Page 29 of Before the Fall
My uncle strokes his chin and purses his lips like he’s deep in thought. Since this is Victor Varens in front of me, that’s highly unlikely. He doesn’t have morons working for him out of chance. He collects these jackholes because he sees something of himself in them.
I wait, assuming what he’s about to say is going to be something either incredibly stupid or stupendously ridiculous. Either way, I’m not pulling any punches with him. I don’t believe he’s going to kill me, so a little more torture from his flunky over there won’t be too much for me to handle.
Finally, he sighs loudly, and I know he’s figured out what he wants from me.
“So, tough luck about that girlfriend of yours, huh?”
He watches me closely to monitor my reaction so he can see if he’s hit a nerve. It’s almost insulting that he doesn’t think I know what he’s doing. The fucker was the one who taught me the job. Does he think Tweedle Dum over there beat my memories out of me?
“You’re wasting your time, Victor. If all you have is dangling my girlfriend’s death in front of me to see if you can get a reaction, you better go back to the drawing board and figure out a better tactic.”
Merely saying the words my girlfriend’s death makes my chest hurt, but I don’t let him see that. If he notices even a tiny twitch in my expression, he’ll exploit it for all he’s got. I know how this works. Fuck, I’ve done the same thing myself. You’d think he’d remember that.
See, that’s the problem with this guy. It’s where Ryker has it all over him in spades. Yes, Ryker is a softer touch when it comes to business, but killing everyone who pisses you off is no way to run things. Being civilized never hurts a man, but Victor here didn’t get that memo, so he’s still living like it’s the goddamned stone age.
He hums for a moment, processing my answer and wondering if it’s simply bravado, no doubt. Then he says, “I thought you cared about that girl. I know Michael did. At least for a little while until I made him see he had a world to conquer and one sweet piece of ass wasn’t going to be enough for the future head of the Varens family.”
I smile, trying not to laugh when I say, “How’d that work out for him?”
The fact that he’s dead and conquering nobody answers that question.
“The same way it’s going to work out for you, son.”
Shaking my head, I work to keep my temper under control. “I’m not your son. I’m your nephew, and to be honest, someone who’s tired of these fucking games you’re trying to play with me. If you’re going to do something, fucking do it. Stop pissing around.”
I probably let out a little too much of my emotions in that little speech, but to hell with him. I don’t believe for a goddamned second that Tia is dead, so whatever he thinks he’s going to do to me by claiming she is means nothing. And bringing up his son who happened to date her before me is bullshit, and he knows it.
Victor leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest. “Direct and to the point. I like that. Fine, here’s how it’s going to work. No, I don’t want to kill you. I want you to kill someone for me. And no, not my brother or Cason.”
I’m intrigued. He wants me to be his killer but not for the two people I thought were top on his list. Who does he want taken care of?
He stands and points at the shithead across the room. “Dickie here will give you all the details. Do what I want, and you’ll be free from me for the rest of your life.”
I’m barely listening after hearing my tormentor for the past few hours was a guy named Dickie. “Are you serious? Dickie? So I guess I wasn’t wrong when I was thinking he was a dick.”
“Funny. Just do as I want and you’re free and clear.”
My uncle begins to walk away, but I say, “That makes no sense. You know what’s going to happen, Victor. Letting me go isn’t going to stop that. What are you doing?”
“I have a job for you to do. You want to do this to stay alive. It’s that simple. So do it and move on with your life. Find a new girl. Have some kids. Buy a house and get a nice lawnmower to take care of the grass. You seem like the kind of guy who thinks that’s the type of life you want, so I’m giving you a free pass to go get it. Just kill this one person and you’re out.”
None of what he’s saying makes sense. I’m sure when I hear the name it’s going to be Ryker or someone else in my family I care about.
“And if I refuse?”
Victor smiles. “Then I’m going to let you walk out of this house, and by the time you get to the street, Dickie here is going to put a bullet into the back of your head. And before you say you know I don’t want to kill you, that’s true. I don’t. But I will if you don’t do what I want.”
Typical Victor. He won’t kill me because of how much he loved my father, but he’ll have someone else do it so he can feel like he had no part in my death.
“Fine. Who is it you want me to take care of?”
He walks back to stand in front of me and gives me one of those crocodile smiles I know so well from him. I swear to God this guy gets off on this shit.
“Well, since your girlfriend is dead, you won’t have any problem killing her father for me now, will you? Remember, this is your ticket to freedom, Jaxon. That’s what you want, isn’t it? It’s why you walked away from that pretty girl from North Carolina. You can’t have her, unfortunately, but you can have another one, and let’s be honest here, man to man. One woman is as good as another. They’re all the fucking same when they’re on their backs with their legs in the air.”
My emotions begin to get all tangled up inside me, threatening to expose how I truly feel about the possibility of Tia truly being gone and my killing her father as a favor for this fuck. I can’t let him see any of this bothers me, so I shrug and put on my best expression of disinterest I can muster.
“Fine, but don’t you have your own people to do this for you? I recall hearing you had a whole new group of guys working for you now,” I say as casually as possible, looking over at the idiot Dickie to make my point.