Maria

 

“I figured out what you were doing pretty easily.” Lucas was talking before his guys even pulled the bag off my head.

 

They were still tying me to the straight-backed chair they’d put me in. My hands were sticking through the hole in the back, so I was sitting with my arms behind me. They were tying my legs to the chair, as well, even though they hadn’t untied my ankles. Once I was tied tight and incredibly uncomfortable, they pulled the bag off my head.

 

Immediately, I saw that we were in the middle of a large open room with a concrete floor and concrete pillars reaching out in all directions towards brick walls that had tall windows with broken panes of glass in them. We were in one of the vacant warehouses downtown. I couldn’t tell which floor we were on because it was dark outside. All I could see was the night sky and the yellow light shining in from the parking lot surrounding the building.

 

“Originally, I was going to let there be an accident,” he continued talking. “I actually had an associate on the jobsite today who was going to arrange for something to go wrong, and when I sent you to check on it?” He shrugged.

 

His goons laughed even though his joke wasn’t particularly amusing. Apparently, they thought it was. There were four of them nearby. Two of them stood on either side of Lucas. The other two manned the floodlights shining down on me. All four of them wore black suits, white shirts, and black bowties. They all carried assault rifles over their shoulders.

 

“What changed your mind?” I asked, taking the bait.

 

We were interrupted by the sound of motorcycles pulling onto the lot. I could hear them circling the building. Then, I noticed there were men positioned in some of the windows, also carrying assault rifles. A cruel smile spread across Kelly’s face at the sound of The Twisted Ghosts’ arrival.

 

“I guess your guys didn’t lose them after all,” I remarked.

 

“Even better,” he said, pulling my phone out of his jacket pocket. “See, I realized that if I brought you here, your idiotic little boyfriend would follow you. I mean, if he doesn’t have the sense to stay the fuck away after you come work for me, he doesn’t have the sense not to follow you wherever the hell you go.”

 

He started typing something on my screen. Then, he held my phone up, like I could see the screen from where he was standing. He laughed and shrugged before putting it back in his pocket.

 

“These things make it so easy. See, I can tell him whatever I want, and he thinks it’s you texting him, his one true love. Sure, say what you will about how you two aren’t together. It’s bullshit, and everyone else knows it. That boy out there is in love with you. Any minute now, he and the other bikers with him are going to storm this building and get picked off by the men I have in the windows.”

 

He turned around and pointed to each one. There were more than I could see from where I sat in the chair. I pulled at my restraints.

 

“You bastard,” I growled at him. I opened my mouth to yell, but he nodded at one of his goons, and the butt of a rifle came across my face. I spat out the blood and looked at him, furious.

 

“It’s not nice to spoil the ending, Maria.” He turned back to his boys in the windows. “Anybody got eyes on them?”

 

“Yes, sir. They’re in the back of the parking lot, just beyond lights. I can see ‘em, but I can’t get a clear shot. They’re in the shadows,” one of the guys called back.

 

“Keep an eye on them,” he said as he turned back to me. He pulled a small stool over in front of me and sat down, still smiling. He looked like an excited little child stuck in a mobster’s body. “So, you thought you were going to pull one over on your old man, huh?” he asked. Then, he burst out laughing. “I guess that backfired two ways. One, I’m not really your old man. And, two, it’s apparent in your utter lack of skill. You have no business trying to get into the business of what we do, honey. None. Maybe you were right before, and you should be pursuing nursing or something else, because you don’t have a sneaky bone in your body.”

 

He shook his head and looked down at the floor in mock pity. Then, he jerked his head back up. He put his hands on my knees and managed a concerned look. “There’s just one problem with that,” he said thoughtfully. “You’re not going to have the opportunity to go back to school for nursing. See, this is what’s going to happen tonight: we’re going to eliminate the bikers out there. I might leave one or two alive to let the rest of the MC know right away what happened. Then, if anyone else shows up, we’ll probably handle them, too. Once Mickey is taken out, I’m going to show him to you. I’ll at least give you that before one of the guys here shoots you.”

 

He put two fingers up to his head and made like he was shooting himself. Then, he slumped over on the stool, mocking my dead body.

 

“You know, right in the head. We’ll leave you here for the authorities to find you, and who knows? Maybe we’ll leave one of the bikers here. Make it look like a murder-suicide or something. Real clean, easy stuff.”

 

I turned away, forced myself to stop staring at that man’s face.

