by Tara Brown
He shook his head, "There is no going back."
A slow smile crossed my lips, "That ship's sailed, my friend. I'm in it to win it, and thanks to James, I'm balls deep already."
He winced, "That’s a disturbing image."
My smile widened, "I need you to promise me, you are on my side or at least the side of good."
His green eyes were alive with something I told myself was love, "I have always been on the side of good, Evie."
I noticed that he didn’t say my side. It made my chest feel like it weighed a ton but I nodded, "Okay, let's do this."
When the elevator landed, he grabbed my arm a bit harshly and pulled me through the lobby to the waiting car. The driver opened the door, hardly giving me a look. I didn’t know him.
Servario shoved me into the seat and sat next to me. I looked out over the city as it was blanketed in the fading light of the fall sun and tried not to throw up. Servario's body pressed against mine making me shiver.
None of us spoke. Not me, not Servario, and not the guard or driver. The drive was smooth and silent. The driver struck me as an actual professional, not a Steve.
The people of Rome were oblivious to the bad things going on in their city. They smiled as they walked along the streets gracefully or rode their bikes. They looked like the images from a famous photographer I had once seen in a coffee-table book. People of every shape and size just going about life in a harmonious state of oblivion.
All the while they walked in the crisp air of fall, I rode to the possible death of myself and the man next to me. The man who owned my body and soul.
I looked out over the city and smiled; I had come to terms with something and it was a relief to have the outspokenness of it off of my chest.
I loved him. It was final. There was no disputing my feelings for him. My fear of him would never be as large as my love for him. But my love was never going to be enough to save him from the life he had chosen.
The love of him was not the thing that had weighed upon my chest. No. It was the fact we would never be together. That was what I had refused to say out loud. I had refused to acknowledge. But in his arms, wrapped in sheets and blankets and his body, we admitted it. In a random hotel, in an ancient city where my love would not be the first to perish before it even started, we admitted it.
We would never be together.
Once it was spoken aloud, I felt the relief of the agony. I felt free of him in a way that I never wanted. My heart was broken, but it was the cost of everything else.
The driver stopped in front of what I had to assume was the ruins of Caesar's Curia. Servario got out of the car abruptly, dragging me with him. He didn’t put on a show. His anger and pain were real. He had begged me to run and I had refused. Coop was right, fighting was the only real way to end it. No, Servario's hatred of me was real. He hated how much he loved me, it made the thin line between the love and hate blur for him. He could hate me, he could hate the fate we faced. But I still only loved him.
As we stormed up to the Curia, I tripped but his hand didn’t relent. He squeezed my arm, dragging me through the ruins and the shadows. I wondered how many people had been dragged through such an ancient area. How many people had lost their lives in that place.
When I saw him through the doorway, my stomach clenched. When his eyes met mine, James started to laugh instantly. "You are so predictable, Evie. You always were. I knew you would find your way to Rome to help poor Servario. When I saw Luce at the Casino, I never imagined I could get that lucky. You not only come back to Rome, but you bring someone I know." He laughed at his own brilliance. He was like a showy peacock. He strutted about shaking his head and chuckling. It was sickening to see him so satisfied with himself. His eyes landed on me again, "I couldn’t believe when I got the call from the front desk of the hotel that the beautiful girl I was looking for was staying there." He pointed at Servario, "It's lucky you got Evie here strung out on you so she endangered her friends and came looking for you. I got to pay lovely Luce back for something that I have wanted to for a while."
I snarled but something happened we hadn’t planned on, Servario struck me, hard. Instantly my mouth filled with blood. He dropped me to the stone floor as the door behind me closed. The light was dim, making shadows everywhere around me. I started to panic. We had talked about that happening, but I was still scared.
