Chapter One

~ Anthony ~

The small hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and I was getting a chill down my spine cold enough to make me shiver. That was never a good thing. Usually, when I felt that unsettling sensation, something bad was about to happen.

I picked up my pace, deciding that I needed to be somewhere else.

Anywhere else.

The stairs leading up to the elevated train station were just ahead. I hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time, needing to get to the top as quickly as I could.

Once I reached the top, I scanned the platform on both sides of the track. There were a couple of people, but they seemed lost in their own world, or their cell phones.

Making sure no one was watching me, I jumped up and grabbed the edge of the overhang covering the platform and then swung my body up. I laid flat as I could on the angled metal roof and then held my breath when I heard hurried footsteps coming up the stairs.

A smirk crossed my lips when two men came into view. What was strange about them was not the fact that they were looking for me, but that they were both dressed in dark suits.

Who stalked someone in a suit?

The bigger question here was why they were stalking me? I had no idea who these guys were. I'd noticed them following me about two days ago. At first, I had brushed it off, but after seeing them again and again, I couldn't dismiss the idea that they were watching me anymore.

I just didn't know why.

The two men could easily see that I wasn't anywhere on the platform. The only people there were all staring down at their phones and none of them looked like me. Still, the two guys did search the platform.

Idiots should have looked up.

When they walked under the roof overhang, I couldn't see where they went or if they had left. Looking would have given my position away. Instead, I waited until the train pulled up to the platform and the doors slid open.

People climbed onboard and couple of people climbed off. I waited until the last possible second and then flipped myself down to the ground and darted onto the train. I barely made it inside before the doors closed.

I smiled and waved when I turned and saw the two guys in suits staring at me. Yeah, they hated me. I could see it in the glower on their faces.

Whatever.

I didn't know them so they didn't matter.

I found a seat and waited for the train to reach my station. I was so glad to be going home. It had been another long day in a line of long days, but, that was the life I lived.

Get up, go to work. Finish work, go to my second job. Finish that and go to my third job, and then finally go home and pass out until the next day when I did it all over again.

I had two full time positions and one part time position. It wasn't optimal, but I was saving up for my future. One of these days, I was going to have enough to pay for school and a better place to live, and then the sky was the limit.

Technically, I was away from my little studio apartment more than I was there. If I didn't need a place to store my stuff, wash, or catch a little sleep, I would have given it up a long time ago and lived under a bridge.

When the train finally stopped at my station, I grabbed my backpack and walked off. I made a quick scan of the platform before heading for the stairs that led down to the street level.

If those guys had been following me for a few days, they probably knew what stations I used. That also meant they probably knew where I lived. I needed to be cautious when going home. Maybe I'd take the fire escape up or jump over the rooftops. Wouldn't be the first time.

Life in New York City was an experience.

When I reached my block, I stopped in at the corner market to grab something for dinner. I didn't really feel like cooking tonight, but I also couldn't spend a lot of money.

I lived a sparse life, but I knew it would get better. In the meantime, I needed a loaf of bread to go with the jar of peanut butter I had waiting for me at home. Luckily, tomorrow was payday from one of my jobs and that meant an upgrade in my dining fare. I might splurge and buy some instant ramen.

I carefully fit the loaf of bread into my backpack and then slid the pack onto my back. If these guys were waiting for me outside my apartment, I needed my hands free so I could run.

Yes, yes, people used their legs when they ran. I got that. What I did was something called Parkour , which was the art of moving from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible. It involved a range of movements like running, jumping, climbing, vaulting, and rolling.

I was very good at it.

I left the corner store and walked around to the alley at the back of the building. I had to stand on the edge of the dumpster to reach the metal fire escape stairs.

Being short sucked.

Once I had a hold of the bottom rung of the stairs, I pulled it down and climbed up to the first landing. It was easy to climb up to the rooftop after that. I hurried over to the far side, the one that faced my apartment, and then crouched down so I could scan the street below.

It didn't take me long to spot the people watching my apartment. For one, this was not the best neighborhood in the city. No one with a car that fancy lived around here. And for two, the idiot in the driver's seat was smoking up a storm. There was a small pile of cigarette butts on the pavement right outside his window, telling me that they had been parked there for awhile.

Where did they get these guys? Didn't they know anything about stakeouts? The idea was to hide in plain sight, not stick out like a sore thumb.

They'd never make it on these streets fulltime.

I shook my head as I pushed away from the edge of the roof and made my way back to the fire escape. Unfortunately, my apartment was on the other side of the street. I'd need to go down, walk a couple of blocks so I could cross the street without being seen by my stalkers, and then climb back up to get to my place...or I could just fuck with them.

That sounded more fun.

I climbed down the fire escape and went back to the market. This would dip into my budget, but not that much. I purchased two cups of coffee and then grabbed a handful of sugar and creamer packets.

I kept to the shadows as I made my way down the block to the fancy black car. I could hear the low murmur of voices as I drew closer, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

I scurried up the side of the car to the passenger window and knocked on the glass. The two men inside jumped, their eyes widening when they saw me. The guy in the passenger seat slowly rolled his window down.

"I know stakeouts can suck, so I brought you some coffee," I said as I handed him the coffees and packets. I then bent down so I could look at the driver. "Don't forget to clean up your cigarette butts before you leave. It's rude to leave your garbage for someone else to clean up."

With that, I stood up and made my way across the street to my apartment building. I smirked to myself when the murmuring I had heard earlier grew louder.

I still didn't know why they were watching me. I probably should have asked, but I was too tired. Working three jobs took it out of me after awhile. Luckily, I had the next two days off from two of my jobs, which meant I could sleep in tomorrow morning.

I was so looking forward to that.

I made my way inside my building and then up the stairs to my fifth floor studio apartment. One of the things about living in a cheap building was that they didn't tend to repair things, like elevators. Damn thing hadn't worked since before I moved in.

Whatever. At least the exercise was good for me.

Just because I'm a paranoid bastard, I approached the door to my apartment with caution. I checked all around the doorframe, smiling with relief when I spotted the hair I'd left caught between the door and the frame. If anyone had opened the door, the hair would have fallen to the floor. Since it was still there, I knew it was safe to go inside.

I took out my key, unlocked the door, and pushed it open before stepping inside. As quickly as I had stepped inside, I shut and locked the door and then grabbed the metal bar next to the door and placed it in the holders attached to the wall on each side of the door. The locks in this place sucked.

You can never be too careful.

I turned and took two steps into the small room before I realized I had made a mistake. The soft tic of a lamp turning on froze me in place.

I stared at the man sitting in the only lounging chair in the room. The lamp cast shadows across his firmly cut jaw and darkened brow, making it nearly impossible to read his expression.

He was a powerful man. I could tell that at least. As muscular as he was, I had no doubt he could bench press me with ease. His posture was casual, one muscular leg crossed over the other, stretching the seams of his black slacks near to bursting. He seemed as if he didn't have a care in the world, but something told me that could change in a heartbeat.

"Who are you?" I asked. "What do you want?"

"I've been waiting to speak with you, Mr. D'Angelo."

Well, apparently, he knew who I was.