“Oh yes, here it is. It looks as though we can schedule everything to be transferred over by the fifteenth,” he says with excitement.
“Make it the first.”
“But that’s in two days.” He holds out his hands as if I should understand the ridiculousness of it.
“I know that. I want to move in on the first. I have a lot to do to get this place ready, and I need to do it as soon as possible.”
“While that’s understandable, we still have to meet the schedule of others in order to get all the paperwork handled properly. I can’t possibly arrange …”
“Who do I need to talk to in order to get this done?”
“Excuse me?” he asks.
“Who do I need to talk to in order to get this done by the first?” I say clearly and with a tone that he will understand.
“Hamilton Rich.” He hands me the man’s number.
I nod and make a call. “Hi, Hamilton Rich? This is Dace Colletto. Your man Sterling says that you can help me get moved in by the first rather than the fifteenth?” I listen with a smile as the man on the other end seems to understand my needs. “I thought you might be able to. Thank you.” I hang up with the man. “I’m moving in on the first. Make sure to have everything ready before I get here.” He nods and runs out of the place ahead of me. Not surprisingly, they have me ready to move in a day before the first. Sometimes, it serves you well to be a Colletto.
My new place is nearly set up the way I want it. Once I got the security issues worked out, I furnished the rest of the place minimally for my comfort. Concentrating on the bed area and making sure it has its own privacy from the rest of the space, add a secure room for me to keep my computer and security links in, and the place is perfect. It was a late night securing my new home, so of course, my first visitors decide to show up a little earlier than I intended to get up. I check my cameras and allow them up before opening the door to two smiling faces. “Do you know how early it is?” I ask.
“Early? Damn, little brother, you need to get your schedule straight. Things get going around here at the crack of dawn, and you better be ready before it does,” Michael says as he admires my new loft.
“I’m ready, I am always ready. I don’t have to be awake to be prepared. For instance, I know you had men trying to sneak in a few hours ago.” I glance over at Michael as he looks at me in shock. “Next time, tell them to turn their cell phones off. My system tracked them as soon as they got within a hundred feet.” I laugh, remembering the dumbasses jumping around as their phones began malfunctioning.
“Damn it, Dace! They are some of my best men, and you …”
“Oh stop whining. They’ll be okay. A little minor electrocution never hurt anyone.” My brother rolls his eyes while Antony crashes into my sofa, laughing.
“Don’t encourage him, Antony. I swear I am not excited about you two being back together causing trouble. Aunt Terri told me all about the trouble you two would get into.”
“Aunt Terri was a bitch. We snuck out to get away from her,” Antony says, walking over to the bar and grabbing an apple with a wink in my direction.
“She was a sweet lady. You two never appreciated what she had to give up to take care of you.”
“Give up? What could she have possibly given up? She never went anywhere, never cooked. She never cleaned; thankfully, she paid someone to do that. She slept with any man that would have her, whether we were there or not, and she never missed one of her shows on her favorite big screen TV. Shut up kids! I’m watching my program!” I mock her.
“Don’t forget the money,” Antony reminds me.
“Oh yeah! She had to give up that shit job and crappy apartment to move into that brand new home that Father bought for her and get paid how many thousands a month to take care of us? Oh yeah, she really suffered.”
Michael sighs deeply. “Two peas in a pod as always. I’m not going to bother trying to defend family, but she did develop some kind of bad cancer after you two left. I thought maybe one of you would go back to …” Michael exhales harshly as we both laugh so hard tears come to our eyes. “Anyway, I need you two to check out this business for me,” he says, handing me a piece of paper with a name and address on it. “I think they are a front for the Aksakovs. Ettore is concerned about them.”
“The Aksakovs?”
“Yeah, a new Russian alliance that has moved in the last few years. We are afraid they are aligning with the Robiks, but for now, they seem to be acting on their own. Once you get that done, you can go meet with Ettore and let him know the details. I have to distance myself a little from him and this Aksakovs mess now that this campaign is starting to pick up. If I try to tell Ettore to keep a low profile, he will do the opposite and do whatever he can to tell me to fuck off.”
“So you two still get along like oil and water?” I ask. The two have fought since I can remember. They supposedly got a long when they were kids, but at some point, their relationship became tense, I assume because of our father.
“You know I love him and have tried everything to get closer to him, but I’m afraid this political career I have chosen has pushed him that much farther from the family. The other day at lunch, with you, was the first time we have sat down together in months.”
“And even longer since they both have been in the same room without screaming at each other,” Antony adds.
“Don’t ask why. I surely don’t know,” Michael says as if he really doesn’t know. Michael has been Father’s favorite since he was born, and Ettore has been the forever-forgotten middle child. Michael is the smart one, the handsome one; he’s compassionate and adored by everyone who meets him. He even has my mother’s blond hair, setting him apart from the rest of us. It was like the heavens decided the light should shine down on his head and for the rest of us to live in the shadows of his glowing halo. He was the perfect prince to inherit the kingdom, and Ettore was the perfect background jester. Outside of his bad luck with being born into this family, which has cursed anyone who gets near him, Michael lives a charmed life. He glances at his phone as it beeps. “Damn, this day is getting away from me already. I need to go. I have a lunch meeting on the other side of town with the chief of police. Call me if you find out anything unusual.” Michael oddly rushes out of the loft with nothing more than a hand wave goodbye.
