Deadly Possession - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

There were several ways to end Luca's life. I could turn the machine off that was keeping him alive. I could slip something into his IV. I could slit his throat while he slept like he did to someone right in front of me. The real task was doing it while Nicolai wasn't around. Or where he wouldn't know it was me. My chances at survival were slim. Every time Nicolai spoke of Luca, he spoke of him as if he were some high and mighty person that he adored. So once he found out it was me that snuffed out his friends life, well I would be the one to pay the price. 

When I think about it it's not so much Nicolai that I fear for my death. It was Romelo. Nicolai would probably give me a quick death, but Romelo would be the one to drag it out and make me wish death would come even faster. There was no way out of this. But if I did pull it off, I could just take my own life. That way no one could make me suffer.

All of these factors had to be considered when doing this. I had been taking notes of Nicolai's pattern. He went and saw Luca 5 days out of the week. If he was busy he would just see him 3 days a week. But he never missed seeing him. He would come back even more stressed, complaining about how he wasn't getting any better. So I would just have to come up with an excuse for him to take me with him to the hospital. Or better yet, I could just make him fall for me, and he wouldn't think twice about taking me. I'd have to earn his trust.

The last time I tried to be sensual to him, he saw right through me. So now I would have to be subtle. Not try so hard. He may be smart, but I was smart as well. It was just a game of wits now.

"Freckles." I stiffen as the nickname rips through my system and anger flares within me. Nicolai is sitting in front of me with a curious look on his face. He has a small smile causing those deep dimples to show on his face.

"Don't call me that," I snap. He quirks a brow at me obviously caught off guard from my defensive tone.

"Why not?" he asks. He's genuinely curious. I look away unable to meet his gaze as embarrassment flashes through me.

"I just don't like it," I murmur. I didn't want to let him know the real reason. All my coworkers taunted me with that damn name as well as glasses. That's why I started wearing contacts to work.

"Ok ok we won't use it anymore," he says with a playful grin. He was such a whimsical person. One of those people that you couldn't help but smile when you were around them. Which made it hard for me to imagine that this man was a cold blooded killer. He was more dangerous than he let on. He lived a normal and happy life, without a care in the world, not even acknowledging the fact that he killed people. He would fit perfectly into society.

"How are you so happy?" The question is out of my mouth before I can stop it. I find myself able to talk to him so easily. He shrugs.

"Why wouldn't I be? My boss is on a slow road to recovery, and I get some time off in between with a sexy woman I get to come home to everyday." He sends me a wink in emphasis to his words. I can feel my face burning.

"You're so shy," he chuckles.

"Why are you like that?" He sends my question right back to me. I shrug.

"I don't know. I spent my whole life hiding. Blending in. There was no reason for me to stand out."

Nicolai scoffs at me.

"Baby doll, you stand out without even trying." I can't help the small smile that creeps onto my face from his words.

"You didn't answer my question... How can you be so happy when you've... killed innocent people," I say. He rolls his blue eyes at me.

"How can you sit there questioning me about my actions, when you're the one that put an innocent, pregnant woman in an auction house and had her bought by the highest bidder that happened to be a psychotic sadist." I flinch from his words.

"I didn't put her there," I say defensively. He rolls his eyes at me.

"You might as well have. You dug up the information, your agency is the one that chased her down, and you did absolutely nothing to stop what you knew was wrong." A sarcastic laugh escapes his lips.

"But because I kill people I'm the bad guy. Yeah, your logic makes a lot of sense."

I bite my jaw in irritation. He was right. And I hated it.

"You know what your problem is? You label everything. You let things bother you and stay with you. That's the difference in us. I don't let things like that bother me. If I did, I would have killed myself the first time Luca and I went on a trip to take care of business together. You don't let things stay with you when you have people like Romelo and Luca in your life," he says.

"How can you even stand to be in the same room as those two? They're so heartless and emotionless.. and you're not."

"You choose to see only the bad in them which is why I don't expect you to understand." His tone gets a little defensive like it always does when I talk negatively about his friends. So I decide it's time to stop asking questions.

"Can we go somewhere." He makes a face at my question. If he weren't a part of this illegal business I would really enjoy being in the company of this man. He was adorable really and he didn't even have to try.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks. I half expected him to tell me no so the fact that he was readily telling me yes, had me excited to the max.

"I don't know, I honestly thought you were going to tell me no," I say. He only laughs. It's an intoxicating sound.

"How about... we go out tonight. Like a date." The room is silent as I take in his words. He was asking me on a date?

