BABY FOR A PRICE

by Kathryn Thomas

  “That’s your place?” My jaw hung open. Built into the side of the cliff, there was an enormous set of windows that seemed to lead back to a huge, penthouse-esque apartment. Anthony offered me his hand as we made our way across the slightly bumpy track towards our new home, and I took it.

  “Yeah, that’s my place.” He shrugged as if it was nothing. I could only gape up at the building in front of me, and wonder when he’d gotten a place like this, and why. This had to be one of his houses meant for entertaining - in what world was a decadent beachfront property like this one a practical place to hide out from the cops?

  “It’s fucking incredible,” I breathed as we reached a set of steps carved into the rock. I wobbled slightly as the wind caught me, and Anthony placed his hands on my hips to keep me steady.

  “Woah, girl,” he murmured, gently taking my bag from me so that it didn’t topple me over.

  “Thanks,” I managed as I grasped the thin metal handrail that ran up beside the steps, trying to keep my balance.

  We soon reached the top of the steps, and Anthony squeezed by me to unlock the door. I noticed that on his keychain there were maybe ten or twenty different keys, and I wondered which doors they opened, where in the world they might lead to. But before I had a chance to linger on that any further, he pushed the door open and gestured for me to go in.

  “Fucking hell, Anthony,” I breathed as I looked around. The place was incredible. The entrance hall opened out into a living-room-slash-dining-room, with a kitchen visible through a small wooden archway to my left. Anthony dropped my bags on the luxurious leather couches that looked out over the stunning sea view outside and headed up a corridor that led off the main room.

  “Bedroom’s this way,” he called over his shoulder, and I hurried to catch up with him. I was still scraping my jaw off the floor. I had never seen a place like this before in my life - never seen anything as stupidly gorgeous or fantastically expensive. I had assumed any guy I got with would be like me - living in a place they could only just afford with furniture and decorations that came from friends, family, or thrift shops. This was… well, this was something else entirely, and I was having trouble keeping my shit together knowing that I got to stay here for the next few days. Yes, fleeing from whatever motherfuckers were on my tail was horrifying, but it was a hell of a lot easier when I wasn’t having to stay in a sparse underground bunker while I was doing it.

  The bedroom was cozy, kitted out in dark colors with the bed lifted slightly off the ground on a polished wood platform.

  “Do you come here often?” I asked. “It’s so clean and tidy.”

  “I pay a cleaning company to come in once a month or so to keep things looking nice.” He shrugged and popped himself up on the bed. “You like it?”

  “I love it,” I replied firmly. “And I think you’re trying to show off to me a little bit.”

  “Well, aren’t you Ms. Perception?” He held his arms out to me with a small grin on his face, and I happily sat down in his lap. He planted a kiss on my cheek, all chaste, and pressed his head against my shoulder for a moment.

  “You think we’ll be alright here?”

  He looked up at me at last. “I don’t think any of Leo’s guys know that this place exists.”

  “That’s good,” I sighed. “I don’t think I can take another cross-country, last-minute escape again.”

  “I’m not promising that we’ll be here forever,” he warned. “But at least a week or so. Enough time to get settled and catch up on our sleep, and then we can take it from there.”

  “Don’t you have any jobs for Leo?” I asked cautiously. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know, but part of me was curious, and I needed to know when he’d be away and when he’d be here. I didn’t want to wake up to him gone again and not know why - not now that the stakes were as high as they were.

  “That’s not important right now.” He pulled me onto the bed. “You know, I’ve never had a woman in this bed before.”

  “You want me to be your first?” I teased lightly. “I’ll try to be gentle.”

  “Oh, please don’t.” He covered my mouth with his, and I happily lost myself in his kiss once again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As I lay in bed with Sabrina after we’d made love, I found myself staring at the ceiling and thinking about what I’d told her. That no one else knew of this place. Well, at least, no one from Leo’s gang. But now that I thought about it, it wasn’t true. Saffron knew of my seafront apartment.

  I had brought her here once, not long after I bought the place - it was only a few weeks before our break-up, and I thought I could convince her to come out here and detox. But she was strung out and edgy, shooting down my suggestions and demanding to be driven back to the city to meet her dealer. I couldn’t be sure that she’d remember which way we’d come to get here, or hell, even coming here at all, but did I really want to take that risk? I had to push it from my head for now. This was the only place I could feasibly stay at the moment - close enough to Leo that he wouldn’t get suspicious, but not so close that anyone could easily find us.

  Should I have taken care of Saffron when I had the chance? I mean, it was just the two of us, alone on top of that building. Accidents happen. And Saffron had a past that meant she was unreliable, maybe even a danger to herself. I could have dealt with her then, and not have had to worry about any of this.

  I scolded myself internally. No, that would have been the worst thing I could have done. If Leo were already suspicious of me, Saffron winding up dead after a hit with me would have just proved any point he wanted to make to himself. And besides, I had loved Saffron at some point in my life, and I wasn’t about to pick her off just because I was being paranoid.

