Easter pushed the papers out of the way like they were laying on him. “I can explain—”
The Collector cut Easter short. “You can’t explain anything! I will, however, take great pleasure in watching you suffer.”
“Wait! I can—oomph!” Easter was met by a swift blow to the gut that knocked the wind out of his sail. “Oomph . . .” He fell back down to the floor as a barrage of punches hammered down on his tiny physique. As Easter was trying his best to shield himself from a certain, and most painful death, there was a distraction when a figure emerged through the doors of the gilded mausoleum.
• • •
Before I could see that Jordan wouldn’t become maggot food, I suddenly felt cold steel against my temple. I slowly put the binoculars down when another figure came into view.
“Hello, beautiful.”
“Okay, show’s over, toots. You’ve seen enough. Let’s go.” Seven stood.
It took me a minute to realize that she was serious and the other figure was . . . Giovanna. “Seven . . . I mean, Sevenchi—”
Seven kicked me in the stomach as Giovanna laughed. “It’s Seventhia, you disgusting cunt!”
I doubled over in pain frantically looking for something to knock her ass out with. I grabbed a rock, but Giovanna was quicker than me. “Arrgh!” I fell to the ground when her boot, propelled by a roundhouse kick, connected with my face.
“I’m going to enjoy fucking you up, beautiful.”
Before I could recover, Seven’s gun was damn near down my throat. “Bitch, I’m only going to say this one more time. Let’s go . . . now!”
Chapter 44
What Bianca Didn’t See
“Looks like I made it just in time for the party,” Jordan interrupted the men at work.
“You!” The Collector shouted as sputum flew from his foaming and angry mouth.
“Ttt . . . T-T-Tarantula . . .” Easter got past his swollen and bloodied lips.
Before The Collector’s two men could make a move, Jordan’s backup stampeded in behind him, ready for battle.
“Easter—” Jordan looked down on him with mock pity. “Let me guess; you tried to pull another stunt like you did in Bangkok. Good thing this job didn’t take place in Malibu.” Jordan made a shuddering gesture as if recalling something gruesome that had happened. “The last guy that tried to double-cross the old man was given tiny cuts all over his body, especially his . . . ahem—lower region. The old man wasn’t satisfied with just the cuts; he then had him beat with hot chains. That was just the beginning; he had salt and battery acid poured into the wounds. If that wasn’t bad enough . . . you know what I heard the grand finale to his suffering was?” Jordan didn’t give Easter time to respond. “Sharks. Yes, the old man here has a shark tank in his Malibu home and after a torturous, hell-filled night, the poor sap became dinner. Or was it breakfast? Hmm . . . I can’t remember. Anyway, let’s just say that whatever they have planned for you here is a walk in the park compared to that. It was a nasty situation, I tell you. Just imagine those iron jaws clamping down on you and tearing you to shreds on top of suffocating on your own bloodcurdling screams and water filling your lungs, unless the shark rips your torso apart first. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Yes, you should definitely consider yourself lucky.” Jordan shivered at the memory.
“Tarantula, help . . . help me . . . please. I will give you the gold bars from Bangkok. You can . . . can have all of it.” Never did Easter think that there would be a day that he would beg The Tarantula, of all people, to save his life.
Jordan couldn’t believe that the little imp thought him a fool. “You’ll give me the Bangkok gold?”
“Yes, you can have it all. I swear!”
“I don’t understand how that’s even possible, being that I already took it from your place in Paris.”
