devil's advocate

trois

"O-of course Don let me just escort the girl out." Gripping my arm tighter he shoved me towards the door.

"The Woman stays." Three words were all it took for Victor to release me.

I cursed Victor seven ways to hell as my mind worked in overdrive on how to get out of there and kill him. But Victor was nearly pissing himself at the moment because he wasn't ready, nothing was ready. He didn't have a plan he didn't even have his men to protect him. He was face to face with the man he wanted to put a hit out on and he couldn't even look him in the eyes. Victor was truly alone at this moment and nobody would come to save him. Don Accardi could kill him right now but his death was already set in stone when he laid eyes on me.

"You had a proposition for me, Victor?" Victor didn't utter a word. "Well?" Nothing.

"If I may?" I propositioned slowly. His eyesight shifted over to me immediately before giving me a firm nod. By all means, I wasn't a snitch but I was smart enough to not cross this man in front of me. I wasn't sure what drew me in or what I wanted from him but I knew I didn't want him as my enemy.

"Dear Victor here wanted to cheat you on that deal and then put out a hit on you he-" There was no point in beating around the bush but Victor's frantic voice cut me off as he tried to remedy the actions he hadn't taken yet.

"Don I would never try to-" This time it was Santiago that cut him off. His sharp eyes grew dark as he looked at him.

"I don't recall asking you to speak Victor." His almond eyes looked back to me "Please continue Miss..." He trailed off waiting for a name. I was surprised he didn't know it already with his hackers on my ass or maybe he was just offering me the courtesy.

"Richards." I'd never had a last name so it wasn't difficult to pick a random one. I was always simply Jade and if I didn't want that I could be a ghost instead. His eyes glimmered with that same dark mischief from before. Of course, he knew I was lying about the name he didn't get to his position by not knowing when someone was lying. It was the same way he knew I wasn't lying when I said Victor wanted him killed.

"Do continue Miss Richards I'd love to hear what Mr.Perez here thought he could get away with." A small smirk fleetingly drew across his lips before it went back to his most likely always stone-cold facade.

"Thank you" I nodded in gratitude. "As I was saying he plans to put out a hit on you and take your position as Don." I had said it blandly the words meaning nothing as they fell from my lips but I guess it wasn't just nothing to Victor.

"You bitch!" Victor yelled as he pulled his arm back to the waistband of his trousers before pausing and looking at me.

"You looking for this?" I smirked while waving his gun around in my hand. "I'll give you some peace of mind before you go, Victor, Don Accardi isn't going to kill you." From my peripheral vision, I could see the amusement on his face as he watched the show before him. If Victor wasn't so enraged and filled with fear I knew the sigh of relief he gave would've been more visible. "On the other hand, I was sent here to do that exact job." Before he could protest my gun fired and sent a bullet straight through his skull the silencer I had done wonders for the noise, but his blood? Not so much. His blood billowed out around him as he dropped to the floor.  I stood near his body while carving my calling card out onto his chest before taking a picture and sending it to the man who commissioned his death. I watched the money flow into my account as I finally acknowledged the Don's presence again.

"Sorry for the mess Don Accardi." He waved it off before staring at me. I saw his eyes raking over my figure again watching as they stopped for a second on the cuff I wore. "It would seem that this is the second time I've saved your life." His lip twitched as he rumbled out an agreement.

"It would seem so, sadly you ran off the first time before I could give you my thanks." No thanks necessary I wanted to say but I held my tongue for the moment as he walked over to Victor's body. He picked at Victor's shirt and looked at the deep carving I gifted his once empty chest with.

"Saving my life twice," He huffed. "You might want to be careful darling, at this rate I might think you like me."

"In your dreams" I responded before thinking. My grip on my gun tightened in preparation in case he tried anything. He watched me for a moment before walking towards me I stepped back slightly only to make contact with his desk.

When the hell did I even get near his desk?

He didn't stop moving toward me and by the time I wanted to make a run for it, he was already in front of me. I could smell the faint scent of mahogany from his cologne and as he leaned toward me and reached for his desk his face was nearly touching mine. The whiskey he had mixed with his minty breath flowed through the minimal space between us. His arm caged me in on my left side while the other hand caressed the length of my right arm sensually before removing Victor's gun from my hand and instead placing it in his waistband.

He brought his large tattooed hand up and tucked my hair behind my ear before leaning into my ear and speaking. "And what lovely dreams they would be." My breathing caught in my throat for a second before he dropped his hands and backed off completely. "You're free to go Miss... Richards."

I didn't waste a second as I turned and left the room but if I had stayed I would've heard his following words and maybe If I wasn't struggling to breathe with him in my presence I would've noticed my arm cuff missing.

Words that came out and were set in stone the minute he thought them.

"I'll be seeing you soon."