James dropped to his knee with the help of his cane. He grabbed my face in his hands, squeezing my cheeks, "You always were so easily led. Easily convinced to quit CI for the sake of our kids. Easily convinced to move to an area we couldn’t afford so I had to take all the overtime I could. So easy to lead about." His eyes were haunting and his smile was a cruel thin line. He was not the man I had married. I almost had no feelings, not even hatred for him. He was so detached and unfeeling. I thought about my kids and my father and forced my rage.
I smiled through his grip on my face, "What did you expect, James? A decade of your tiny cock? Of course I would jump at the first chance to be properly fucked."
His grip tightened as he shoved my face back, "Back at you, baby."
I laughed, spitting blood to the cold floor. I imagined it was not the first time the ancient stone tiles had seen blood spilled upon them.
He stepped backward, limping and giving Servario a nod, "I never imagined for a second, you were really the cold bastard they always said you were. I always believed there was a small amount of something good inside of you. The way you freed those girls last year had me worried."
Servario shook his head, "I like to be that unknown variable. Now you have her, give me what I want."
James put his hand in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he handed a phone to Servario. The way he grabbed it made me uneasy. He was desperate for it. Whatever the information was on the phone, he wanted it more than anything. He sighed, seeing whatever was on the screen. He put a hand out for James, "I had better not see my name brought into anything else again, my friend. You name me as part of the Burrow again, and I won't be as lenient as I was. You've ruined all sorts of deals for me, cost me millions."
James laughed, "You can count on me leaving you alone, Servario." There was something in his eyes when he said it. Like he was laughing at his own joke again. The flash in his eyes was gone when he suddenly realized Servario was leaving with whatever was on that phone. "After you give me my money—Servario? I know it was you who took it."
Servario grinned, "What money, James? You mean the money you lost when you reneged on our deal to find the Burrow together?"
James looked like he might snap, "I want my money. The deal was her for the…"
Servario put a hand up, cutting him off. "The original deal was you and I find the Burrow. You use your supposed CI and MI6 contacts and get me the weapons. The deal was never you double-crossing me with that bitch Roxy. Now you have the audacity to talk about the deal? The deal changed when you let your cock do the decision making for you. I let you live, that’s the new deal." He winked at me, "Ask Evie where the money is. You're damned right I stole it, and I gave it to her as payment for a fun week. She was very obliging. You're lucky I never shot you like I did Roxy."
I didn’t know what game we were playing. I didn’t have all of the money. Servario had kept it in trust mostly, invested for me. Either way, James was playing at something else. Something was up. Something Servario wasn’t seeing. I shook my head, "He's betrayed you, Servario. He used Roxy to try to kill you and tried to use you to lure the Master Key. You can't leave me with him."
James' eyes darted at me. He swung his leg, striking me in the face. I fell back, hearing a crunching sound in my nose. The blood gush was instant. I moaned but pressed my hand against it as I pointed at James, "I saw it in his eyes just there. He has betrayed you again. There is something he isn’t telling you."
James looked at me, "Face it, Evie. No one cares what you have to say. You'd do anything to save your skin."
Servario's eyes darted between us
. "I'm tired of this." He gave me a subtle lip twitch of a grin, "Go easy on her, James. She is the mother of your children."
James laughed and gave me a sideways look, "She does look pretty, bleeding like that, doesn’t she?" Servario ignored him, waving and walking from the massive doors, "Take care, Evie."
I wasn’t certain it was part of the plan or if he had just betrayed me. His acting was amazing and he was a very straightforward man, or I was a blind woman. We had discussed it but the feeling of him leaving me was worse than I had imagined it would be. I had to do my damnedest to not cry when I thought about it. I gave James a desperate look, "James, please don’t hurt me. I don’t even know why you care if I live or die."
He grabbed me by the hair, lifting me into the air almost, "I just want my money, Evie."
I shook my head, "I don’t have it, I swear I don’t. Servario never gave it to me. He gave me a small amount to buy a house. That’s it."
