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“Baby, what is going on?” Luxury whispers.
“The gardener—” Alba begins.
“He is not a gardener. You two, go inside.” My eyes never leave my target. Luxury attempts to take my hand. She speaks, worry in her tone, but I don’t hear her words. I bark an order for her to go. Alba pulls her along.
Jackson settles on the steps of the gazebo. His eyes flit toward me and to the gun in my hand.
He lets out a whistle of approval, speaking with a southern drawl. “Now, I ain’t ever been the kind to get jealous over another guy. But man, has X-Member treated you real good.”
“No, they have not.”
“Then what in the Sam Hill possessed you to come and wrangle with me for half of my missions?” He gives a low chuckle. “Do you know why I’m here?”
“You were on vacation when a slew of arseholes came for me last October?” I shrug. “Now, you’ve caught up?”
“Nah. I wasn’t. A few months back, I retired. Yesterday, I got a call. I’m guessing nobody wants to take your sorry ass out these days. So, I just put two and two together. The girl, she has similar features of the man you were to kill,” he says observantly and then stands back up. “But the old man’s mark was canceled, and X-Member ceased the free-for-all. Now, your head is worth 2.7 million dollars.”
I quickly convert the amount to euros.
“Bollocks. Overton,” I reply through gritted teeth. It’s the exact payout he received when I took over his shop.
Jackson nods. “Yeah. I supposed the irregular dollar amount would mean something to you. Now, I could continue with the assignment as is and murder you or,” Jackson looks around at my vast lands, “I could disappear with much more than a few measly millions.”
I chew my lip in consideration. “Like me, you don’t do it for the money.”
“That is true.” He starts to back away. “Like you, I’ve met a very beautiful woman. But taking you out would be dandy.” Jackson quickly deters my worry that other members will be coming after me. “I took the assignment as the sole executioner.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll handle Overton.” If Jackson were any other person, I wouldn’t trust him. As a fellow sharpshooter, we have a code that goes beyond any binding loyalties, such as Jackson’s good standing with X-Member.
“That’s good. I’ll mark the assignment as complete then.”
“For your troubles, I’ll have my assistant ensure you truly enjoy your retirement.” With that, we shake hands and part ways.
36
Luxury
“Dear Diary, I just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I’ll do this all over again to have her. Still, I can’t help wondering,” as I read Momma’s diary, my voice cracks, “did I make a mistake?”
My hands tremble as she details how she adored the sight of Charles holding me as a baby.
Pages upon pages are dedicated to Charles, vaulting my mixed emotions. He went to work for Nexus, a health company that manufactured pacemakers. She wrote,Jonah, the love of my life, made the sacrifice of moving to the Bronx. Relinquishing his three-million-dollar apartment in Manhattan, so his new wife could live close to her ill parents.
I dig through the past. While both men held equally prestigious positions, Dad may not have been around much. God, it’s strange how we recall high-impact moments.
I remember the first time kids bullied me in kindergarten. Momma brushed the tears away. Uncle Red treated me like a pretty princess, bought me a new dress, and I experienced opulence at my very first tearoom. Dad . . . I can’t friggen recall.
“Through the years, I learned to keep my distance. You could call me the running man as it pertains to Dr. Charles Everhart—” I slam the diary shut.
Luxxie, maybe your parents’ relationship wasn’t some old-school sitcom complete with heart-to-hearts and lessons learned. Open the fucking diary.
Squaring my shoulders, I read how I called Uncle RedDadat my fifth birthday party because my father was nowhere to be found when it was time to cut the cake. Every page I suffer through, assessing it as if my body has a lie detector built inside of it.
One day he asked her, and she noted it all down:Why didn’t you choose me, Gina, huh? We went on your first date, for goodness’ sake. If Jonah blew you off on your very first date, what does that tell you?
Momma’s musings have brought me to the brink of laughter, tears, and reminiscing on a time long ago. Now, the coiling in my abdomen and the constricting of my jaw muscles begin to lessen. It appears Gina and Charles were skirting the line for a while. Maybe he was a calming shoulder when Dad was too busy, trying to save the world. Funny, they both worked for different companies with the same mission—saving hearts.
Except, Charles always made it a habit to draw near Momma. Heck, he was the first person to make me believe that having freckles wasn’t such a bad thing.
