by K. S. Adkins
“You are a woman to be admired.” He says with a laugh.
“No,” I counter, “I’m a woman not to be fucked with.”
We chatted a few more minutes and I listened as he spelled out what I needed to do and I had no problems with his instructions. Finally getting rid of all things Adrian felt justified. My conscience wasn’t even aware that I just ordered a man’s death. That’s how I knew I’d made the right decision and quite frankly, wouldn’t have changed my mind if it was the wrong one. I let this man fuck with me for years when it was simply about money. Money I didn’t care about, I could always get more. However, it was the mention of hurting Rio that had me calling in my own favors. This was one of those times it was good to know the wrong people.
Yes, I’d spare Rio. But only because he convinced me to live again and this was my way of saying thank you, we’re even, right before telling him to fuck himself.
When she disconnected our call, I knew she was done. Whatever it was that changed her mind I’d probably never know, but I did know that when I pulled up at her place it would be goodbye. Even though I wanted to bitch, I couldn’t. Bottom line was, I convinced Bet to live and to open up to me but I’d never be able to convince her to forgive me.
Why should she? I couldn’t forgive myself.
Setting her up and lying to her were not acts that a person forgives, even if you want them too. When we merge onto I75, I start to get a raging headache. When she pulls into the Palmer Woods subdivision, I start sweating. Two blocks and two turns later we pull into her wrap around driveway. I watch as she pulls into her garage but I park facing the road for an easy exit. Grabbing both guns, I secure them on my right and left side, just in case. I then climb out of my truck, follow her into the garage and wait for it.
“How about an early dinner?” she asks grabbing her bag from the back seat. Nodding, I follow her inside and she closes the door behind us. When we walk in I found myself standing there with my jaw open. The exterior of this place is brick, brass, and vintage architecture but the inside is contemporary and fucking unreal. The house is huge, yet practically empty. Everything inside is the bare minimum from the single love seat, to the kitchen island with one stool. The walls are empty, minus one photo, a family photo. Studying it while she’s otherwise occupied, I see a man that loved his wife, a kid that adored her mother and young woman who at one time had it all. It was that photo that did it, I got it now.
Christ, when I met her she really did want to die.
She wasn’t living here, she barely existed here.
“Years ago I was accused of being a pack rat,” she says opening the refrigerator. If you call that restaurant-sized freezer a refrigerator. Hell, restaurants would kill for what I’m seeing right now. “Now not so much.”
“Where’s all your stuff?” I ask as she removes frozen pizzas and transfers them to tin foil. “Storage,” she shrugs, “I’m hardly ever here.”
“Where’s your office?”
“Downtown,” she says vaguely while handing me bottle of water and leaning against the counter that probably cost more than my truck. I didn’t unscrew the cap, my throat was so dry, this water wasn’t going to fix it, only the truth could.
“Tell me, Rio, how exactly were you hoping this would go down? Were you hoping I’d go willingly? Or were you holding out for more money? Have I wronged you in the past?”
“Bet, listen to me, I wasn’t going to betray---”
“Oh, this I’ve gotta hear,” says Adrian walking in from the living room. He offers her his sinister smile ignoring me altogether. “Don’t stop on my account. Any time my partner plans to fuck me, I pay attention.”
“Hello, brother in law,” she says rolling her eyes. “As usual, your impatience isn’t appreciated. I wanted answers before you showed up but thanks for ruining the fun for me again.” His presence doesn’t stop her from moving around her kitchen, or the arrival of his whole fucking crew either. In fact, she seemed more annoyed than surprised. Now I had to wonder how long she knew. I should have seen it sooner, she knew before we left the island.
“You couldn’t even give me time to unpack first and you brought six men too? As history proves you do everything prematurely. Ba dum dum!” she says banging her hands on the granite counter top.