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
He tossed me back to the ground, kicking again but in the stomach instead of the face. I grunted, pressing my face into the hard floor and realizing there was no way Servario was coming back.
He grabbed my face, "Where is it?"
I winced, "It's in Servario's trust. He has it in trust."
His grip on my hair didn’t relent, "You fucking bitch. You're such shit in the sack, you couldn’t even use your pussy to get our money from a guy who could't care less about it?"
I sobbed, "Please, stop. I don’t have it. You betrayed him, what did you think was going to happen?" Weak and sad Evie was such an easy act. I sniffled and blubbered and let him believe he had the upper hand. I was convinced of it.
He dragged me to my feet, pulling me to the doors, "Well, I guess we will go to where he is going. I was going to head straight to Croatia with you, but maybe Mary can get the truth out of you."
His guards opened the doors for him. He dragged me to the parking lot and tossed me into a black car. He climbed in next to me. My blood had started to thicken and coat my face. A guard got into the front seat and the driver pulled away. I could see two cars following us. It almost made me excited as I imagined at least one was my real ride.
James relaxed into the seat. He started looking like old James again. I took my chance to get some answers. I looked down at my feet, "How long did you fuck Luce for?"
He chuckled, "Caught that one, did ya? Were you in the hotel room when I went to see her? My informant told me she was alone and that the man she had been with was out. I guess it doesn’t matter. Luce and I worked together for about a month or so. She was new to CI and worked under me in Turkey, in more than one way."
I shook my head, "Did you ever love me?"
I turned my head a little to see his eyes. He shook his head, "Let's not do this, Evie."
I started to cry, ashamed of the fact the tears were real, "What about the kids?"
His eyes hardened, "I have always seen you as part of my cover."
There was no answer to that. We were part of his cover. He never loved any of us. I nodded, "Fair enough. Where are we going?"
He nodded, "I'm taking you to the place Servario is going. He and I are going to have another little chat about that money, before I drop you off with the people who want you. I think Mary being there might help sway him and I know he is on his way to see her."
My insides tightened. Servario never told me we were leaving Rome, but I could see the city was far behind us. Was this Servario's plan? Is that why he told James I had the money? I knew I wasn’t going to get any answers unless I pressed James, but I had to be nonchalant about it.
I gave James a confused look as the words 'want you' floated about in my mind next to the possibilities. "Okay, but where are we going? Who would want me?"
He laughed, "Well, you are supposed to go to someone who wants you, but I am taking you to see someone else first. Trust me, you won't float her boat, so to speak, of the person we are going to see first." He looked out the window laughing some more, "This person has a thing for Asian girls so you're safe. Middle-aged women who have been ridden hard already aren’t really the type I normally help smuggle abroad or into hotel rooms."
My hate for him burned. I wanted to kill him then and there, but I realized suddenly, who he was talking about. I nodded, "Good to know." He was taking me to MI6.
He smiled, "Don’t get too excited. It doesn’t mean you won't be used nicely. The first place has a lot of guards who probably aren’t picky about where they put it. But the second place, oh Evie, let me tell you, you are really going to hate the second place. Servario must have really hated you. He's asked that you go to live a long life in the place he's going, Evie. It’s a gift to your father for murdering his."
My mouth hung open. I had no response for what he was saying. He nodded, "The second person we are meeting owns a few places; I think you'll fit in nicely."
Shit. I was going to a brothel owned by someone not good and Servario intended to rescue me from there? I was getting confused.
He smiled, and suddenly I couldn’t see the man I married, "Don’t look so sad. You'll be making many men happy every day of your life and the happier you make them, the longer you live."
I watched his face for the truth, "Why did you double-cross Servario? Why didn’t you just stay working with him?"
"I wasn't there to work with him, I was there to find out if he was the Master Key."
I sighed, "I really thought he had shot you. I thought I was rid of you forever."
