“No. It wasn’t him. He did love her too much to destroy her.” Antony speaks up as if he wants to relieve his pain.
“If it wasn’t him … then who? Who would have that much hate to …” John’s shoulders sink as he sighs. “Who would have that much hate that they would want to hurt her like they did?”
“Michael,” Antony breathes bitterly.
John looks up at us with a sudden understanding. “Michael. Of course. He was always ... observant and very distrusting of anyone that came by. I didn’t think he would ever do anything to harm his own mother though. Still, I should have noticed his ability to turn into …”
“A psycho bitch,” Antony confesses, although the expressions on Jeremy’s and Brandon’s faces are barely phased by the discussion. I don’t know why, but it makes me angry that they have no feelings for my mother, not that they should have feelings for someone they obviously never knew, but you would think John’s pain would be heartbreaking enough to them.
“Well, I guess ‘psycho bitch’ would be about as perfect of a description as any for Michael. Now that fuck is running things and growing in power every day.” John swears, returning to his meal with a huff.
“That’s why we are here.” Antony steps in, way too eager.
“No, we are here to scope things out and decide how to best move against him if possible,” I remind him.
“Dace, fuck! We are here. Let’s be done with this bullshit and come back to life with an explosion. Do you have any idea what he had planned for me?” Antony puts his finger in my face as if I would respond better to his new stance. “Let me tell you …”
“Back off, Antony. Considering what he planned for Austin and me, I don’t even want to imagine. We will take care of him but not at the expense of our lives.”
“Dace, will you stop living in a dream! You’re not dead, so stop acting like you are. Stop running from him. He’s only a man, not some god you should be bowing down to with respect.”
“Respect?! Antony this has nothing to do with respecting Michael. It does, however, have everything to do with respecting what he is capable of.”
“Michael is too busy congratulating himself to see us coming.”
“Antony …”
John interrupts us with a fist slamming to the table. “Enough! I think what Dace means is that we should not rush in foolishly but think out our best approach so no one has to risk their lives. Now, let’s talk about our plans for Michael that may make Antony and everyone else feel better about what we are doing. Dace … you are the one that has orchestrated most of this. What are your thoughts?”
Antony looks my way seeming to be shocked that I have any plan at all. “Yes, Antony, I have been working on more than pretending to be dead.”
Antony leans forward and gives me a wink like the smartass he is. “Then, brother, tell me. What’s your plan?”
We can never stay mad at each other, and my smile verifies that we are always good. “Alright, so there are five stages to this take down: Respect, job, freedom, money, and life. First, we are going to destroy his reputation and take away any respect he may have with the public. We can’t very well destroy someone who everyone loves. Doing so will only bring all hell down on us, so we need to first destroy that love so no one will want such a low life representing them. Then, his own supporters will help take his job from him. Once he has no reputation and no job, we start going after his freedom. That’s where Austin’s brother will come in and begin to put the heat on him and his associates. No one is going to deal with Michael if the cops are on him constantly. He won’t be able to make a move without being watched either by the police or us. We’ll wait for him to make a mistake and then make sure the world knows about it. Once he is arrested for one of the many things we all know he is guilty of, then we’ll wait for him to try and run. Michael on the run is right where we want him—away from the public eye and more of a nuisance to the government than they care to deal with. An empty throne is much easier to maintain than one holding a problematic pain in the ass as he is now. There is nothing stopping us from finishing him for good, and the best part is no one will care if he’s gone. Everyone will simply assume he pissed off one of his lawless associates and forget about him.”
“I like it! Okay, so when do we start and how do I get a front row view of it?” Antony asks.
“Believe it or not, this part is going to be a lot of fun because it is going to be that easy. And yes, you will get your front row seat. I might even throw in some popcorn if you’re lucky. But seriously, you’ll be there because you have to be there,” I say with pride.
Chapter 13
Michael
A routine day as always. Kailyn bends over for me and promises never to wear underwear again so I do not have to spend unnecessary time undressing her before ripping into her. She does her usual begging for her stupid recommendation letter for college, and I do my usual laughing at her until she finally shuts her stupid mouth. Her whining is interrupted by Rowen showing up expectantly.
“I need to talk to you,” he says abruptly, ushering Kailyn out the door and bringing in another man who looks as if he is trying out for a part in The Walking Dead. I groan at the sight of the man and expect a quick explanation as Rowen shuts my office door.
“You better have a good reason for bringing this into my office so early in the morning.”
“I do, and it’s not good. This one is the only one to make it out alive after attacking Antony’s little friend.” I squint my eyes, not understanding. “Your brother showed up with some friends and started a war we weren’t prepared for.”
