"After you, hell should be easy"
-Unknown
***
"We need to have a serious sit down." He told me as he walked around to the other side of his desk. "I know the things you've been doing."
"You say that as though you don't do those things yourself." I snap back at him.
"Val, listen to me." Listening. I've been doing that my whole life. Why should I anymore? "You don't understand the danger you've put us in."
No, I fully understand. "What are you talking about?"
"This man you killed last week? He belongs to someone. Someone dangerous. Someone you don't know the strength of." He stands from his desk. "By killing one of his men, you've put a target on our backs."
The man I've messed with is none other than Declan Love. And yes, he's dangerous. And yes, I killed one of his men on purpose. I want nothing to do with the man in front of me. But I also have no way to leave right now. Unless he's dead.
"Nolan, can you please not put all this stress on me." I say in the most monotone, sarcastic way I could. "Don't make me feel so-"
"I'm not fucking kidding!" He snaps. "Valerie, I don't think you understand the burden you've just put on me! Love is dangerous, and by doing what you fucking did you just put me and our entire team at a goddamn risk." He's talking with his hands now. He must be really mad. Flailing those things around like they aren't attached to his body.
"You say our team like I'm a part of it." I cross my arms over my chest and lean back against my chair.
I can't believe the man I'm looking at is my brother. He is nowhere close to the person I grew up with. He is now quite the opposite. I stand and head for the door. "I'm leaving."
He grabs my arm and pulls me back. "No the fuck you're not!"
All I have to do is look between me, and his hand roughly gripping my arm for him to let go of me. He knows what I'm thinking. What would Mom say?
It's a tactic I realize bides my time. I'm not sure how much longer it's going to work though.
I start to head toward the door. "You can't just do that too us." He says on my way out. I come to a dead stop, but don't turn around. "We're your family. I'm your family. And the only one you have left."
He sighs before he sits back down at his desk. I head him pick up the phone and start pressing buttons. "I hope you fix this."
I stop, chewing on my lip while I think about what he just said. But then I'm out the door.
I grew up with my vigilante parents, and my brother, Nolan. I was taught good and bad at a very very young age, I was raised to kill. And kill good. Nothing in between.
My father, Lucas Arrow, was known by a lot of people. He went to law school and became a lawyer. He was known by a lot of people that way considering he was such a good one. But once he realized how often these people get away with their crimes, he took his anger out on them. He learned. He progressed.
He met my mother, Betty soon after. He had killed a man for rape, and ran into my mother, who by some chance was trying to do the same thing. They got married, had Nolan, then, 15 years later, me. They raised us with the values they had. Hurt those who hurt others.
When I was 15, my parents died, killed in the process of trying to kill another. I went into custody of Nolan.
Nolan took over my father's business. He hired all new people and started giving out cases to them. Now, with his authority, he tries to control every aspect of my life. I'm tired of it.
So yeah, I picked a fight with Declan Love. But I was good enough to ensure that he wouldn't find out it was me. Just someone from my brother's business. Therefore, he'd go after my brother.
"So you're the pretty thing who killed one of my men." I look up from the ground to see a tall, brunette man in a suit, leaning against my car. His arms were crossed and his ankles the same. He had a smirk on his face that looked as though he'd been waiting to say that for a long time.
I'd heard stories of Declan Love for years, but never seen him. I didn't expect him to be attractive, that's for sure.
"Excuse me?" I said. He can't be serious. No way he knows it was me. He's trying to screw with me.
He chuckles. "Don't think I don't know, Angel." His accent pipes in heavily with his words. He tosses the ring in the air and catches it. Then holds it out to me. "Valerie Arrow. The one and only." He smirked that god awful smirk. I wanted to shoot it off his face.
I take the ring and examine it. The one I prestigiously left at the scene. It had my family crest on it. The ring every single one of Nolan's men have to wear. It was a way of marking his territory. It was my ring. "This isn't mine." I said, tossing it back to Declan. "You've got the wrong person."
He hums in response. I walk around him towards the driver's seat, ignoring his presence. He catches me, though. A hand on my waist, he pulls me to him. "You shouldn't lie to me, baby. It's not a good look for you." He whispers.
Butterflies fill my stomach and I grab my gun from my waistband and aim it at his foot. I pull the trigger right as he pushes my hand away, my bullet shooting at the sky. "Don't test me, love. Or I'll give you a reason to shoot." He says in my ear.
He's good. Better than I thought. "What do you want with me?" I snap in his direction.
"More than you'll ever understand." He responds in a tone that leaves me speechless. "You know what I think?" I don't respond. He's gonna tell me anyway. "I think you're not particularly the biggest fan of Mr. Arrow. So you pick a fight with someone you know will obliterate him."