Now Easter really felt the sting of Snake’s betrayal. The bastard was casing his flat that night, and there he was giving him complete access to it all. To think that he was thinking that he was the puppeteer, but the entire time he was the one wearing the strings jumping to Tarantula’s commands. His mind began to play back certain events over the past few months that had taken place. Four of my best and most trustworthy men were killed execution style when my flat was robbed. Then, as if on cue, Tony and Johnny showed up claiming to have seen Novikov running from my building. That’s when the plan was to hire Novikov, make him think I didn’t know of his treachery, and then take him out after the heist mission was complete. Without question, I hired those two ingrates who were more than likely responsible for the theft and killings, now that I think about it. Then they sucker-punched me again when they betrayed me and kidnapped Giovanna, all probably at Tarantula’s urging. How stupid of me? Why had I let my trying-to- prove-myself-to-be better than Tarantula cloud my better judgment? he silently berated himself. Snake is already taking an eternal dirt nap, but if I live to see another day, The Tarantula, Novikov, Tony, and that fat bastard Johnny, will be joining him very soon. They will all die the most grisly of deaths that I can think of when the time comes, he vowed.
“So even in this situation, you’re still trying . . . to . . .” Now Jordan was the one caught off guard. “Pull a fast one?” So that’s who was behind the shooting at the airport and not Easter. Snake had better be damned lucky Easter got to him first. The sting of the betrayal stung like a million angry hornets.
“Anything I have is yours. Please!” Easter cried, ignoring his stupid question since admitting that he was lying about the gold wouldn’t go over too well. Plus, had he known The Tarantula was involved, would he have been foolish enough to continue working with Snake!
“Shut him up!” The Collector ordered before turning his attention back to Jordan as the two men attempted to put Easter in a sleep hold. “I knew you would come.”
Jordan laughed. “Nothing could’ve kept me away for such a momentous occasion.”
The Collector took a few steps in Jordan’s direction with his hands being where he could see them. “Help me to understand . . . I give you the world. Send you to the finest schools . . . and you still dishonor me.”
“What is he talking about?” Delilah spoke out of turn. “That old crazy bastard is delirious.”
“You let her die!” Jordan shouted back with enough emotion worthy of an Oscar-winning performance.
“How many times do I have to tell you that she made her choice, and it wasn’t me?” The Collector signaled for his men to fall back. His chest was jutted out, showing Jordan that he was unafraid. “Look at this. Me. You. Us. Why?”
Jordan became agitated and went for his gun, which found its way in The Collector’s unflinching face. “You know why.” Tears threatened to break, but crying was not an option. He’d waited a long time for this day to finally arrive. The day of retribution.
“Tarantula, are we going to kill two birds with one stone or what?” Jim asked impatiently with his gun poised as he kept watch on The Collector’s men.
“You’re getting pretty good at this.” The Collector laughingly admitted.
“Yeah, I guess I am.” Jordan’s scowl was replaced by a big, loopy grin as he went in for a one-arm hug.
Everyone in the room was stunned, but none more so than Easter, who was faking being unconscious. Ignoring Jim, he continued his revelation.
“We make a great team don’t we, Father?” Jordan took pleasure in watching the looks of confusion on everyone’s faces except for Jim’s and Delilah’s.
“Father?” was the only word everyone was able to get out before Delilah and Jim opened fire. Once the smoke cleared, the only ones standing were The Collector, Jordan, Delilah and Jim. Easter took the opportunity given and bolted out of the door.
There were a series of shots heard outside. “Oh, what a shame; Easter thought he was in the clear,” Delilah joked.
“Yes indeed, what a shame,” The Collector said right before ending Delilah’s life when he shot her in the center of her pretty head. “Can’t have too ma
ny loose ends. I’m sure you understand, Son.”
Jordan shrugged his shoulders. “You saved me the trouble of having to do it. She was too damned stubborn and mouthy for her own good, anyway.”
“What about the other girl?”
“Bianca? She’s not a problem that you should worry yourself with, Father.”
They turned their attention toward the door when Tony walked in. “Easter was too quick, boss, but he is wounded. Johnny’s out searching for him now,” Tony let it be known.
“Have Johnny to fall back; I’m sure Easter won’t get very far,” Jordan said knowingly.
“This is such a lovely mausoleum; too bad it had to be desecrated, but this was the only way,” The Collector said as he looked around at the remains of their former crews.