"A-are you asking me out? On a date?"

"Actually you technically asked me. So I accept." He says sending me a playful wink.

"O-ok." I stutter. I mean, it was a little to late for a date, but anything to get out of this damn house. And maybe if he took me out, I could earn more of his trust.

~

The restaurant was beautiful. No beautiful was an understatement. It was magnificent. Majestic. I feel a hand on the small of my back and immediately my heart rate spikes. Not from fear, but from excitement. Nicolai was leading me into the large glass doors that stood at the entrance.

I had never been on a date so extravagant before.

"You might want to close your mouth before you catch a fly in it." Nicolai's warm and joking tone does little to lift the nerves bubbling in the pit of my stomach. I don't know why I was so nervous. I should be calm. Ready. This was my moment. A moment to earn his trust. And get closer to my end goal.

~

Nicolai

Lissette was beautiful. Without even trying to be. I couldn't tear my gaze away from her. She was walking next to me staring around the building in awe. It was refreshing to see someone that wasn't from this walk of life be introduced to it for the first time. The wonder and amazement in her eyes made me want to take it even further beyond this.

I follow the waiter to the table that was on the top patio overlooking the resort below. Lissette's jaw drops even further. I walk to the table, pulling her chair out for her. I should have known by her reaction that she wasn't paying attention, but I was too busy admiring her.

She's still looking around, even as she squats to take her seat, and completely misses the chair, falling flat on her ass on the marble ground beneath her.

I try my best to hold in the laugh threatening to escape my lips. I hear the gasps of people around us and even the waiter is afraid to check on her. But I can see the familiar burn marring her cheeks. She was embarrassed.

"Oh my gosh," I hear her whisper.

"Hey, it's ok," I try and reassure her, holding my hand out for her to take. She completely ignores my hand, quickly standing up and pulling the seat in. She places her head in her hands and completely ignores my presence. Great.

I walk around the table taking a seat as the waiter awkwardly waits to ask out drink choice. After I give him the order he walks away leaving me and Lissette alone. She still has her head buried, her cheeks still on fire.

"Lissette." She looks up but doesn't respond to me.

"So... are you hungry?" I ask. She nods and lets the silence envelope us once again. I can't take this. The silence is killing me. Usually when I take a woman out she can't shut up. And we make great conversation, eventually realizing that we are both sexually compatible and calling it a night.

But with Lissette, she refused to speak unless spoken to. And her little fall was making her chances of speaking even less likely to happen. Why was I here anyway? Why was I trying to make things work with someone that obviously wanted nothing to do with me?

"So what do you do outside of murdering innocents?" I look up for once, shocked. Lissette has her chin resting on her hands as she watches me with a serious expression.

"Excuse me?" I ask. She snickers.

"I said, what do you do outside of-"

"I heard what you said, Lissette. Are we going to have this conversation again?" I ask wearily. She was still trying to peg me as the bad guy. I had hoped that she would see me in a new light, but it seems that that wasn't going to happen.

"You're avoiding my question," she says narrowing her eyes at me. Irritation is burning at my skin.

"I'm not avoiding it, I already answered it earlier. And you're trying to make me like a heartless murderer when that's not who I am at all. I don't see why you can't let that go." She throws her hands up in the air angrily.

"Oh, so I just imagined all those dead people in my office then huh? Is that it?"

"You forget that those people weren't innocent themselves. And we wouldn't have been there in the first place if you people had just minded your own business."

"Well, we would have minded our own business if you guys were normal citizens instead of criminals that made their living by preying on the weak," she snarls back at me. 

I sit back in m chair. Part of me wanted to scream at her, and part of me wanted to kiss that scowl away from her face. But in the end, my anger won out. I had done nothing to her personally. I was trying to protect her, show her a better life and she didn't want that from me. There was a new feeling, something dark and angry bubbling up deep within me. A feeling I knew all to well but never decided to give into like Luca and Romelo. And I wouldn't let that happen today either.

I stand abruptly from the table, just as the waiter comes back with the glass of wine. I don't even acknowledge him as I step by and yank the bottle out of his hand heading for the exit. He knew who I was, so he didn't bother to stop me. I don't bother waiting on Lissette. I knew she would follow.

I was a damn fool for thinking that she in any way would see me as anything other than a monster. She dedicated her life to bringing people like me down, it would be a miracle if she saw me as anything other than that. So it was time for me to accept it, and decide on what to do now with her. To keep her, or to get rid of her.

