Chapter 10

10

Nick

“Daddy?” In the black void, the voice whispers, and a slight shake wakes me. “Daddy, wake up.”

I open my eyes to bright, almost blinding light. I feel as if I’ve fallen onto a blank page, and smack in the middle is my son, James, holding his ragged rabbit, Mister Tims. “Jay?” The urge to scoop him up into my arms burns in my muscles as I run toward him, but my body is heavy, weighed down by gravity, and he remains out of my reach. I stand still, arms outstretched, and smile. “Come here, Jay. Come see me.”

His eyes study me from afar. Dubiously. Cautiously. “Did you do something bad, daddy? To that man?”

I bow my head, thinking of Marquise and the needle I’d stabbed in his throat. Only my son could incite the shame I’m suddenly feeling. “He hurt you and mommy, Jay. I had to hurt him. So he wouldn’t hurt anyone else again.” I frown when it occurs to me that one small detail is missing from all of this. “How did you know I hurt him?”

Jay tips his head and gives me a sidelong glance as he toys with a string hanging from Mister Tims. “Alec told me.”

“Alec?” Anger stirs in my stomach, completely overshadowing the big question—how did he discuss anything with Alec?

“I have to go, Daddy.”

“Jay! Wait!” I reach out for him, but I’m too far away to touch him. “Where? Where are you going? Let me come with you. Please.” Tears form in my eyes. “Show me where to find you and mommy.”

A smile stretches across his face. “That’s cheating. You have to wake up.” His voice morphs into the deep timbre of a man. He curls his lip and kicks me in the shin. “Wake up.”

My lids flipped open, blinking hard as blazing sunlight streamed through my opened bedroom drapes and damn near fried my eyeballs. An obscure figure stood leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, the smoky flavor of his cigar hitting my tongue at the same time a plume of smoke drifted upward from his mouth. I lowered my gaze to the surrounding floor, where I’d apparently spent the night with my boots on. “Fucking whiskey.” A film of sweat coated my skin when I rubbed a hand down my face. “Does it to me every time.”

“Fun night?” A sobering disappointment drifted on Alec’s words.

I scratched the back of my head. “Your girlfriend’s in the other room. D’you say hi?”

“Peeked inside. Sleeping like a baby.” He blew another cloud of smoke. “I forgot to congratulate you on your first kill the other night. Potassium chloride. Nice finale.”

“Thought you’d like that.” I rose to the edge of the bed and swiped up a bottle from the nightstand, sucking down the last of the whiskey, before holding it up like a toast to Alec’s stoic face. “Hair of the dog …”

“Speaking of which, perhaps you can train your mutt not to rub against my fucking two thousand dollar Armani suit.”

“Courtesy of the good folks at DigiCoin International.”

About six months earlier, Alec had hacked into DigiCoin, the world’s leading digital currency exchange site, stole eleven million dollars that’d been carelessly stored in a hot wallet, and transferred the cash to offshore bank accounts. Completely untraceable. In the deep net, the exchange site was famously associated with some of the most sickening kiddie porn sites in existence. After hacking DigiCoin, Alec had proceeded to shut down a half dozen affiliated sites featuring children for sale.

“I think you’ll agree, this is money well-spent, my friend,” he said.

“I’m waiting for you to support a third world country somewhere and dispel any myths I may have developed, that you’re a selfish prick.”

“Why deny the truth?” The cigar hung from his clenched teeth as he grinned around it. “Thought I’d find you in bed with her. Which can only mean you went out trolling for prostitutes last night.”

“Cap it. I never agreed to go celibate in this shit.”

“Killing prostitutes in public places is not the best way to keep the authorities on the right trail.”

“I never killed them,” I said, pointing a finger. It was true. I never once killed the girls, though what happened in those moments of blackness, I honestly couldn’t say.

“Yet.” He tipped his head. “So, you innocently fucked a woman, and the two of you parted ways, all sated and happy with the world?”

I rubbed my hand across my skull. “I never hurt her.”

“I’ve seen you, Nick. The blackouts. Gaps of memory you can’t account for. The violence in your eyes. You’re about a thread from losing control.” He rolled his shoulders. “Are a few strokes to your dick worth fucking up the plan before it’s begun?”

“I won’t fuck it up! Trust me.”

“Trust is all I’ve got, Brother. And if you fuck that up, I’ll be running this show alone. I don’t think either one of us wants that.” Gaze fixed on me, he toyed with a cufflink and straightened the shirt beneath his jacket. “You got everything you need for tonight?”

“Yeah. All set.”

“Staked the place?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Don’t do anything stupid.” His gray eyes drilled into mine, full of all kinds of serious that I just didn’t have the fucking brainpower to appreciate through a monster hangover. “It’s important that you keep yourself alive.” He smirked then cocked his head toward Aubree’s door. “Speaking of staying alive, she’s probably starving. Try not to subject her to your eating schedule. And give the girl a bathroom break, for fucks sake.”