  I had to remind myself that so many of the conversations I had with people like Leo came down to posturing. Everyone was trying to project something, trying to convince people they were harder than they were. Leo was probably just testing me, laying down the law to make sure that I wasn’t going to try and pull any shit on him. How could he know anything? Unless Saffron had gleaned something from our brief meeting, there was no way he could have figured anything out. Sitting here and worrying about it would only make things worse.

  I heard my phone buzz in my coat where I had dumped it on the floor while we were getting undressed, so I rolled away from her and went to pick it up. She let out a small, soft noise, still in that post-coital haze, and sat up.

  “Who is it?” she asked, her voice soft. I looked down at the message, and my heart dropped.

  “Anthony, it needs to be tonight. I’ll expect you tomorrow morning.”

  It was from Leo. God, I could have guessed that without even looking at the message. He always let me know exactly when he wanted the hit carried out, but I couldn’t believe I wouldn’t even get one evening with Sabrina to make her feel safe and cared for. I tossed my phone back onto my jacket and looked back up at her.

  “No one. Hey, I have to head back into the city tonight to pick up some of my shit, is there anyone you want me to bring back here? To keep you company?”

  Her face lit up.

  “Well, actually…” She raised her eyebrows. “My friend, Lily. I could really do with her around.”

  “Does she know about everything that’s happening?” I asked. I didn’t want to drop someone who had no clue of what was going on into this situation.

  “She knows enough.” Sabrina nodded. “Here, I can call her, ask her to close up the restaurant for a few days. That should ease up some of the heat on us, right?”

  “Yeah, probably,” I agreed, and handed her my phone. She quickly tapped out a message, then let it sit on the bed next to her as she watched me gather myself.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, and I nodded.

  “Everything’s great,” I replied. “I’ll be back later tonight, don’t worry about it.”

  “You know I’m going to worry,” she commented, and I smiled t her.

 
“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” I reassured her. “I’ll go to the city and bring her back, then pick up my stuff.”

  “Yeah, she just texted back, and said she’s all good.” She glanced at the phone as it buzzed again. “You sure all of this is going to be okay?”

  “It’s going to be fine,” I soothed her. “I promise.”

  I planted a kiss on her forehead, and she gave me the address of the restaurant where I could pick her friend up. I went outside to the car, took a deep breath, and stared at the sea for a moment. Part of me wanted to lose myself to its vastness, but I knew that I had too much to do to indulge myself any further.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As soon as he was out of the house, I took myself on a tour of all the rooms. It was so much bigger than I had thought at first - I assumed it was just the living spaces, but there was a fuckton more than I even I could have imagined. I took my time going around the place, finding little passageways here and there. What was there to say? Everything from a wine cellar to a cinema, to a little route that led out to the sea to swim. I was too nervous to go outside - I needed someone here with me before I would feel comfortable leaving the house - but I could imagine coming out here in a less stressful circumstance and having an amazing time. I pictured Anthony and I splashing about in the shallows, me in a tiny bikini, him in trunks that showed off his incredible body. Maybe getting intertwined in the sand, one thing leading to another…

  I wandered back upstairs, not wanting Lily and Anthony to arrive back and see me not there. At this point, anyone not being where they said they were was cause for major panic, and I didn’t want to be the one who caused any of it. I wandered around the wine cellar and picked out a nice bottle, assuming Anthony wouldn’t mind. I mean, this place was all about absurd luxury, and it seemed silly not to take advantage of that in any way I could. If I was going to be stalked by murderous bandits, that I could at least enjoy the vino, right?

  I stood by the window and stared out at the ocean, letting out a small, satisfied noise to myself. I found myself calming as I took in the enormity of it, the regularity of the waves as they lapped up against the beach below.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was standing there, but before I knew it, Anthony and Lily were coming through the front door. It was the first time in a while that I hadn’t jumped at someone appearing around me. I guess this place made me feel safer than the others.

  “Sab!” Lily exclaimed as she ran towards me. She threw her arms around my neck and clasped me to her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” I replied, gently extracting myself from her iron grip. “Here, I got us a bottle of wine. Is that okay, Anthony? I took it from the cellar.”

  “Sure.” He waved his hand distractedly. “Help yourself to anything you want. I have to head back into the city, but I’ll be back later tonight.”

  He came over to me and planted a quick kiss on my cheek before he left again, offering a small nod to Lily as he backed out of the door. As soon as it shut behind him, Lily turned to me, her eyebrows raised.

  “Um, can we come to your boyfriend’s beach house whenever we want?” she asked, gesturing around. “Because I might close the restaurant for good and move in here.”

  “It’s pretty amazing, right?” I grinned as I looked about the place. But I suddenly felt tense, odd, as though we were being watched. A shiver ran down my spine, and I frowned as I looked around.

  “Sab? What’s wrong?” Lily followed my gaze, trying to figure out what had bothered me.

  “Nothing.” I shook my head, finishing my visual sweep of the place and finding nothing. “Hey, you want to get into this bottle of wine?”

