Page 2 of Sinister Engagement

Dad stood up from his desk and hurried around the side. “What’s wrong, Angel?”

“I-I…” Words escaped me.Was Jackie right?This man was the same as the doctor, but what doctor looked ready to kill someone? Fear made me take a hesitant step back, away from the man standing before my father.

One of the guards to the side, who I hadn’t noticed before due to the fact that he was turned away from the rest with a phone to his ear, moved back towards the center of the room. “Sir, Mr. Belmonte’s found the man,” he stated, his voice and words cutting through the awkward silence and drawing my father’s attention.

“D-dad?” I stuttered. There were so many guns in the room. Too many. The guards always carried them, but they were out of sight, usually. They weren’t now. They were drawn and ready. There were two sitting on my father’s desk.

“I’ll deal with it,” Dad said before turning back to me.

“Deal with who?” My voice grew high pitched. “Who are you dealing with?” Was it … “the man who killed Mama?” I whispered. Even as I said the words, I prayed they wouldn’t be true. That my sister had only been playing a cruel game on me, but when my father glared at something over my head, I knew my answer. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Jackie standing in the doorway. She looked first at me and then at Dad. There was no remorse in her expression, no repentance. She shrugged and her lips twitched slightly as if she were fighting a smile.

“She needed to know,” she said quietly, answering Dad’s unspoken question as he glared at her. “She deserved to know who we are, whosheis.”

My father cursed, the sound foreign to me. My heart pounded in my veins, growing louder and louder in my ears until it was all that I could hear. “Angel…” My father tried to reach for me, but I fell backwards.

The illusion of a normal life, of a normal family with loving parents came crashing down—its destruction illustrated by my own sister. Suddenly, I didn’t know who I was anymore. I didn’t understand. If my father truly was a criminal, he wasn’t an average one. He was powerful and that meant that Mama had died because of something he did. My entire life had been a lie, and I’d finally woken up only to realize I was stuck right in the middle of a horrible nightmare.

Jackie was right, I realized. I could see it on his face. The regret. The sadness. The resolve. He bent down and cupped my head before leaning forward and placing a kiss on my forehead. Once, this gesture had made me feel loved, but now all it did was make me feel cold. I’d been lied to. Deceived. Mama had never been sick and that man behind my father was not a doctor. He was a killer. They all were.

1

Gaven

5 years later…

Expensive sports cars were a luxury I didn't normally allow myself to enjoy. Though I could readily afford anything and everything that I wanted, the Aston Martin purring beneath me was far too ostentatious for my line of work. It commanded attention—something I only used as a method of distraction. It wasn't necessary, however, to remain inconspicuous when my business was to be conducted face to face. So, for the moment, I enjoyed the feeling of the rumbling engine as the speedometer reached a hundred miles per hour and then ticked past that.

I tightened my fingers around the taut leather of the steering wheel and wove the speeding vehicle in and around all obstacles in my path. Packed city streets gave way to trees and green landscape, all blurring past the windows as I pushed the little car faster.

I rolled up to a country estate that could rival a military compound in size, the two men standing vigilant in front of the tall iron fence turning and meeting my gaze through the windshield of the car. Smirking at them, I waited as another guard leaned out.

“Name?” he barked, eyeing me with suspicion and distaste.

“Gaven,” I drawled, lowering my sunglasses to look the man over. “Belmonte.” He was young, but there was a brutality already settled into his face. A long scar marred the side of his face, from his chin to the corner of his eyebrow. It wasn’t surprising. Any man in this business who was lucky to make it past thirty likely felt much older than that.

At the thought of getting older in this career, I started to wonder if retiring was in the cards for me. It had nothing to do with the money, I had more than enough, that was for sure. But I was sick enough to enjoy the work that I did—thrived on it—so I doubted I’d be stopping anytime soon. Not unless something more interesting came along.

The guard blinked at my name and quickly leaned back into the guardhouse, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his computer. “Welcome, Mr. Belmonte,” he said after a moment. The buzzing sound of the gate opening drew my attention. “Mr. Price is awaiting your arrival at the mansion.”

“Thank you.” The security guard gave me a quick once over, his lips thinning before he nodded respectfully. Leaving the window down, I slid my sunglasses back on and pressed gently on the gas, letting the car roll forward, past the gates. The only noise that filled the interior of the vehicle as I drove farther up the drive was the soft breeze mixing with the rumble of the engine.

It only took a few minutes to reach the top of the courtyard circle drive, and I threw the car into park before climbing out. The face of the mansion was elegant. Each nuance of the extravagant stone was lavish and the lawn groomed to immaculate perfection. Anyone looking on from the outside would assume a wealthy family resided here, and they wouldn’t have been wrong. A wealth family did live here—one of the wealthiest in the United States, but also one of the deadliest.

The ornate wood and glass doors opened as I approached, two more guards walking out to hold them open for me. Noting their presence but ignoring their stone-cold expressions, I stepped into the entryway and toward the older man waiting within. I’d been here a time or two in the past, but Raph had obviously done some renovations since my last visit. It was wider now, showcasing an impressive circular staircase leading to the second floor. My steps echoed off the shiny marble flooring that had once been a rich hardwood the previous time I’d been a guest at the Price estate.

My eyes focused on the pepper-haired man standing next to a large painting hung between the walls of two doorways, one leading to a guest lounge of sorts and the other farther into the mansion. Raphael Price was just as I’d seen him last. Sturdily built with a dark colored suit clothing his fit frame. I took him in, noting the calculating gaze that trailed over the art, the shrouded almond-shaped eyes hinting at his Italian and Welsh descent. It had been several years since I’d last seen him even in passing, yet despite the wrinkles that now creased around his eyes and the white sprinkled through his hair, he seemed to exude the cold confidence he did before.

“Gaven,” he greeted warmly. I smiled as he turned toward me, offering me a firm handshake. “It’s been a while, my boy.” Amusing as it was for the man to call me “boy” despite my many years of service, I didn’t comment. His voice was rough, like a smoker after thirty years of enjoying his favorite Marlboro several times a day.

“It has,” I agreed. "It's good to see you, old man."

While my statement was true and our banter was genuine, Raph was still the head of the Price family. Deadly and well connected with friends in lots of high and low places and whatever it was that brought me here today, I knew what was to come if I ended up on the wrong end of Raph’s scope. While I gave him my attention, most of my focus was on the several armed guards that stayed within Raph’s line of sight.

He chuckled as he dropped my hand and gestured for me to step through the door that led through to the main part of the house. “Thank you for coming, my friend. We have much to discuss."

“Do we?” I inquired. “Is there a job you have lined up for me? I must say, if you wanted me to kill someone, you could’ve just gotten to me through the usual means."

“No.” He strode forward, forcing me to follow. “This isn’t about a contract, though I hear your business is doing quite well these days. Heard about the Perelli girl. Didn't know you and Jason didn't get along."

---