“They were professionals! We thought we had him, even when your brother showed up and tried to defend that guy you hired us to beat up real good. When he jumped out of the dark, Mr. Corley signaled the rest of us to jump out, and we were ready for him, I swear. But then, there was this explosion.”
“Explosion?” I ask.
“Yeah, your brother, he shot one of them charging stations, and then he ran. We were right on them, but he had people there to shoot us from behind. Guys were going down all around me. I had to climb under a car to keep shooting.”
“And?! Is he dead? Is he somewhere locked up waiting for me to beat the hell out of him? Because I would hate to hear that my sweet brother is alive and well after destroying a whole team of men I sent after him.” Standing up, I look up at the ceiling, trying to get a hold of myself before I kill them both. “Tell me that you didn’t fail. Tell me that two fairies didn’t outwit all of you!”
“Yes, sir. He’s dead. The two got caught in the crossfire and died too. I watched them fall, and your brother he was coughing up blood and everything. No way he lived. No way. I don’t know who they were, but they shot Corley right between the eyes. He didn’t even get a chance to run. It’s like they knew he was leading us. I’m so sorry about how it happened, but it was professional. It had to be. They didn’t miss anything.”
“Then how did you make out alive?” I ask.
“I … I, I told you. I climbed under that car and then when it was over, I snuck out a side door and ran. I kept running until Mr. Rowen picked me up. I was so scared that they would come after me.”
“You were scared of them?” I laugh. “He was scared of them, Rowen. Can you believe that?” I lean towards the fool. “You should be scared of me.” I glance towards Rowen, and he nods. The two leave, and within a few hours, I am informed that the lucky survivor…well, his luck ran out.
Not long after, my old friend, Aaron Reed, drops by my office. I put on a friendly face when he walks in, but he is neither amused nor interested in a handshake even. “What can I do for you, Aaron?”
“A man that works for you was killed by a train today.”
“That’s terrible. Who was it? I will need to send his family my regrets.”
“Does it really matter what his name is Mikey? He fell onto the train tracks and couldn’t get out of the way fast enough before it came in and spl
attered him. It seems to be suicide as he stood there and waited. Witnesses said he called out to the train as if it was the light of an angel. Although, I have a feeling it was the drugs that were forced into his body that made him hallucinate that the train was the angels coming for him. You see, we found his arm and a leg, both with fresh, bloodied, and bruised needle marks. You see, though, that’s not what really bothers me, Mikey. What bothers me is that he’s not the first man of yours lately to disappear. He just so happens to be the first one to actually leave his dead body behind for us to find.” I shake my head in confusion. “Yeah, you don’t know anything. Some of your most dedicated men have disappeared. Just gone! And yet you are still here without a scratch, doing your little campaign stops, smiling and waving without a care in the world. You’re a good actor maybe, because I can only imagine what has happened to your men doesn’t have you swimming in all kinds of doubt. Who would do this so boldly? Must be someone who isn’t the least bit scared of you. You must be wondering how powerful they must be, to be so sure of themselves.”
He keeps talking, and I keep smiling. “I’m glad to know you are keeping such a close watch on me and my men, Officer Reed.”
“Oh Mikey, I am always watching you. Believe that.” That idiot smiles with an annoying optimism.
“Thanks for stopping by, but I have important meetings to get to, so if you could see your way out.”
“Meetings? Yeah, I bet you have to have a lot of those to practice all that smiling and waving and bullshit that you fling at everyone.” He laughs, mocking me, daring me to say the wrong thing to him.
“Ha, ha. Yeah, it takes a lot of practice to be me Aaron.”
“I bet, Mikey. I bet it does. Have a good day,” he says, walking out with one of his cheerful, annoying dance steps.
Once he leaves, I make a call to Rowen. “Have you found it yet? I don’t care what else you have to do! I want that key! My father surely left it within all that mess, so find someone that can break those codes and find it. I can’t get control without it, and I need to get it before Ettore finds it somehow. It’s there somewhere! What did you just say to me? I can’t believe you just mentioned his name. Dace was good, maybe, but his death was important enough. Besides, he’s not the only one who can break codes, especially my father’s. He wasn’t that intelligent of a man to bury something that well, I don’t care how important it is. Find me that key! Now!” When I hang up with him, my frustrations reach a level I can’t control, and I find myself needing to take it out on something, or someone. “Kailyn! Get in here!” I draw the shades and alert my guards to keep everyone away for a while. She walks in shaking already, with good reason. “No reason to be scared. I just want to try some new things with you.”