“You want us to bag them when I get back with Johnny, boss?” Tony asked as he looked around at the mass massacre.
Jordan stepped over Delilah’s body. He made the mistake of looking into her opened and shocked eyes and instantly regretted her fate. She was good at her job and in the bedroom, but remembering her mouth suddenly dismissed any regrets. “No, leave them, but make them unidentifiable. We don’t have the time nor the man power to do more.”
“At least let us sweep the place, making sure no prints are left behind that belong to you or Wang,” Tony said.
Jordan held up his gloved hands and The Collector followed suit. “Looks like we’re covered.”
Easter saw his van not too far in the distance. If he could just make it to his vehicle where he had another gun, he would live to plot both The Tarantula’s and The Collector’s demises. As soon as he was almost in the clear, a black van rolled to a stop, cutting him off. He was about to go for his gun, but cursed when he remembered that he was relieved of it. Looking for an out, Easter was about to run back through the cemetery when the voice calling out to him halted him.
“Giovanna?”
Chapter 45
“Even though you didn’t see what happened, at least now we have information on the carnage that the groundskeeper had the misfortune of discovering at Père Lachaise Cemetery,” Phoebe Bercherot stated. Since her introduction, she’d been sitting and observing quietly.
I cleared my throat and stole a quick glance at Aliyah. She nodded her head that it was OK for me to go on. “I didn’t see what happened after I . . . I was taken and—”
Marlow stood and came closer to where I was seated. “I’m going to need you to really think back to that night.”
“But I’ve told you everything that I know up until the point that Jordan—” Then without warning, incidents that had occurred that didn’t mean much to me that left me wondering, started to make sense: The first encounter with Seven telling her that she would always be in Jordan’s life after she was long gone. Her statement at the cemetery about Jordan’s story concerning The Collector changing with every gullible bitch that he got with. How close Jordan and Seven seemed to be even in the company of Snake. Snake trying to always talk Jordan into believing that Sledge was the leak in the group when it was really him, Seven and Giovanna. Sledge, although he made my life hell, was really trying to warn me about Jordan’s intentions and his relationship with Giovanna, especially in Paris when they’d hurriedly put him on a plane back to wherever. Now Sledge was silenced forever. Giovanna’s dreadful accent sounded just like the one from the flight attendant both times and the delivery person who kept saying the word “beautiful” with her enunciation making it sound dreadful. The dream she had of being drowned with the person talking with the same accent. Seven was always beyond jealous of Jordan and I showing any kind of romantic affection toward one another, except for when we were all engaging together. Jordan always made sure to pay close attention to satisfying Seven’s needs sometimes even more than mine. The way Seven and Snake reacted when she shot the flight attendant. Snake made it his mission to take care of the body. Jordan’s reaction to Sledge on the plane and never dealing with the body was strange as it would’ve given him a clue as to who was after them. I dismissed all of that because I believed that it was Easter, so why would I question it. How would Easter know where to come? They were at a private airport. That meant that it had to be Seven, Giovanna, and Snake who were behind it all. Was the plan to use me as the one who took the fall? How did Easter get in that hotel room bed with me?
The memories slamming into me like a runaway Mack truck began to make me question everything about the relationship with Jordan. Easter shooting Snake had to be a mistake since he was probably in on whatever that was really going on. “Oh my God. I think I’m going to be sick.” I grasped my chest and nearly knocked Marlow over trying to get out of there as fast as my legs would carry me while wearing six-inch stilettos to find the nearest men’s or ladies room.
Marlow made a move to go after me, but was nearly trampled by Aliyah. “She’s my client and I will see after her!”
I was disgusted as I’d made it to the toilet just in time to throw up. It became uncontrollable vomiting, as more reminiscences flooded my delusional brain. Hadn’t I done everything that he’d asked of me? Risked my life. My freedom. My business. Jeopardized friendships, all to be with him. I heaved and cried, wondering how Jordan could have betrayed me as he had.