“What the hell was that about? He’s meeting with the cops now? Since when does anyone in our family seek out cops?” I ask Antony.
“I don’t know. He’s been acting weird for the last few months, but at least he isn’t sulking anymore. I swear, after Wendy died, he was so depressing to be around that I almost wanted to slit my own wrists. Have you even seen Sage since you have been back?” I shake my head. “You really need to. She’s absolutely adorable. She’s in desperate need of a mother, attention of any kind that isn’t from a nanny. Michael is a really good father. He would give his life for that little girl, but he should be around for her more. He’s too much like Father. I think that’s why he is trying to do this whole politician thing and make a clean living for her.”
“I could see him being a good father. He always handled us like we were his kids rather than brothers.”
Antony nods, “Mom used to tell me that he would come into our rooms when we were babies to look after us and make sure we were okay. She caught him, one day, taking me out of my crib and calming me down before putting me back to bed. Yeah, he’s a strange one. Hell, outside of Sage, I don’t think I can get near a child without breaking out in hives. They’re scary little creatures,” Antony says as I laugh.
“Oh yeah, kids, they are real scary.” I shuffle his hair laughing. “Come on little brother. Let’s get to work.”
“Before we do that, tell me something … why did you pick here of all places to move into? It wouldn’t happen to be because of a pretty blond you met, would it?” he asks, thinking he knows a secret of mine. “You know she doesn’t like you.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I li
ke the neighborhood is all, and the building security is amazing.”
“Yeah, secure from everyone but you.”
“No place can be perfect.” I smile.
“Next time, call me rather than walking into a poor unsuspecting woman’s home with a gun and scaring her to death.”
“She wasn’t scared. She should have been, considering she knew I had a gun, but she wasn’t. She is rather… interesting for a woman. She sized me up and knew everything about me within seconds. What does she do?”
“I don’t know much other than she works for the city. Preston says she works a lot, real dedicated to her job apparently, and doesn’t get out much.”
“A hottie like that, and she isn’t getting laid constantly? That’s a shame.”
“Uh – huh, a real shame,” he says, shaking his head at me.
“Don’t worry, I am only curious.”
“If I know you, it is more than curiosity. Hey, how about once we are done we go get a drink and satisfy some of that curiosity with someone other than my boyfriend’s roommate?” I cock my head, giving him an awkward look. “It doesn’t have to be a gay bar, but you know you would get a lot of play in that arena. Tall, dark, and mysterious is like a gay magnet. Not to mention that wavy hair and sensitive eyes, whew baby!”
“Oh yeah, is that how you work it?”
“Hell Baby, I am in a committed relationship now.”
“And I am sure you had him checked out before you spent countless nights with him alone?”
“Why are you so distrusting of everyone? You need to learn to trust your heart, Dace,” he says, smacking my face. “And it wouldn’t hurt to shave once in a while.”
I rub my face. “You think if I do Austin will like me more?”
“No, but I will. You’re bringing down my status with that crazy Grizzly Adams look.”
“Well we can’t have that,” I laugh, going to the bathroom to do as asked.
Chapter 8
Austin
The day is just beginning, and already, I can hear my brother through my ear piece telling another one of his ridiculous stories. With all the trouble that boy gets into, I am shocked he has made it this far in life. Then again, I have been right behind him ever since we were born, keeping him from jumping into any major trouble, at least until we went into the military and were separated for our own good. Aaron wouldn’t allow anyone to get out of line with me, and being one of the few women on base and the only blond, I got a lot of hell from the other men, and Aaron got into a lot of fights because of it. They sent him away, and I stayed behind, learning to fight my own battles for once. With the help of an understanding Major, I learned a new way to fight to make sure any trouble I would encounter would end quickly. For our own good, we learned to survive without each other, but it didn’t keep us from joining the force together or the same station.
Aaron continues his story with amusement. “So there I was, no shirt, no shoes, no pants, and my top hat … and that damn rabbit, trying to get a cab.”
“I can’t believe any cab in the city would ever pick your dumbass up,” Billy, his best friend and partner since they both graduated from the academy, says with a laugh and surely shaking his head as he always does at my idiot brother.
“Her name was Sylvia Crawley, and she was an illegal immigrant running from an arranged marriage. She was a former beauty queen with a sex addiction. I am telling you, she was drop dead gorgeous and the only ride available. I didn’t have any money to pay for the cab, obviously, and she refused to drive me anywhere until I paid for the ride somehow … so there I was, sitting in the backseat with my rabbit and my top hat ready and willing to do whatever I needed to get back home. It was clearly time to do my magic, so I put my rabbit to the side and put my top hat on my head and … abracadabra Ms. Crawley.”