A couple hours later, I feel better about things. I enjoyed my fun with Kailyn, smacking her bare ass with pride before unlocking her restraints. Although, I may have to find someone else soon. Her same old cries and pleas are getting tired and boring. “You are really starting to annoy me. All this whining and crying is making this less enjoyable for me. I liked it better when you tried to run and hide from me. At least that was somewhat entertaining. Can you do that again? This time, don’t go to the bus station and try to catch a bus out of town. That’s so teen movie of the week. No, this time, try something new, like … get an old boyfriend involved so I get to beat someone without worrying about visible bruises. Then, I can be the hero that saves you and brings you back. We could have a press conference, your family there thanking me, you worshiping me. It’ll be great, and then afterwards, you can show me your appreciation by having sex with me and another woman of my choosing. I think that would be the least you could do for me.”
Kailyn begins crying again. “Please, just let me go. I can’t take any more of this. I don’t even care about college. I just want to be left alone.”
“Well that’s good because you aren’t smart enough to make it even in junior college. I suggest working those looks for as long as you can, marry some rich old guy before it’s too late. Oh, I know a guy if you are interested in putting on a birthday party for him? Hell, that man would pay you to do a lot of things, pay me too for handing you over … hmmm.”
“No, no please. Why are you doing this to me?” she cries, falling to her knees in an absurd amount of drama.
“I tell you what, if you want out that’s fine. Hell, I will even write that recommendation letter for you.” I wait until she looks up with that glimmer of hope. “All you have to do is bring me someone to replace you. Scratch that, make it two somebodies. One just isn’t enough to satisfy anymore. I am getting bored. Find me someone with some fight in them. Sometimes I really miss my dearly departed wife. She was a pain in the ass, and I wish like hell to have fucked her, but at least she kept my life interesting. And I had hoped that I would finally wear her down or tie her down, whatever, and teach that woman how to satisfy me.”
The suddenly bold imbecile stands up tall to me and laughs. “Satisfy you? I guess tying them up is the only option you have since you have never been able to satisfy a woman in your life. Your ex probably avoided you because she saw what little you have to offer.”
“Excuse me, are you wanting to die?”
“Yeah, I mean, your first wife cheated on you time and time again. Your second preferred to be dead with your brother than spend another minute with you. You must be the most pathetic man sexually ever. You did have to rape me in order to get my attention. I assume that’s what you have to do to get any woman’s attention. You’re a subpar rapist with no amount of ability to charm even a sex addict into bed.”
I laugh, shaking my head while I walk towards her and begin expressing my feelings for her disrespect. “You will learn how to respect me or you will be permanently lost to everyone.”
“My sister is a cop. She will hunt you down and kill you if anything happens to me,” she boasts, obviously not understanding my power.
I knock her to the ground, kicking her until my frustrations are worked out and I can smile again. Laughing hysterically, I bend down to the disgusting mess on the floor. “See now you’re thinking. I need a new challenge and another female cop to kill? What a wonderful idea to keep me entertained. Go ahead and tell your sister everything. Neither of you will live ten seconds after discussing it. Face it, beauty queen, you’re mine for life. There is no way out for you unless you get me some replacements.” I call for my security team to have her escorted back home, but before they can get her out of the building, the dumbass gets away from them and runs up to the roof of my building and jumps. I watch her fall as I talk with the city mayor about an upcoming event. “The noise? Oh it was nothing important. Yeah, I am looking forward to the dinner too,” I ramble off while I watch the gathering of people around the broken body of my old assistant.
“Sir, your driver is here, and your date is downstairs and …” My advisor and most trusted employee, Kane, tells me.
“My date? And who exactly am I supposed to be dating now?” Damn I hate these boring women he keeps setting me up with.
“A Ms. Sandra Warren, the daughter of Blake Warren of Warren Chemicals,” he says, reminding of a large contributor to my campaign.
“Oh, is she friendly?” He gives me a sigh. “Great, another tight ass bitch to deal with.”
“Sorry sir, but she has been quite insistent in getting to know you. You met her at the Children’s Hospital benefit a month ago.” I shrug with a shake of my head because I don’t recall her at all. I do remember that nurse I took home after though. Fucking her was an all-night affair. “She was the one with the brown …” I roll my eyes, and he sighs. “Okay, maybe she’s not that memorable amongst the crowd, but she’s not bad looking.”
“Not bad looking? Give me the rundown on what equates to ‘not bad looking’.”
“Well, she is slim, somewhat full breasts …” I eye him sharply. “Okay she’s a B possibly a small C cup size, a four dress size, not much of an ass, clean medium skin tone, and b
rown hair that she wears short and respectable. Basically, she’s a solid five in the looks department without her money, but with money, she is able to dress herself up to a respectable eight, I think.” He thinks? That means at best she is a four and only if she is wearing enough makeup to hide her true face.