry.” I can’t look at Tatum when I direct my next words to her. “I’m so sorry, Tatum. I’m sorry for not being a better friend, for lying, and for getting you mixed up in all this.” I close my eyes and come to terms with the only solution. “I’ll take the heat. I’ll turn myself in. Callen, you can skip town, and Tatum can have her life back.”
Tatum’s tiny voice breaks through the hostility in the room. “No one is turning anyone in. Not me and not you. Your heart is good, Rylan. If you did what I think you did, then you must have thought it was your only option. I told you I would have your back, no matter what, and that still stands.”
Silence follows her declaration.
Each of us glances back and forth at one another. All of my secrets are out in the open, and neither holds it against me, and to be honest, neither one of them even really seemed that surprised by my involvement. I’m not sure what that says about me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had people around me who just accepted me for me.
“That’s a lot of trust to give one person. Our lives would literally be in Tatum’s hands.”
“Rylan is my first real friend, maybe ever. She’s been through a lot. I don’t believe that two wrongs make a right, but I am a believer that you need to stick by the people that mean something to you. Rylan has my loyalty, no matter what. You can have trust in that.”
If I was emotional a few minutes ago, then I’m damn near close to tears by the time she’s done talking.
“Callen, can you give me a minute with her?”
He looks reluctant. “I’ll be right outside this room.”
He leaves, and I’m alone with Tatum.
“You and Callen have been killing these men?” Her words are free of judgment but edged with nervousness.
I don’t blame her one bit.
“Technically, Callen has done all the killing, but I’m just as guilty, probably more so,” I answer truthfully. “I hired Callen before I even moved to Maplefield. I came here with clear intentions. Callen didn’t know I was the person who hired him until today.”
“So, you knew who he was the first time you saw him?”
“I did.”
“And Aria is the girl that went missing. Isn’t she? She’s dead? That’s why it’s so hard for you to talk about why she isn’t in your life anymore.”
“She is.”
I don’t think I ever really dealt with the truth that she’s gone, though. Some days, it’s like the letters I scribble to her are more than just words on a page. Some days, I imagine a normal two-way conversation with my best friend, but more recently, her side of the conversation has seemed a lot quieter. Her voice isn’t as loud as it used to be.
“These men, the ones you hired Callen to kill, they killed her? You’re certain?” she asks me the same thing that Callen did.
I straighten my shoulders, giving her the same answer I gave him, “I’m positive.”
“I’m sorry, Rylan.” Her apology is full of sincerity as she takes my hand in hers.
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
“I’m sorry they took her from you, that they took her from her life.”
“Me, too.” I am so fucking sorry about that.
Callen comes back into the room, and thankfully, his gun is nowhere to be seen. I’m positive he isn’t happy about Tatum knowing our secrets, but I’m confident that he’ll trust my judgment. Tatum isn’t a threat to us. She’ll take my secrets to her grave.
“Are we good?” Callen asks as he takes over the room.
“We’re good,” I respond.
Tatum stirs, once again restless with him back in the room.
Callen’s gaze is fixed on Tatum when he delivers cut-and-dried words. “I’m going to be blunt. I’m not happy about this. I won’t hesitate to fix any problem, by any means necessary, that jeopardizes my freedom and business. Are we clear?”
“We’re clear,” Tatum declares as she stands.
“Good. I think it’s best if you leave. Rylan and I need to figure out how to clean up the mess she’s gotten us into. I’ll check in on you to make sure you’re holding up your promises, though. Be sure of that.”
Tatum nods, and I silently walk her out. What can I really say?
I’m just glad I didn’t have to admit to her how much I love this part of my life. She knows the truth, but she doesn’t need all the details. I want to shield her from the sick things I take pleasure in with Callen. Pledging to stand by my side through the truths that she already knows is enough. The rest would be too much. She’d see that this has become about more than revenge. It’s become something I crave. I need the flood of euphoria that I can only find in the taking of a life, and it isn’t just about justice for Aria.
It’s more for me than it actually is for her.
Our good-bye is a bit awkward, but that’s to be expected though, right? She had a bomb delivered in her lap today, and we’ve asked her to sweep all the trash from the explosion under a rug. I’ve asked a lot of her.
“Are you going to finish the job?” I ask as soon as I’m back in front of Callen.
He turns, and wrinkles of frustration line his face. “I am. I’ve never let a job go unfinished, and I’m not going to start now. It will take some planning and perfect execution, though, and we’ll need a fall guy. Eyes are on you, and it won’t be long before they figure out exactly what’s been going on. You hired me, Rylan. You’re going to have to let me take control of this.”
“I can do that, but I have one request.”
“What’s that?” He runs his hand through his hair and pushes out a long-winded exhale.
“I pick the fall guy,” I state with determination.
“Who did you have in mind?”
“A certain elementary school principal who helped these guys get away with killing Aria.”
She’s perfect. She also has a
connection to the past. We could easily set her up for our crimes and make it look believable. Plus, it’s one more check mark on my list of revenge. Margaret Elena Franklin will never attain the high expectations her family has set up for her, not if I have any say in it. She’ll rot in prison for my crimes because her silence helped my targets get away with theirs. There is no low I wouldn’t sink to in order to punish the people who took Aria from me and also keep the new people in my life safe from my sabotaging behavior.
“You have yourself a deal.”
Callen
The soles of my shoes hit pavement, and a tingly numbness long ago took over my legs. Sweat clings to the back of my shirt while I continue my path to nowhere. The bright stars in the sky light up the night around me, and the moon hangs overhead. I came home from Rylan’s house a few hours ago, and I’ve been walking ever since, trying to clear my head. Trying to figure out why the fuck I didn’t kill both Rylan and Tatum on the spot and skip town minutes later.
I know the answer, but I’m trying to use logic to ignore it.
I’m working a job. Clients confide in people close to them all the time, probably more so than I know. I need to clean up this mess anyway, so authorities can’t trace anything back to me through Rylan. I always finish a contract. I’ve never come close to being caught. This is what I do. This is who I am. I’ll kill Number One. I’ll make sure the trail of evidence points to someone else. Then, I’ll get the hell out of here.
Bullshit! Every bit of that rationale is complete delusion. I’m making pussy excuses.
The reason I’m still here, the reason I’m continuing forward with this job, the reason both those girls are still breathing is because of Rylan. I care for her. I’ve fallen hard. I think I’d do just about anything she asked of me. It isn’t about the money or the job. It has everything to do with the girl.
What I’m doing isn’t smart. I’m playing with fire.
It won’t stop me. I’m going to forge ahead.
It took me three hours, many miles, and every muscle in my body to ache before I reached that conclusion. The obvious resolution. I will do this for the girl who captured my attention in a sordid club regardless of the consequences. The one who hired me to do what I do best. And the one who gets the vicious side of me like no one else could.
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