Page 83 of Savage Daddies

19

BULLWHIP

Slouchinginto Felix’s cream-colored leather chair behind his desk, I read through his documents. It’s an activity that normally puts me to sleep, but not today.

2003,reads thelabel stuck to one of the folders.

The heavy paperwork weighs down my wrists, so I set the folder on the desk and leaf through. He would’ve been eighteen at the time these documents were created, around the time he started college.

I expect certificates that celebrate his success.

Instead my eyes meet the words:INVOICE.

Multiple times, too.

I flip a few more pages. Find even more.

The client names are different each time, mostly. I don’t recognize any of the names, but all have approached Felix for business. There’s a lot. Fifty, I estimate. He only started his business at eighteen years old. How did he bank up this many clients in such a short space of time?

I turn the next page.

Fuck, that’s a lot of zeroes.

Intrigued, I slip the document out of its paper sleeve to examine the text. Sealing one six-figure contract deal at eighteen years old is impressive. Also a little shady. This is an achievement, so I’m surprised he hasn’t dropped it into interviews before.

I look closer and observe the handwriting. For a guy who walks everywhere with a laptop clamped under his armpit, the handwritten paperwork seems very unlike him. Invoices take twice as long to write with a pen, and Felix, as a business owner, knows that time is a person’s greatest asset.

What is he doing handwriting all of his invoices?

Breath dies in my lungs.

That’s why.

Business: Contracted Assassin

Description of service: (24th November 2003): Tiger Fields has stolen client David Yarrison’s girlfriend, and phoned tonight to request Tiger’s elimination.

(25th November): Job completed at 2:35 AM in Tiger’s home. Evidence was cleared and burned. Alibi created. Payment received from David.

Contracted assassin.

It doesn’t surprise me. He grew up around deprivation and drug addicts, alone without individuals who gave a shit about him—of course illegal activities are gonna call your name. When everybody around you sees you as worthless, it feels good to finally exert control.

Work, according to the time and dates logged, was carried out just twenty-two hours later.

I sit back, startled, and flip the page to read more. One kill after the next.

Cash-in-hand payments too.

If people ever hear about this, they’ll call him a heartless freak, but I get it. The man had so much built-up resentment that he needed to outlet it somehow. I joined Venom Vultures to scratch the itch, but to feel in control and prove himself worthy, Felix began a side hustle.

Sothat’show he scaled his business so quickly.

He didn’t magically go from rags to riches one day.

He killed his way there.

Slipping out my phone, I photograph the evidence and slot the folder back into the drawer. Next, my fingers crawl up to the next drawer, and I select a folder labelled:2021.

---