“Oh shut up!” Billy yells at him. “You are so full of shit! A rabbit and a top hat!? I swear, I will never understand where you come up with that bullshit.” Jamee and I sit next to each other laughing. “When is this son of a bitch going to show up anyway? I can’t take much more of this. It’s been two days, and if I hear another Aaron Reed fantasy story I am going to go insane.”
“I thought you liked my stories?” Aaron asks.
“And I thought the Reed twins were two girls when I agreed to be your partner; otherwise, I would have chosen Austin.”
“That hurts. I look much better in heels than Austin.”
“You look better and can walk better too,” Jamee, my partner, chimes in.
“Hey! I may not be able to walk in heels, but I can certainly look better in them than him.”
“Hold up, people. There he is,” Aaron says. “Alright, Austin, you and Jamee take the south side entrance, and Billy and I will go in through the north side.”
Easing out of the car, Jamee and I creep in and block the exit while my brother and Billy flush the murderer, Masterson, out of his hideout. We have been looking for him for three months and finally got a lead from his scared shitless mother. I guess she got tired of worrying if her son would come and put her home at risk of being raided.
These are the moments that drive me, the moments that get my heart going and my blood pumping, waiting for the unknown. I pride myself on thinking like a criminal, figuring out how I would escape and going there to wait for them. Then, I hear it, the yelling, the gunshots, and the shuffling of feet running towards us. I move fast and wait, watching for him until he steps around the corner, looking for us. He shoots everywhere, trying to get out the door before we can get to him, only he misses the one place I knew he would. He gets by Jamee with no problem, and she gives up the chase when he turns to shoot her. He gets past the stairs and runs right into my path at the door. I take him down and wrestle him to the ground, fighting for his gun.
“You got one choice. Surrender now or take your chances on getting out of here alive? And you know damn well you don’t stand a chance to make it to your car from here before I shoot you. Trust me, I have no problem shooting a coward like you in the head,” I reason with the man who killed his own child and ex-girlfriend before killing her new husband.
“Fuck you!” he yells, punching me in the ribs and pushing me away. He makes it to his feet and runs. I take out my gun and shoot him in the leg, bringing him down wailing about the pain.
I tie his hands and smile. “No, fuck you! Now you have pissed me off. No easy death for you. Instead, you can enjoy the confines of your cell for years thinking about the needle that will be coming for you. You’re under arrest, you son of a bitch.” Not giving a shit about my prisoner’s bleeding leg, I shove him in front of me and walk him to the front of the building. My brother fist pumps before high-fiving me.
“Well done, Sis. Damn! My sister is a badass!” Aaron exclaims.
Masterson is surely locked safely away until his death. After a long three days searching for that murderous bastard, I am in the mood to celebrate tonight, but Preston is already out celebrating by the time I get home, so I guess it is going to be just me tonight. I get into my comfortable sweats and begin making dinner, but I have a craving for some wine, which we don’t have. No problem. I will simply run down to the market, and maybe I can find a movie to rent while I am out. With my hair tied up on my head, I throw on some shoes and a coat and walk down to the nearby market. I pick up some wine and some chocolate, too, before searching for a movie at the rental box.
“That online dating thing not working out, huh?” Even though I am afraid to look off to my side, I do so anyway and see him smiling at me and looking way better than I remember. “Nice outfit, and oh, with your man shoes too? Always a classic.”
“What are you doing here, Dace? Following me?”
“No. Why would I do that? I am getting some wine for my date,” he says as a beautiful woman, looking over my questionable attire with a scrunch of her nose, walks up to his side. I fidget my outfit into some kind of respectable order while trying to hide underneath the hood of my coat.
“Honey, this is a neighbor of mine, Austin.”
“Neighbor?” I ask.
“How do you do?” the woman says, nodding towards me.
“Neighbor? You live in my building now? But you can’t.”
Dace smiles wide. “You said it yourself, it’s worth spending the money for such a secure building. Thanks for the advice. I’ll see you later. Enjoy your movie and wine, and try not to get into too much trouble.”
“No. Nooo. Oh no,” I say repeatedly as he walks away with a smile. “Oh damn, there goes my celebratory mood. Now I need the wine for a whole new reason.”
This morning, I wake up and go through my usual routine before running into him on the elevator, again. I swear, this is becoming too much. I think I am going to have to move. It’s like he knows whenever I am coming and going. What did he do? Tap into the building security cameras or something?
“Morning,” he says, happily, in his incredibly fitted jeans, richly tailored biker jacket, and smelling like a man, a well-cared for man. He may be a criminal, but there’s no harm in admiring him from afar for now. I take him in, close my eyes, and then open them back again to see his amorous blue eyes watching me. “Enjoying yourself?”
“What? No, I am just thinking about … pushing you off the building,” I say proudly.
“Ah, that’s sweet.”
“That’s an expensive jacket.”
“I wouldn’t know. I found it.”
“Liar. How do you afford such things?” I ask as the elevator doors open.