“Think of it more like, not giving you time to set me up,” he says producing a pistol. Keeping it at his side as a threat, I sit there stunned that she isn’t freaking out. Fuck, I know I’m freaking out. “You, little sister, I’ve learned not to under estimate.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt her!” I bark at him.
“And I won’t,” he says standing next to her. “She’s worth more alive. Besides, she’s fun. Although, I can’t say the same for you. Loose ends, Rio. Come on, this isn’t your first job. Man the fuck up.”
“Forget about him, I have.” she says turning to face Adrian, “Now let’s deal. You want six mill and one month of my body in exchange for what exactly?”
“That’s easy, Bet, your life.”
“Yeah that doesn’t work for me, Adrian,” she says casually. She even went so far as to load the pizza rolls into the oven instead of begging him to back off. “It’s not so much about the blackmail but your tactics. See, while I was gone I gave away most of my fortune. I’m afraid I don’t have much to give. How about we settle at five hundred thousand? That seems like a good number. Rio still gets paid because that’s just good business. Besides, having a thief in my pocket could benefit me later. You get to avoid prison time, as my way of saying thanks for the memories. I think that’s more than fair.”
“Fair?” he laughs. “When it comes to you, nothing is fair. I had to drug you to get you to fuck me, I had to pretend to be him. He never got you and you fucking know it. He was weak and his head was always ten feet up your perfect ass. He was your bitch and the days of me being yours is over. I killed my own brother for you, little sister. You think I give a shit about a two-bit thief? Rio dies either way; he can’t be trusted and I don’t employ do-gooders. You will give me six million and one month or I’ll kill him now while you watch.”
“You killed my family?” She whispers.
“Like you didn’t know,” he laughs again, “Jesus, what the fuck else left was there? I did everything to make you see me.”
“I suspected,” she says quietly, “But no, I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t love him, don’t act like you did.”
“I wanted the chance!” she screams so loud the veins popped out of her neck. “She was my daughter! Indie was your niece! You fucking murderer!”
“Indie should have been my daughter and she wasn’t supposed to be in the fucking car!”
Stumbling back she holds on to the counter in an attempt to pull herself together. In a sure voice she says, “You took everything from me, I can’t let you take any more.” Then I saw it, when she went back from feeling to frozen.
“He dies. You’ll come to me willingly or you die, too. You choose me - I get the money, you die - I get the money. At this point, I’m okay with either outcome.”
“Didn’t Alan tell you? Oh shit, that’s right he died before he could. You aren’t the beneficiary, Adrian. How could I forget to mention that?”
“You lie.”
“All the fucking time, but not about this.”
“Who’s the fucking beneficiary, Bet?”
“He is.” She says looking over at me. Speechless and positive I heard her wrong it’s when he loses it that I realized she was serious. Christ, she was actually serious. “If he dies everything I worked for goes to the state, you’re welcome.”
“He betrayed you, on my order!”
“Whatever. You’ve infected me long enough and the biggest ‘fuck you’ I can think of is giving the money to him. Side note, this is the same guy I offered five hundred grand to kill me and turned me down. Money isn’t his motivator. Who the fuck saw that one coming, right? This moment for me is like Christmas because I get
to fuck you with an audience just like you did with me.” she says laughing at her own joke.
“One last warning, Bet, agree to my terms.”
“Eat a dick, big brother.” She counters holding her ground.
“Disarm, Rio,” he instructs his men. In seconds, both guns are gone as well as my wallet and my plan b. “Only two weapons? To think you used to be worth a shit. That bookie and her old man made you soft, my friend.” Then looking over at Bet and ignoring me because I’m no longer a threat, he ups his game.
“You think you’ve suffered? They died quickly, how about I make you watch him die slowly? Then while his bloods runs over your marble floors, I’ll fuck you on the countertop.”
“Or how about while you bend over I shove my foot up your ass sparing my floors the mess?”
“Bet,” I interrupt but she, like Adrian, ignore me like I don’t exist and for her I can see that it’s true.
“I want the money and your body, Bet, you fucking owe me.”
