My whole body tenses for a split second as the cop looks up at the ceiling. That noise had come from Eva, no doubt about it to me.

But as smoothly as I’ve handled the rest of the situation, I let out a groaning sigh, putting my hands on my hips and narrowing my eyes at the ceiling.

“Ah. That’ll be the ‘roommates’ that came with the house. Raccoons hiding out for the winter. I’ve been meaning to get someone out here to take care of them, but you know how times gets away from you.”

Officer Kennedy watches the ceiling for a few moments longer, and my mind races with things I might have to do to get out of the situation. It’s been racing with those thoughts ever since I first opened the door.

A smile finally cracks on his face, and he crosses his arms.

“Oh, I hear you. I had one in my shed for the longest time, and my little niece gave him a name before I could call pest control.” He shakes his head, laughing. “Had to tell her he’d gone on a trip with his family when I finally got around to it.”

“Kids,” I say with a laugh.

“Right,” the officer says, turning to me with a curt nod. “Well, like I said, keep an eye out. Sorry to bother you, but if you’re ever in town and hit the bar, tell the bartender to get you a pitcher on my tab.”

“I appreciate it, officer,” I say with a chuckle as he heads out the door. “Have a good night.”

“And merry Christmas!” he says with a friendly wave, and I wave back to him, watching him get into his car and pull off down the road.

I shut the door just before he’s out of sight, then let out a deep breath of relief.

“You’re clear,” I call up to Eva.

“I am so sorry!” she gushes from up above, and when she comes down, I catch her in a tight hug, giving her back a gentle squeeze.

“You’re alright,” I say, “you did far better than I would have hoped.”

“I almost got us found!” she said, half-laughing, half-holding back tears. She sniffed and wiped one away. “Sorry, that was just a little intense.”

“It can be a little daunting, hearing your own kidnapping talked about,” I say as she steps back, and I give her a reassuring smile. “But you should take a little comfort in that.”

“Why?” she says, tilting her head to the side.

“It means you haven’t been forgotten,” I say, and it takes her a few moments to get the full impact of that, but when it hits, tears come back to her eyes, and she hugs me again—this time just throwing her arms tight around my torso.

“Come on,” I say, “that’s more than enough excitement for one day.”

As I get ready for bed, it hits me how odd the last few hours have been. I’m not used to being protective or giving comfort, but it seems to come to me naturally with Eva, like an instinct I never knew I had.

It’s not a bad feeling, either.

I shake it from my mind.

I hear my door creak when I come out of the bathroom from brushing my teeth, and I see Eva standing there in her usual t-shirt and underwear, having grabbed another quick shower to wash off the attic grime. Just the sight of her makes my cock start to swell, and the wide-eyed look she’s giving me only tugs at my heartstrings more.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” she says back. When I raise an eyebrow at her, she continues. “I was just wondering about, well, what happens now. Now that we know what you found out about Blake’s ‘friend.’”

“I’m going to go see him tomorrow,” I say simply. She doesn’t need to know more than that, but I can tell by her falling face that it’s all she needs to know.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“I could tell you about the kind of man he is, if that will help.”

“I don’t want to think about that before bed,” she says with a feeble smile. “Do you... do you mind if I sleep in here tonight?”

I pause, looking at the large bed and thinking for a moment. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. And yet…

“Sure,” I say with a smile. The way she brightens up at that simple world fills me with warmth. As we get under the covers together and I feel her warm body near mine, I feel more relaxed than usual.

She drifts off to sleep in a matter of minutes, and I lie awake, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath.

There’s so much wrong with me keeping her here at my side.

But after all this time... it feels like a mistake we both want to make.

* * *

The next day, I watch the clock hit 6:00 PM on my car’s dashboard.

It’s already dark outside and has been for some time. Most people are home from work already and settling in for a nice evening.

I, on the other hand, am parked outside a run-down apartment, watching a rat scurry across the sidewalk and listening to a dog barking in the distance as I stare up at the apartment window where I know Jerry is.

I did a little research on him to track him to this place. It wasn’t hard, for me.

People like Jerry are slippery. There’s one good way to deal with that without getting too deep in the muck or risking a knife in your back.

Stepping out of the car, I take a breath and head into the apartment complex.

In what passes for a lobby, there are two sullen-looking teenagers talking quietly to each other. One of them looks like he’s about to stop me with a snide look on his face, but I cast him a glare that makes the both of them avert their eyes.

I’m not in the mood to trifle with the small fishes.

As calmly as if I were going to a regular business meeting, I make my way up the stairs, hands in my jacket pockets. Every now and then, I cast a glance over my shoulder to make sure I’m not being followed by someone braver than those kids. This is the kind of place to watch yourself.

Eventually, I make it to the fourth floor, room 406. I make my way up to it, check the gun strapped to my side, and I knock.

I can hear a television on behind the door. There’s a pause before I hear someone trying to sneak up to the door quietly. At last, the door handle turns, and it cracks open just enough to peer through the gap. A green eye looks up at me behind the little chain holding the door shut.

Before he can jump away and try to shut the door, my leg flies out and kicks it open.