"That's not true." I say, through gritted teeth. This man is lucky I'm not killing him right now.
"Oh but it is, darling." He coos. "And as flattered as I am that you think this way of me, I'm afraid I can't kill your brother."
"So you're gonna kill me?" I snap back at him.
"Not unless you want me too." He flirts. I hate it. I hate him and his stupid smirk. I want to put a bullet in his head every time he does it.
I don't respond. I have no proper words for the moment. My anger is filling too much of me. I'm fighting the urge to kill him right now but that will put too much on my brother and I'm not that evil.
"You're lucky I'm not killing you right now." I snapped at him.
"It would be an honor to be slaughtered by you, my darling." he tells me, and for the first time drops his god awful smirk.
my phone rings. I step away from Declan.
"Hello?" I say, the device in my ear.
"Who are you with?" Nolan says. I turn around and look up. He's standing in the window of his office with his phone to his ear. Of course.
"Why does it matter?" I ask, side-stepping Declan and walking to the driver's side.
Declan eyes Nolan from the window, then gets in my car. I don't stop him. The danger, the adrenaline, the butterflies. It's exciting. Even though it will probably get me killed if I'm not smart enough.
"Because I'm your brother and I'm required to keep you safe. Who just got in your fucking car, Valerie?!" He seems angry now. Oh well.
"I think you've forgotten that we have had the same training. You are no more likely to keep me safe than I am. We are supposed to be equals Nolan-" He laughs. It's his angry laugh. The kind of laugh I heard when I was in trouble in High School.
"You know as well as I do we're not equals. If you pull out of this driveway I will send somebody to slash your tires. Get out of the car, and come inside. Leave the friend on his own." Nolan tries to negotiate, but the problem with his negotiations is that they're not ever fair. They almost always favor him.
"That's the difference between me and you," I start the car. "You send your men to do things for you," I start to reverse out of the driveway. "And I do things myself."
Before he has the chance to speak, I hung up, turned my phone on silent, tossed it in the back seat and started pulling out of the driveway. It's not until I've made it to the highway that I realize I'm speeding. My knuckles grip the steering wheel and my anger is taking over me.
"Valerie, slow down." I hear Declan say next to me.
"Why are you even in my fucking car right now?!" I snapped at him. "I killed one of your men so you just invite yourself into my life? I'm the one driving. I can choose to throw us both off a cliff right now if I wanted to and you wouldn't get the chance to get your fucking revenge I know you've been dying to give since you found out I was the one who-"
"Breaks....Breaks-breaks-breaks!" He yells as he reaches to the car ceiling and grabs the handle.
I slam my foot to the ground on the break. The light turned red and we almost hit the car in front of us. My hands are shaking. I'm staring at the car. It's a red Toyota Corolla and there is a baby in the back seat. I freeze. I could've just killed that child.
"Let me drive." Declan says from the passenger seat. I can't let him do that. He's gonna kill me.
"No." I tell him.
"You're way too angry right now, you almost killed that baby, let me drive." He sounds panicked. Did I manage to scare Declan Love? With my driving?
"Why do you care about killing babies? You're essentially some evil, heartless killer." I bicker at him.
"I'm a killer but I'm not evil or heartless, and neither are you. Let me drive." He starts to unbuckle his seat belt.
"You don't know anything about me." I grip the steering wheel tighter.
"I know that you're gonna kill us if you don't get out of the car right now before the light turns green again." I hesitate. He could take me anywhere. He could drive us off a cliff and I'd have no way to stop it. But I suppose my anger could do the same.
In one movement, I'm unbuckled and out of the car. We switch just in time for the light to flicker green again.
Declan accelerates and we're at a normal speed. I lean my head back against my seat and try to calm down. "Where am I headed?" He asks me.
"Wherever it is that you plan to take me." He glanced at me for just a second before his eyes came back to the road.
"I'm not gonna kill you. I already told you that." He turns off the highway. I look over at him. His green eyes paid close attention to the road as he drove. He was a careful driver. Not the type I'd expect from someone like him.
"Like I'm supposed to believe you? You know the business we work in. Don't act like I should just trust you because you said I should." He sighs and makes another left turn. I don't know where we're going. We're on the side of town I'm not allowed to be in.
The car ride goes silent for quite some time. I try to memorize the direction we're going so I know how to get back in case I'm able to escape.
We round the corner and that's when I see it.
"Your death awaits."
A/N:
alright my work here is done
I think I'm going to start releasing chapters for you guys once a week. Maybe every Saturday, which doesn't make sense because today is Tuesday, but you know. It's okay
I know since most of you horndogs are here for the smut, I will let you know it's coming. I'm not going to give too many spoilers, but I will say. It will be fairly soon.
Thank you for reading <3 Love you to death
Your's Truly,
November Clark