Adrian wasn’t bluffing because he didn’t need to. He had six men that were willing to do his dirty work for him, like always. I’ve only known Bet about two weeks and I can tell you this, she knew he wasn’t bluffing, but neither was she. The Bet Lennox squaring off against Adrian was, in that moment, a stranger to me.
“Then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse because I’m not buying you off or letting you fuck me. Trust me, once with you about ruined me for men. Who will make the next move, I wonder?” It was the smile that did it. “Oh wait, that’s right! I am.” When she giggled it didn’t take him long to figure out she had a plan. It took him even less time to react.
“You fucking whore---”
“I learned from the best.” She says grinning from ear to ear before briefly looking over at me. Then there’s several bangs followed by flashes of light and during it all, the smile never left her face. Well that’s not exactly true, the smile did leave her face. Right before she took a bullet meant for me.
Remorse, anger, and fear were etched into Rio’s face like a bad tattoo.
Had he told me on the island, the outcome could have been different. We could have worked together. But no, he continued to lie and even put me directly in Adrian’s path. Had I not called my favor in, he or I, probably both would be dead by now.
My pocket buzzed twice letting me know not to move. It buzzed again to let me know the shit storm was coming in 3, 2, 1… Holding my ground, I smile when I tell Adrian I learned from the best and checked to make sure Rio was not in the line of fire.
Clutching my countertop, I mourned them all over again. My choices caused this. Drugged or not, I had sex with my brother’s twin. To hide my shame I started a vicious cycle I couldn’t break. The one time I stood up to him ruined life as I knew it. Their deaths were my fault and I had to make it right. Six long years later, I finally had the guts to do the right thing. Even if it was paying a hit man for mass murder, it was worth the money. Somehow I’d find a way to write this off on my taxes. Since the night my life changed, I always suspected Adrian played a part but I never knew for sure. As fucked up as it sounds, the closure meant something. It meant the universe couldn’t be that cruel, but that Adrian could be. I couldn’t silence the universe but I could silence him. That ending made sense to me.
Adrian knew something was up but before he could react, several canisters rolled across the floor and then it was a symphony of explosions. Smoke filled the air making it impossible to breathe or see and through it all I still smiled.
Gunfire was heavy in my ears and I didn’t care about that either. Staying put as instructed, I watch as Rio hits the floor to make his way toward me. Coming up next to me he reaches to push me behind him but I resist. Bottom line, I wasn’t missing any of this. When one of Adrian’s thugs takes one to the chest mere feet in front of me, I don’t even flinch. Maybe this shouldn’t be a proud moment for me but it was. These men were as dirty as he was, for playing along with his bullshit. They’d be buried right next to him.
So I kept right on smiling until Adrian came charging through the smoke with his gun aimed at Rio’s heart. My smile died as instinct kicked in and protecting him was my only thought.
No one else would die because of my bad choices. Especially the man I loved. At that moment the betrayal was forgotten. Saving him was a no brainer, it really was.
It was also like a tank when it hit me.
All I knew was that in the blink of an eye I was shot, there was so much pressure and I was going down hard. In the next blink, Rio caught me before I hit the floor while still managing to put a bullet right between Adrian’s eyes.
Looking up I see him lower his arm letting the gun fall.
Just like that, the nightmare was over.
Rio killed Adrian for me.
And I had a bullet in my shoulder.
Then I passed out.
Sometime later, I woke to find myself in my bedroom. How I was hooked up to IV poles and had a bandaged shoulder, I wasn’t sure. But when I saw Rio next to the bed looking destroyed, I knew this was it, we ended here.
“Was it about the money, Rio?” I ask.
“It was, until I heard your voice.”
“I see.”
“No,” he says getting closer, “You really don’t. I don’t take people, Bet, I never would have done it. Once I heard your voice it wasn’t about owing him, it was about making you smile. Then it was convincing you to live, convincing you to love me back.”