 

He put a finger under my chin and turned my face towards his. “Oh, you really thought all I did was run a construction company? You really thought it was more than a mere front for my real business?” He laughed and let go of my chin.

 

We heard the motorcycles rev back up outside. I looked up toward the windows, like I could see anything. Lucas hurried out of the light toward his guys in the windows.

 

“What’s going on?” he asked, his voice echoing back from the walls.

 

“They’re leaving,” one said.

 

“Want us to shoot them while they’re riding off?” another questioned eagerly.

 

“No, don’t do that,” he said, turning around in a huff and walking back towards me.

 

I wasn’t feeling the least bit amused, but I forced a harsh, mocking laugh out anyway.

 

“What’s so funny?” he asked, standing over me.

 

“Your little plan is falling apart. I guess he figured out it was you texting him and not me. You didn’t expect him to figure out he was being set up, did you?” I asked, still chuckling.

 

“You know what? Who cares if he leaves? I know where their clubhouse is. We can take care of you now. Then, we can ride over there and handle them. It’ll be easy. What do you think about that plan?”

 

He shook his head in disgust and walked away. He took my phone back out and texted Brawn again. He watched my screen for a minute, waiting for a reply. When he didn’t get one, he put the phone in his coat pocket again. He walked over to one of the guys standing on either side of him.

 

“Get everyone downstairs in the SUVs. Let’s get ready to roll. We’re going to handle this up here, and we’ll be down in a minute,” he said. He patted the guy on the shoulder as he took the other goon with him and walked into the darkness of the warehouse behind Lucas.

 

That left me sitting there with Lucas Kelly and the two armed men manning the lights over me. I heard the footsteps of the men behind him as they hurried out of the room. I didn’t like the way it felt to be left there with them. I didn’t like the look on the man’s face as he stood there in front of me.

 

“You and your boy have disappointed me for the last time,” he growled as he pulled a gun out from behind his back. It was a small black revolver.

 

“After everything, you’re going to shoot me,” I said. “You raised me like your own daughter just to bring me into an abandoned warehouse and put a bullet in my head when I didn’t turn out to be the woman you wanted me to be.” I nodded.

 

“I didn’t raise you. I tolerated you.” He spat his words at me. “You were a constant reminder of your mother’s infidelity. Do you know how that feels? It’s like a slap in the face every time I look at you, but I had to smile, to pretend to be the proud father. I had to shell out the cash to put you in the best school. I had to swallow my own pride to let you work for me, to decide to let you at least try to learn the business.”

 

“Poor, pitiful you,” I said. “You could have divorced my mother. You didn’t have to raise me. You didn’t have to pretend you were my dad. That’s your own stupidity, and to point a gun at my head as punishment is pretty stupid, too.” I didn’t have anything else to lose. The only thing I could do was continue to stall him.

 

“I’m not stupid,” he said, laughing. “You’re the idiot sitting here trying to get me to talk to you, now that I have a gun to your head, now that you know your boyfriend isn’t coming for you.”

 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I shouted. “Shut up!”

 

He fired the gun, away from me, back into the shadows behind him. The sound exploded in my head. I closed my eyes as my hearing slowly returned. “The next one’s going to be you,” he said. “I’m the one with the gun. I make the rules.” His voice was calm again. He grabbed the stool and pulled back in front of me. He sat down with the gun in his hand. He wasn’t pointing it at me. I took that as a good thing. “Let me tell you a little bit about your real dad before I take care of you,” he said.

 

“Please don’t,” I pleaded with him.

 

“No, I think you should know what kind of a loser your mom was sleeping with.”

 

I looked him right in the face. “You just get off on being mean, don’t you?” I tried to bury all my emotions. The only thing the man in front of me could have done was shoot me. There was nothing else he could do to me.

 

“He was a lowlife, just like the guy you’re supposedly ‘not dating’ now,” he continued, as if I hadn’t said anything. He looked at me, as if contemplating saying more.

 

“You don’t have to tell me anything else,” I said. “If you can’t give me a name, I don’t want to know.”

 

“Oh, you want a name? I don’t remember the guy’s name. The guy was a loser. I ran his ass off after I found out about it. He’s probably drunk in a ditch somewhere,” Lucas said with a laugh.

 

Then, he stopped laughing and pointed his gun back in my face. “You know what? I’m bored. If this isn’t upsetting you, there’s no point in it.”