Page 19 of Warped

My eyebrows lifted. “A job? As in a killing job?”

“I didn’t hire you to do my taxes.”

I pushed my hand through my hair “Jesus. Who did you hire me to kill?”

“Some young punk who kept trying to step on my turf. I know I’m not exactly a scary guy, but this little prick was pushing his luck. He’d threatened a few of my businesses, and I’d tried to warn him off, but he wasn’t listening. Thought he was better than me, you know?”

“No, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

“I ran out of options, which is why I called you in.”

“And I killed some kid?” The thought made the blood run cold in my veins. Had I really been that heartless to take out some wannabe punk?

“He was hardly a kid, X. He was twenty-four, and if you’d seen some of the shit he’d done, you wouldn’t be looking at me in that fucking judgmental way you are now. Believe me, you of all people shouldn’t be judging others.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“What kind of shit did he do?”

“He beat the crap out of the wife of one of my store owners. Put her in an induced coma, just like you were. He knocked out all her teeth and broke her nose and both cheekbones. All this as a threat to the husband to start paying him instead of me. The husband looked to me to protect them—that was part of the deal, which is why I brought you in.”

I nodded slowly. I didn’t recall the exact circumstances, but again it was sounding familiar. It sounded like something I would do. Even though when I reached back into my mind for my memories, I found only an empty space—something that was frustrating and frightening in equal measures—I still felt as though I knew who I was. I couldn’t explain it, except to say that who I was didn’t exist in my head, but more in my heart. In the soul of me—if I had a soul, something, that, considering what I did for a living, was quite possibly optional. But that was also where my memory and feelings about the dark haired woman existed, in the heart of me rather than the mind.

She would help me find my memories again, I knew she would.

“I understand you think finding that woman again might be dangerous, but it’s the only shot I have at trying to get my memories back. I can’t explain it, but when I looked at her, something sparked inside me. You say I’ve met you, too, but I don’t feel the same way when I look at you.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Glad to hear it, or I might have second thoughts about letting you stay here.”

“You said something else when you picked me up, about how people wanted me dead. What were you talking about then?”

I wasn’t sure my head could handle much more information, but I had to know. I wanted this fog to clear so I could get on with my life again. And most of all, I wanted it to clear so I could remember the past I shared with the woman who had known me.

But Harvey shook his head, frowning. “I don’t exactly know. You took on a job not long ago, but something went wrong. You didn’t go through with it. People are mad with you because of it.”

“People? What kind of people?”

I wondered if it had anything to do with the girl.

“One of the old families.”

“Families?”

“Yeah, mafia.”

“What? Here in New York?”

“No, I don’t think so. But word spreads fast, you know, especially in our business. Like I said, I don’t know the exact details, but I know you messed up somehow and people weren’t happy.”

“Could that have been who shot me? The reason I was in the river?” I didn’t know how to explain it, but it didn’t sit right with me. Besides, the girl had said she was the reason I ended up in the river, and that I’d been hired to kill her. Had I not gone through with it because I’d fallen for her, and so someone had tried to take me out instead? If so, why was she alive? If someone wanted her dead badly enough to hire someone to kill her, wouldn’t they have found someone else to finish the job when I failed?

I didn’t know. None of it sat right with me.

“I have to find her,” I said again, fighting the exhaustion that seemed to constantly be hovering over me. “It’s the only way I’m going to find out the truth.”

“She might find us first,” Harvey said.

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