“I need your services,” I finally said as I walked over and lowered myself down to the couch. Her picture was right there sitting on top of the glass coffee table.
I could actually hear him stop whatever he was doing. I could even picture him freezing in the very spot he was standing in.
“This is,” he paused and I could tell he had my number, “personal.”
I didn’t say anything because he wasn’t really asking me a question.
From time-to-time, I would get stuck on a job. It rarely happened though because I was good. But when that obstacle was thrown in my way, I turned to him and he always came through for me. Okay, and maybe I had to admit that sometimes I just didn’t want to do the legwork and didn’t mind paying to have him take care of it for me. I wouldn’t havesaidI was lazy, but that was because I didn’t want to admit such a thing if it was true. Honestly, I generally just wanted to get a job done. I didn’t waste time with all that other shit. It was bad enough with all the things I had to do in order to take out a target. I could sit still and have patience but for the most part, I didn’t like to.
It seemed that he could tell this time was different. Perhaps it was my tone and the fact that I didn’t get down to business right away.
“Yes,” I said not even trying to lie to him. “Are you going to take the job or not?”
It was a big deal. I knew it. He fucking knew it. But thank fuck The Hunter wasn’t the type of person to rub that shit in my face.
“I’m on a job. Send me what you have and I’ll get to it next.”
“Thanks. I… really appreciate it.”
He grunted then the line went dead. I expected nothing less from him.
I was about to set my phone down when it started ringing.
Irenna.
A smile crawled across my face when I saw my sister’s name pop up on the screen.
“Hey, sis,” I said answering with a jovial tone.
It wasn’t fake. She always did that to me.
I had an amazing family. I got really lucky in that department. Though times weren’t the greatest growing up, Mom always tried her best. Hell, she worked two jobs just to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. And she never complained about it. Even when she came home completely exhausted, she made sure to spend time with us. I kind of grew up fast, being the man of the house at twelve, that was. I had fond memories of Dad too, but they were cut short because, you know, life sometimes just happened. Like an unexpected heart attack.
“When are you coming for a visit?” she asked right away causing me to let out a little laugh. She missed me. But who could blame her?
“Soon,” I told her as an elusive promise.
It wasn’t that I was trying to avoid her. It was that I always felt like I was lying when I saw my family. Well, I was. She didn’t know what I did. She thought I had some upscale job in an office and a fancy jet that I hopped on at least once a week to zip off and do business deals and whatnot. I’d talked circles around what my actual fake job was and she knew enough by now that I was an important man at this company that didn’t exist. And I’d done the same with my mom. At this point, they’d stopped asking questions.
I didn’t dare tell them who I really was. It would break Mom’s heart to know the kind of man her son had turned into. As for my sister, all I could say was that she put me on a pedestal that was far too high. I didn’t want to take a nosedive off of it, that was for sure. Not to mention that it would probably make them sick to know where that money came from. You know, the money that I was constantly sending to them so they didn’t have to have a hard time of it.
I wouldn’t lie, the money was a big factor in why I kept doing this. And it wasn’t just because I liked it for myself. I liked knowing that Mom wouldn’t ever have to think about working another day in her life. Now she could sit back, enjoy the world around her, and watch her grandchildren grow up. That would be my sister’s kids. I didn’t have any yet, thank God. It wasn’t really in my future plans. Or rather, I wouldn’t let myself think of a life like that. Because I was a killer. I did it for a paycheck. And while I had rules I followed and contracts I wouldn’t take on, I still got paid to take out a life. In my mind, a man like me could never make a good father.
Then again, maybe not having a reaction to blood and broken bone bits made me perfect father material. I certainly wouldn’t panic if the kid got a cut or even a broken arm.
But I couldn’t go there. It wasn’t in the cards for me and I was happy with that. I had Irenna’s kids, you know, when I got around to seeing them.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. Seriously, Silas, that job is going to kill you if you don’t take a break every now and then.”
Boy, she didn’t have a clue how accurate that statement could really be. Though I had never had any major problems so far, I wasn’t cocky enough to deny the danger that came with every job.
One of the things I loved about my sister was that she gave me hell but she was always understanding.
“I will make some time, I promise.”
“Peter’s third birthday is in two months. Be here.” Her tone told me that I had no way to get out of it.
With a small laugh, I told her that I’d be there. Just like her to call in the big guns when she was really missing me. What kind of asshole would miss that? Not me. I might have been a little messed up but I wasn’t that bad of a fuck-up.