“Fuck!” Jerry cries as he stumbles back, the door flying in his face and knocking him to the ground at the same time that the door chain gets ripped from the wood and hits the ground uselessly.

Wearing my usual all-black attire, I step into the apartment, light behind me making me look even darker as I move toward Jerry.

The fear in his eyes is so intense that he must think he’s hallucinating.

“Oh- oh god, no!” he stammers. He has fallen on his back, giving me a full look of him and everything in his meager apartment.

He’s a thin, tall man with a wispy mustache that gives him a rat-like face. The carpet is old and stained, and it smells like mothballs in the room. There’s a porno playing on the television, and I see a half-drunk bottle of bourbon on the table in front of the couch.

“Hell of a way to spend Christmas Eve, Jerry,” I say as I push the door shut behind me. It’s broken now, so I just slide a nearby chair in front of it to give us some privacy.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” he splutters, looking like he’s about to piss himself. I act as casually as if I were here to have a normal conversation, turning around and taking a few steps toward him.

I then pull out my gun and point it at him.

“Dealing with you,” I say simply.

“Waitwaitwait! Shit,” he stammers, looking around desperately and seeing no weapon, nor anything to help him. “Fuck, how did you get here? Look, Sal, I-I-I don’t know what you want!”

“Has that ever mattered?” I say, watching him back up to the back of the couch with his hands up, still on the ground. I can practically see his heart pounding out of his chest. “You know how I operate.”

“Fuck,” he breathes again. “Look, I don’t know who sent you, but—was it the bartender? I didn’t mean for all that shit to happen with his sister, I swear to god she said she was eighteen, I-”

“Shut up,” I say, moving toward him and raising my gun. Jerry is the kind of man you don’t have to dig into far before you start finding the worst of the worst details. I already don’t want to turn that stone over.

Besides, I already have a lie to get him to talk.

“You should be proud, Jerry,” I say. “You’re a loose end getting tied off by someone with a lot of power. That’s quite an accomplishment, for you.”

“What?” he sputters, and then recognition comes over his face. “Oh my god, it’s that spoiled fucker, isn’t it? Blake Brighton?” He runs a hand through his hair, suddenly smiling nervously. “Hey, listen, that guy’s an even bigger piece of shit than me, okay? Look, j-just, I’ll tell you anything you want to know about him, alright? I can have a ticket to Mexico and a new ID card in two days, and it’ll be just like you did the job! He’ll never know, the kid’s a complete dipshit!”

That was easier than I thought.

Of course, bargaining like that never sways me. I’ve killed more convincing men than Jerry who’ve offered me even more. I’m not a man who can be bought off once I’m after my prey. I have a plan for Jerry, though.

“That does make your position interesting, doesn’t it?” I say. “But that depends on what you have to say.”

“Jesus, everything!” he says, hands shaking as he realizes he might have a little hope. “The kid’s a snot-nosed brat with more money than he knows what to do with. What do you want to know?”

“Why does a corporate heir like Blake Brighton want a rat like you dead? Let’s start there.”

He takes a deep breath, trying to regain his will. “Probably because I helped the fucker kill that little Cinderella project of a sister.”

“What?” I demand, feigning ignorance.

“Kid’s the son of Kirk Brighton, that giant-ass office building looming over downtown,” he says. “Turns out, his dad has some bastard daughter he ignored for years. When he got sick, Blake took over the business. Guess Blake must have been fucking things up, because when Blake contacted me, he kept going on about his bitch of a sister getting the company instead of him.”

I furrow my eyebrows.

“So you helped kill this girl?” I growl.

“No! I mean, I put Blake in touch with Geoffrey Mink, the old guy who used to work for your bosses. Why do you care?”

It takes a lot of willpower not to blow him away right then, if he knowingly subjected any woman to that horrible man. Just a little more time is all I need.

“It’s your lucky day, Jerry. Don’t play dumb, you’ve heard what I did in New York. My bosses are dead by my hand, and I need someone with connections to help me stay out of sight. Is Blake not smart enough to realize Kirk will find out about all this?” I ask. “It didn’t take much to find you—this is a murder in a shallow grave.”

“Won’t matter after tonight,” he says with a wretched smile.

“Speak English,” I demand, taking a step closer, and he puts his hands up further in terror.

“Blake’s put a hit out on Kirk! I helped set him up again!” he whimpers, cringing up as much as he can.

“What?” I say, my eyes going wide.

“Old guy’s in the hospital, Blake wanted it taken care of tonight, when it would be a skeleton staff watching him!” Jerry says hurriedly. “If you want blackmail on the guy, I-I-I’ve got his correspondences in the drawer! Let me just-”

POP.

One quick shot from my silenced pistol puts Jerry’s brains all over the back of his couch.

The world is a better place without him.

I stride into his bedroom, rummage through the drawers, and rip out the documents I need, barely giving them a glance before I hurry out of the room and make my way back down to the car.

There are hitmen after Eva’s father.

What I told Jerry about needing protection might have been true at one point, but as I peel out of the driveway, I realize that I’m doing this for more than just me, now.

I’m doing it for Eva.

But I’ve got to race against time.