  I held up the expensive bottle in my hand, and she took it and wandered over to the kitchen area to pour us a couple of glasses. We left the bottle to aerate for a few minutes and leaned in silence up against the counters. I knew what Lily was thinking, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid her questions much longer.

  “Sabrina, are you going to tell me what’s going on here?” she asked softly. She caught my hand in hers and looked up at me intently. “Because… Anthony said you were here because it was the safest place you could be. What are you trying to keep safe from? Who’s after you?”

  Before I knew it, a tear had welled up in my eye and dripped, fat and wet, down my cheek. Sabrina squeezed my hand comfortingly, but I knew she was expecting an answer. I knew I owed her one, too - she had come all the way out here to be by my side right now, and she needed to know what she was getting into by doing that. I took a deep breath, dashed away the tear of my cheek, and began.

  And once all that stuff started, it was hard to get it to stop. I told her everything. From my date with Anthony to that awful message to fleeing the city and taking up residence at any number of his hideouts. I told her about Anthony too - that he had been a hitman and I wasn’t sure if he was still in that line of business or not. She stayed quiet as I blurted it all out, occasionally reaching over to swill the wine lightly in the glass. When I was done, she took her first sip, letting the wine sit in her mouth for a moment as she savored the taste.

  “That’s really good wine,” she remarked. “Really good.”

  I took a shaky sip from my glass and peered at her over the top of it.

  “If you want to go, I’ll totally understand,” I mumbled. “I don’t think anyone’s entirely safe around the two of us at the moment.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she shot back emphatically. “Wild horses, and all that. If you’re in danger, then I’m in danger too.”

  “You’re so pigheaded,” I laughed. God, it felt good to laugh - to let go of all the tension and suffering I’d been struggling with the last few days and give myself over to something altogether better.

  “I am,” she agreed with a shrug. “But I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled at her gratefully. “That means so much to me.”

  “Anthony said we’d be fine here though, right?” She glanced over her shoulder as she headed to the couch.

  “I don’t think anyone else knows about this place,” I explained. “Not that I’m aware of, at least.”

  “Huh, well, then I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t get quite drunk on all the expensive wine I’m guessing he has down in his basement,” she pointed out. “If you’re into that kind of thing.”

  “Do you even know me at all?” I replied playfully and threw back the entire glass in my hand in one theatrical gulp. “Let’s get drunk.”

  I leaned my head on her shoulder for a moment, the two of us staring out across the sea outside, and I felt at peace for the first time in a while. Finally, things were going my way.

  Chapter Twenty

  I was surprised at how easily Sabrina’s friend said yes to coming along. I mean, if she even knew a quarter of the truth, wouldn’t she be scared off? I couldn’t imagine any other plain old citizen who wouldn’t balk at the idea of hiding out in a potentially deadly situation just because her friend was in it too. But then, if she was a friend of Sabrina’s, she probably wasn’t too different from her, and from that, I could assume that she was brave, headstrong, and completely level-headed.

  Lily hadn’t asked me any questions as we’d made our way back from the city - she was probably saving them all up for when she could get Sabrina alone. I wanted everything Lily heard to come from her, not me. After all, it was Sabrina who was bringing her into this situation, and it was her responsibility to let her know what was going on. As we made our way back to the house, however, I snuck a look at her out of the corner of my eye, and I could have sworn that she looked a little excited. There was that glint of a thrill in her eye, and I occasionally caught her sneaking a look at me. I wondered if she knew what I was, what I did, if Sabrina had told her, and whether she’d be as calm as she was if she had. I drove quickly, knowing that I didn’t have a whole lot of time before Leo would expect the hit to be complete. I didn’t want to end
up late because I was playing taxi to one of Sabrina’s friends as that’s how questions would start to get asked and then I was probably fucked.

  I couldn’t get what Leo had said that morning out of my head. I just couldn’t. I knew it was likely nothing more than bravado. Hell, I was almost certain that was what it was. But fucking Christ, he knew how to get me feeling on edge. I wanted to throw up when I considered the thought of him knowing about everything that was going on. If he found out about Sabrina and me, we were both dead, along with anyone else who got involved. That included her friend Lily, maybe her family, and definitely anyone working at her restaurant. A wave of panic hit me, and I did my best to quell it. I needed to keep myself pulled together for this - Leo had texted me a location, and the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself once I was there.

  I was also a little panicked about the thought of pulling a trigger on someone again. Not worried about getting caught or screwing it up - I knew all my instincts were still in place, and there was no reason to think that I had lost my touch over the years. But the thought of killing someone for cash again, carrying out a hit shrouded by darkness in the middle of the night… it was unsettling, to say the least. Last time, I had been able to decant the job onto Saffron and avoid actually committing a murder, but there would be no getting around it tonight. I had to do this. I had to kill someone. Someone who, from what Leo had told me, was a lot like me. I shivered as I wondered how close I had come to being in his position, how close I would come again.