He laughed and I could see the pride all over his face. "Evie, he is a bad man. He always has been. The day you shot me in the knees, he messaged me from Roxy's phone and told me that I was to put on some Kevlar and blood bags and he was going to try to talk you out of shooting me. He said he would shoot me in the chest and fly off. He was keeping his contacts in CI in check, hoping to convince you, once and for all, that you could trust him."
I snorted, "I am an idiot. You're right." I looked back at him, "How long have you been this double agent? Were you always Servario's employee or CI's? Who did you double-cross?" I asked it like I was mystified at how he had been able to pull it all off, reverent of him.
His chest swelled again, "I have never been CI's man. I'm surprised your father never figured it out. And as far Servario was concerned, I was always there for the Burrow. My people sent me there to find it. Mel had come upon some information regarding the Burrow, of course she didn’t know it. She had been working a security detail on a scientist who was making some kind of weapon-control system that was so long range and intelligent that war would be over before it even started. Anyway, one night she is drugged and the scientist is found dead. His work is gone. She transports his dead body and it goes mysteriously missing the next day. When she told me the story, she was baffled, but I knew instantly. The only thing caught on her surveillance was Servario. It seemed as if he had come and stolen the weapon. Of course CI was desperate for it to be found. Everyone assumed Servario had taken it; he swears to this day that when he got there, everything was already gone. He had been just one step behind the Master Key. After that, I made sure I was seeing Roxy, convincing her to run away with me. It was easy—she was so in love with Servario and he treated her so badly that her loyalty had waned."
I sat very still as he gloated. He was such a prideful man that he truly didn’t see how much he was leaking.
He rubbed his eyes, "Anyway, Roxy told me she had overheard Servario making inquiries into the Burrow. I told her to record every person he met with. We got lucky about a month later when he met with your father—your long-dead father. CI thought I was their man so they put me on it, because I knew your father well. Servario assumed I was in with him to find the Burrow, but all along I've been on one team that no one knows about." His eyes gleamed.
I frowned, "Are you the Master Key?"
He chuckled, "Oh, Evie. If I were the Master Key, I wouldn’t care about the paltry sum of money Servario still hold
s. I would have sold the weapons and be living on my very own private island."
"That is so evil. How can you think that selling the weapons is a good idea?"
He scoffed, "Everyone either wants to sell it or wants to keep it all to themselves. Don’t kid yourself. There are no martyrs in our world."
I nodded, "Why did Servario forgive you for betraying him with Roxy?"
He sneered, "What makes you think he's forgiven me? The only reason I'm alive is I have protection from someone far scarier than Gustavo Servario."
I swallowed hard, "I don’t even know you, James. I never have, have I?"
He shook his head, "Enough about me. I want to know why Servario cared so much about fucking you? When I went rogue, he went on a mission to bargain you into his bed. I have never seen him do that before. I want to know what's so special about you."
I laughed bitterly, "You and me both."
He ran a finger down my arm, "You really are shit in the sack."
I gave him a weak smile, "Back at ya, babe."
He laughed, "Servario's a weird guy. I will give him that."
I looked out the window, "I think he just wanted my father to know he was doing unspeakable things to me. He has hated my father for a long time."
James sighed, "That’s true, he has."
We rode the rest of the way along the dark highway in silence. The car drove for a couple hours, until finally, I could see a city again. We drove down to a harbor and out onto a pier. James nodded at the guard who got out and dragged me down the pier to a massive yacht. A man, looking very much like the supposedly-dead Russian mobster, Michele Strophsky, came out onto the wooden pier. He gave me a once over, "Is that who I think that is?"
My eyes widened as did his fat smile. My father had helped him get out of Russia during the Cold War. He had saved the man from the firing squad. My father convinced the US government to protect him and let him testify against the war criminals. So when he asked, "You mind if I have a go at that, James?" I was stunned.
James laughed, "You want to be first, do you? Yeah, have at it. She should be on a boat to a brothel right now anyway. You might as well break her in for Anderson."