~

1 Week Later

Lissette

I was an idiot. I went off on Nicolai at dinner, letting my emotions get the best of me and look at where it got me. He hadn't spoken to me in a week and I was no closer to bringing Luca down than I was the day I got here.

I wanted to feel bad, I really did, but I didn't. Not towards him. I'd seen what he was capable of. He wasn't going to fool me with that playful grin and that whimsical personality. He was a murderer, capable of any and everything.

I step around the corner to find him sitting at his computer once again, typing profusely at the keys. His brow was furrowed and he looked concentrated. I step further into the room and his eyes flicker to me beyond the screen but immediately go back to the screen.

"What are you doing?" I ask. He doesn't bother acknowledging me. He just continues to type.

"Nicolai." Upon hearing his name he looks at me in irritation.

"What do you want?" he growls out. I flinch from his tone. He's never used that tone against me.

"I-I just wanted to know what you're doing?" I ask avoiding eye contact. I'd hate to see the anger behind his clear gaze.

"We think we found a trace of Luca's wife. You know, the woman you people hunted down and through into a human trafficking auction house." I ignore his snarky comment and try and pry even deeper.

"How?" He only scoffs at me.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he mumbles. I cross my arms over my chest, irritation beginning to surface.

"Well, yeah. I would. That's why I asked," I say. He finally stops typing and looks at me from beyond the screen. His once bright blue irises are now clouded with irritation.

"Well since she was pregnant we decided to triangulate the pattern of newborns around the world in the time frame of Elise's due date. Once the algorithm is complete we'll have a list that we'll be able to go by and find her location. That is if Luca didn't put any road blocks in the way which I'm sure he did," he grumbles as a side note. 

The room is once again enveloped in silence.

"Why am I here?" I ask. It was a question that had been bothering me. Nicolai hasn't tried anything with me. He hasn't even forced himself on me. Other than the time he kissed me to prove a point that I sucked at faking being sexy. He's been nothing but nice to me, and after that dinner fiasco he just gave me space.

"I don't know," he says. I look up at him but his eyes are focused on the screen.

"I thought it was because I liked you, and I wanted to save you from a fate worse than death, but that's not the case anymore. You obviously hate my guts. You won't even give me a chance. So now, it's just a matter of circumstance."

"Circumstance?" I don't really understand what he's saying.

"Once Luca wakes up, he'll want an update on everything. Including you. He'll want to know if you can be controlled or if you're still a liability. And once I tell him everything, he'll give the order on whether or not you'll live." He says it so nonchalantly but I can feel my blood freezing in my veins.

"What?" He stands from his desk walking towards me.

"Isn't that what you want anyway? If it weren't for me, you'd already be dead. You would have died like everyone else in that damn building. But I saved you. I extended your life. And you don't care. All you can see is the fact that I killed your coworkers. Newsflash Lissette, they weren't saints either. They have killed just as much innocents as me." He walks past me leaving the room.

"The way I see it, it all falls on Luca. And I'm not going to argue with his decision this time." He leaves the room not even glancing back. I was in shock. I had never seen him like this. So angry.

~

I jolt awake in bed as I hear a loud gasp followed by a groan. I sit up, looking at the door. A light is shining underneath. I stand up out of the bed, slowly easing the door open. There is a light gasp and a giggle.

Did he have a fucking woman here? I walk down the long hallway and peek my head around the corner. My jaw drops.

There's a naked woman on top of his counter, and he is in between her legs, thrusting his hips back and forth. She keeps moaning and begging for him to go harder and faster, and I feel my face burning in embarrassment at what I'm witnessing. But I also feel something else. Jealous?

Nicolai presses light kisses along her neck and as if sensing me standing in the doorway he looks up beyond the blonde bimbos shoulder, his lust filled gaze finding mine. He presses a long and deliberate kiss underneath her jaw but keeps his gaze locked on mine as he fucks this woman atop his counter.

After a moment a smile creeps onto his face and he sends me a wink. I immediately whip around leaving the kitchen and sprinting back to my bed, locking the door behind me. A million emotions are running through my head currently, but one is clear. Rage.

If I were hesitant about anything before, this just sealed the deal. But now I realize that I was doing everything wrong. Trying to get Nicolai to fall for me was a dumb plan. I could never pull that off. I hated him. I hated what he stood for and what he represented, and who he worked for. It was time to do what I knew how. I would have to take out Nicolai before I could get anywhere near Luca. This just got a whole lot more complicated.