Page 62 of The Associate

“A favour?” He scoffs. “You are coming to me to ask for a fucking favour? After what you did?” He starts laughing.

“After whatIdid!” I raise my voice. “You were the one who stabbed Viv; she was lying in a hospital bed for weeks. You are the one who should be sorry in this situation, but that’s not why I am here.” I run my hand over my face. “No, this is about Sal.”

He holds up his hand, cutting me off, and for the first time, I notice a gun in his hand.Shit.

“Sal can die in a fucking hole for all I care.” He grabs hold of my upper arm. “But after you stalked and decided to kill my brother, what makes you think that I would do any-fucking-thing for you?”

“That wasn’t my choice.” I slowly move my hand behind my back to grab my gun. “That was a direct order. You know we can’t sit back and not do anything, or it’s our heads on that chopping block.”

He releases my arm. “Fuck, you’re right, but I still don’t know why it had to be my brother.”

I palm my gun and move my hand around my front.

“Think about it, man. You know exactly why it had to be him.” I watch as his expression pains.

He was promised Viv the moment she saw her thirteenth birthday. It is why her mother wanted to get them out of there. She never liked Rico and she told me that no matter what, when she died, Viv becomes my responsibility.

The gun in Rico’s hand shines under the light above us as his hand twitches. The muscle in his jaw ticks as he clenches his teeth. He is pissed off and I know he is about to crack, so I have to be careful with what I say and not make sudden movements.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath in before looking back at Rico. “I also saw him trying to assault one of the young waitresses at Gravel and Grit that night. You know my views on people who do that. I couldn’t let him get away with that.”

Rico rubs his eyes with his hand and grumbles. “He has always been a stupid fucking little prick. I tried to keep him in line so many times. When Rhys took us in after I walked out on Sal fourteen years ago, he would always tell me that Carlos’s stupidity would get him killed one day.” He sits up a little straighter, turning to face me. “I guess his stupidity had to show itself in front of the one and only Viper. Did you have to make it so gory?”

“Look man, I really am sorry,” I say, as if the word sorry would bring his brother back. He still looks like he wants to kill me.

“So what do you want from me?” he asks, a ‘let’s get down to business’ look on his face. His voice is dark and I am now a little wary about continuing my request.

“I need you to send another threat to Sal in relation to kidnapping his daughter,” I start, watching as his expression changes from anger to curiosity.

“Why?” He purses his lips and tilts his head slightly.

“I want Sal” — I pause, am I doing the right thing by voicing this? — “No,Genevievewants Sal gone. She wants to take him out, and for her to heal, she needs to be the one to do it, but…”

I don’t know if I can continue with what I am asking. Did that make me any better than the rest? Am I going to stage a kidnapping but not tell the person who is getting kidnapped?

I can’t tell her. It needs to be realistic, there needs to be a sign of struggle.

“But what?” He rests his elbows on his knees as his right foot bounces up and down. Is he considering this, or is he just playing a game with me?

“But I need you to kidnap her, take her from the house. Make it seem like you were able to get to her a lot easier than security allows.” I sigh. “Then I need you to look after her. If I know any other place she will be safe, it is around Blackmere, with you. I want you to help train her for any potential danger.”

His hand rubs the back of his neck, a small crease forming between his brows, making me wonder if I can trust him. I know he won’t do anything to hurt her. “Is there a catch?”

“The only thing I know for certain is that when she takes out Sal, she will rule Murwood, so making sure you are on her good side when that happens will be a must. She is very strong-willed.”

“I am aware of that.” He lifts his shirt to the scar just above his hip. “She did this to me when I ran into her outside the mansion grounds. She seemed to be in a hurry to get away from something.” My face falls, just before Rico smirks. “Or someone. What the fuck did you do to her, Hawthorne?”

“Nothing. It’s none of your business.” I stand up off the bench. “So are you in or are you out?” My hand out-stretches to shake his. He stands there for a moment, his features flashing between anger and amusement. If he doesn’t want to help I am so fucking screwed.

“I’m in,” he says after a brief moment. “When do you want it to be done?”

“Give it three days. I’ll send you a text of where to go and how to get in.” He shakes my hand and we both part our separate ways.

Am I doing the right thing? I sure fucking hope so.

The whole drive back to the mansion is a little more relaxed but I am still thinking about what I am doing and if keeping Viv out of the loop on this one is the right thing to do. The kidnapping has to be believable and if there are no signs of her struggling, then Sal will just think his daughter threw a tantrum and ran away from home again.

Pulling up in front of the gates, I sit there for a moment, wondering what I’m going to do, what I will tell her. She is going to know something is up and I can’t avoid her. That would just end up hurting her all over again and I’m not about to do that, but not giving her all the information is going to hurt her anyway. Either way I am screwed.

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