“And do I? Love you back?”
“In my perfect world, you do,” he whispers in my ear, “In my perfect world you can’t fucking live without me.”
Fighting back the tears I whisper, “Perfection doesn’t exist, Rio and neither do we. You didn’t have to lie to me, if you loved me you wouldn’t have lied.” Then closing my eyes because his nearness hurt, I hear someone enter the room and when I open them I knew right away it was the man I hired.
“Thank you,” I tell him ignoring Rio.
“No thanks needed,” he says coming to stand next to me. “My men and I took care of you here. I’ll stick around for the next day or so then when I know you’re clear of infection, I’ll get paid and you can forget you ever met me. Until then, is there anything you need, Ms. Lennox?” he asks eye balling Rio.
“Bet,” says Rio in a pleading voice. “Don’t do this, this is our second chance.”
“Please see Mr. Martin out, that’ll do it for now.”
Just before he makes his final exit, I call for him. “Rio?”
Turning to me he waits for me to continue, “If I were you, I’d see if Rion held your job. If I find out you’ve stolen from anyone else, I’ll put you in a cell myself. Consider that your second chance. Now we’re even.”
Not bothering to look or answer when he calls my name, I hold the tears in. Even as he was forced from my property, he never stopped screaming for me. Yes, my heart was broken but I’d get over it. I always did. I learned another lesson tonight; it was that I was made to be broken. I expected him to fight back, make his way to me, convince me to keep him but he didn’t.
He walked away.
Several hours later when the house was quiet, I couldn’t stay in bed anymore. Wincing as I maneuvered my robe into place, I stare out the window hoping for answers. Secretly hoping I’d see him there out in the street waiting for me. When the dull ache becomes a loud roar, I remind myself he wasn’t coming back and that the pain, like Rio, was temporary. Besides, I had bigger problems than a bullet hole.
The whole in my heart hurt worse than my shoulder did and there was no medication for that.
Tonight would be the first night I’d be sleeping alone since meeting him. I missed him instantly and the moment my head hits the pillow the tears exploded from my eyes. Letting them fall freely, I do my best to accept this loss. I accepted it because I chose to let him go. Saving his life made us even, nothing more. Clutching Indie’s blanket, I stare at the ceiling wondering what had to be done to make this look
like this blood bath never happened. But none of my thoughts were occupied with Adrian or his bullshit, they were about Rio and his.
Climbing back out of bed slowly, I shuffle out to the patio off of my bedroom and take a seat in my chair. Grabbing my phone from the pocket of my robe, I thumb the screen avoiding pushing the button. If there were messages there I didn’t want to see them. If there were no messages, I didn’t want to see that either. As usual, curiosity won and I swiped it open. When I see my screen filled with messages from him, I start from the top and work my way down.
Ain’t got no words for what you did for me.
Gonna love you forever, little Bet.
This is me telling you goodbye.
This is me telling you to live.
The phone slips slowly through my fingers and crashes to the ground. Sobs rack me, the cold comes back into my bones with a vengeance and my heart split in two. Curling up into my chair, I figured out another lesson, a harsh lesson.
Love hurt worse than a bullet wound.
Hours later, the sobs still hadn’t left me but the pain returned with a vengeance. I couldn’t ignore it. The hit man knocked on my door, came in with meds and shot me in my good arm. Minutes later the pain started to wear off and my mouth decided it was a great time to pour my heart out to a man that kills humans for a living.
Right now, that man was my only friend.
He listened as I babbled. He held me while I screamed for answers then he left me with his own advice. “You are a woman to love. You are a woman to kill for. The man you had escorted out knew that. Even knowing he was hired to betray you, you still left him everything. Ever ask yourself why?”
With that he kissed the top of my head, grabbed his check from my dresser and didn’t say goodbye as he left. Before passing out, I stood up and looked at what he left behind. It was a business card.
From the first company I ever backed by myself. This was the company I hid from Alan all those years ago.