The door to my stall flew open.
“Get out!” I screamed, knowing that it was nobody but Aliyah.
She grabbed my hair and held it back to keep it from getting vomit in it. “Are you okay?” she asked.
More contents left my body before I could answer her. “Did Jordan set me up?” I asked, needing to know the truth.
Aliyah laughed. “Why stop being the gullible, dick-starved bitch you’ve always been when it comes to Jordan now, huh? Are you finally starting to use that thing you call a brain?” Aliya laughed. “We’re almost in the homestretch, Bianca. Don’t ruin it because then, I won’t be able to protect you.”
I cleared my throat. “Is that what you call this? Protecting me? I just need to know if Jordan is in on what’s happening to me.” I panicked.
“When was the last time you heard from Jordan? Has he made a call to you? Come to visit? Sent a postcard? Email? Carrier pigeon? Are you that fucking stupid, Bianca?”
I hated that I was bent over a toilet which gave her the advantage to drown me in my own puke if she wanted to. “Easter was found dead in my bed and I don’t know how he got there, or even me, for that matter. Last thing I remembered is being in Paris with your crazy ass holding a gun to my head while that other crazy bitch drove.”
“Damn, I at least took you for having half a brain to figure this shit out. Since you’re still having a hard time deciphering it, let me break it down to you. Besides his wannabe emperor father, The Collector, Jordan cares only about Jordan.”
“But I overheard him having The Collector’s son’s fingers broken over the phone. That can’t be true.”
“You’re not the first stupid bitch he’s used and unfortunately, probably won’t be the last. Do you think he would actually hurt his baby brother? Jordan tried to play us. We got the memo long ago that The Collector was Jordan’s father. He wanted us to think that he was working against The Collector when all along he was working with him. You see Snake never took Sledge to the airport. With a little persuasion, my girl Giovanna got him to talking real good and confirmed what we were already suspecting.” She laughed. “I remember telling you in Paris that I was here before you and would be after you’re gone. I guess I lied since Jordan was planning to take us all out and ride off into the sunset with the take and his father.”
“I still don’t believe you.”
“Then don’t. Either way it’s your funeral, bitch.” Her demeanor went back to being my lawyer when she heard the door to the ladies room open. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Ms. Brooks?”
“Must be something I ate,” I answered.
Suddenly, the grip on my hair tightened as she came closer to me and whispered, “Or it could be something yo
u’re thinking of telling? Don’t fuck with me, Bianca.” She released my head and shoved it forward.
After she left my stall, I overheard her talking to Marlow.
“Poor thing is puking her guts up. I hope it’s nothing contagious from that water the department gave her before the interview.”
“I doubt that very seriously, Aliyah. I drink water from here all the time.”
“Which proves nothing since you also can drink any man under the table, Marlow.” Aliyah enjoyed the surprised look that crossed Marlow’s face. “Oh, you thought your being an alcoholic was a private matter? Shame on you, Marlow. For a district attorney, you’re quite clueless.”
Flushed, Marlow ignored her taunting. “Maybe we should postpone and reconvene tomorrow. I don’t want you putting her testimony at risk by saying she was forced to cooperate under duress. I know how you operate, Aliyah.”
“Do you now?” Aliyah laughed. “Like I said, must be the water they served to her in that beautiful glass pitcher. I wonder who it belongs to.”
Then the bathroom door closed as I heard their heels clacking against the hard floors going toward the direction of the conference room.
I lurched, trying to throw up more, but there was nothing left. The way Aliyah kept mentioning the water and pitcher made me suspicious, especially since it had been her idea for me to make such an outlandish request in the first place.
“Ask for some water before we begin, but not just any old bottle of water. Ask for it to be served in a nice glass and watch how they jump through hoops to meet your request. That’s how you’ll know that they need you more than the weight of their futile threats really carries. Take advantage of your power and remember that I will be with you every step of the way just as we talked about.”
“But what if they don’t?” I asked.
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