Killing Game (17 page)

“I’ll be seeing you, sweetie.” Sherry blew her a kiss and winked as she walked away.

Lily just watched her go. Picking up an order, she pushed the weirdness of the meeting to the back of her mind. She met strange people on a nightly basis. This was nothing new and nothing to worry about.
Really.

* * *

As he rounded the turn in the hallway, Cain took in every possible exit and all dangers. The only thing standing in between him and where he wanted to be was a single guy. Assessing the situation as he approached the bodyguard, Cain took a deep steadying breath and disarmed him with a warm smile.

“You can’t...” The bodyguard didn’t have time to finish his sentence as Cain’s palm hit him hard under the jaw. He fell to the floor unconscious.

In one fluid move, Cain was past him and had swung the office door open.

“I’d like a word.” He kept his face emotionless and met the boss’s eyes without flinching.

Mr. Valentino stared back at him.

Cain heard the bodyguard slumped to the floor. Mr. Valentino didn’t look at all bothered by the fact he no longer had anyone to protect him but there was a spark in his eyes that made Cain smile. He knew his reputation had preceded him, and that most people believed he was a force to be reckoned with, but Mr. Valentino wasn’t most people. Mr. Valentino had built a reputation on being the best at everything, and that everything included being able to protect himself from anyone, even hit men.

“Have a seat.” Without taking his eyes away from Cain’s, he intimated the chair opposite him.

It was a tactical move that Cain recognized straight away. Mr. Valentino was trying to outwit him. Treating him like an equal was just a cover, giving him time to think of a way to defeat himself. He wasn’t in the mood for games tonight.

“Think I’ll stand. ‘Sides, this won’t take long.” Cain smirked at him, keeping his eyes locked on his opponent’s and not giving an inch. It had been a long time since he’d been face to face with Mr. Valentino, but he hadn’t changed a bit. The slick hairstyle he’d always preferred was still in place, and his eyes were still black and emotionless. He had a good few inches on Cain, but that only meant that his center of balance was higher up, and in a fight, that was a clear disadvantage. As for build, they were almost evenly matched, but Cain had the slight advantage. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to use it.

“How can I help you, Cain?” Mr. Valentino’s voice was even, emotionless. Cain got the impression he was trying to show him how unaffected he was by his presence.

“Lily,” Cain said bluntly.

“Charming
girl,
isn’t she.
After a private audience with her?”
He picked at his fingernails with his letter opener. Cain’s fists clenched.
“Or maybe not.”

“Transfer her back and I let you live.” Cain kept his tone cold and empty as he stared straight into the boss’s eyes—murder reflected in his own blue ones.

This was the game that Cain hated. He hated trying to get an opponent to back down and accept his terms. He’d done this kind of thing a hundred times before when he’d been nothing more than a hired thug. In his latest line of work, killing someone face to face was somewhat taboo. You were supposed to stick to your marks and that was it, end of story. Now here he was, breaking that rule for the sake of a girl. He hoped it wouldn’t go that far. He hoped the guy wouldn’t be so stupid.

“No,” the boss said flatly. Cain inclined his head slightly, his jaw tensing. “She’s mine. I’m going to see about priming her for a different line of work.”

Cain felt as though he was going to explode. Either this guy really wasn’t scared of him or he was damn stupid.

“Don’t think you understand me, mate.” His tone turned venomous as he moved towards the desk. “You die if you don’t do as I say.”

“You really think I’m going to let a snotty little upstart like you kill me?” Mr. Valentino laughed at him.

Cain felt his whole body tense in response to his words. He wished that he didn’t have to do this, but the thought of Lily being primed sickened him and there was no way he was going to let it happen. A slight movement caught his attention, and he moved sharply to the side as the letter opener that Mr. Valentino had been holding whizzed past him, embedding itself into the far wall with a thud.

“Slippery little things.”
He smiled coyly.

Frowning hard, Cain grasped the edge of the desk and pushed it with everything he had, ramming his opponent hard against the wall and pinning him there with it.

“Let’s try this again. You transfer Lily...” Cain pushed the desk harder into him. “I let you live.”

Mr. Valentino looked pensive for a moment and then laughed at him. Cain didn’t have the chance to move out of the way as Mr. Valentino grabbed a heavy green glass desk lamp and smacked him hard across the side of his head with it. Cain stumbled backwards and shook his head, feeling blood trickling into his ear as it weaved a sticky trail through his hair.

“Fucking bastard!” he spat out.

Mr. Valentino pushed the desk off him and stood up.

“You need a lesson in manners, boy, and I think it’s about time someone gave you one.” Mr. Valentino rounded the desk.

Cain shook his head again.

Slightly addled by the force of the blow to his temple, he was finding it difficult to focus. It felt as though someone had just driven a steamroller over his head.

“This girl, is she really worth dying for?” Mr. Valentino punched him hard across the cheek and laughed as he stumbled backwards into a chair.

Collecting himself, Cain closed his eyes and thought about his opponent’s words.

Lily was worth anything.

Opening his eyes again, he frowned and sneered as he met Mr. Valentino’s eyes. He set his jaw tight and stood up.

“Only one person is leaving this room, and it’s going to be me.” Launching himself at Mr. Valentino, Cain kicked him hard in the stomach and then elbowed him in the face.

Mr. Valentino reeled backwards and laughed again. He hit Cain hard in the stomach, but it didn’t bother him. Cain was more concerned with keeping his opponent distracted long enough to reach where he wanted to be. As they neared the back of the office, Cain grabbed the letter opener from the wall, rammed it into Mr. Valentino’s thigh, and then backed away from him as he cried out in pain.

“Fuck... little prick...” Mr. Valentino stared down at the silver opener sticking out of his thigh and then met Cain’s eyes as he pulled it out. “Forget manners. You just overstepped the mark.”

Cain chuckled dryly before punching him repeatedly in the face. On his fifth swing, he felt something grate along his ribcage and it seared with pain. Looking down, he saw blood seeping through his t-shirt and he stared at Mr. Valentino, who was holding the letter opener and smirking at him.

“Oh, you’re definitely dead now.” Holding his side, Cain grabbed the desk lamp and brought it down hard on the back of Mr. Valentino’s head.

Anger taking over, Cain didn’t even feel the impact of the wall as he was shoved backwards against it, his head smashing against a picture frame and glass raining down his neck. Bringing his foot up, he kicked Mr. Valentino off him and into the desk. In the second it took his opponent to recover, Cain was on him, pinning his head down against the desk as he fumbled about for a weapon. The only thing that came to hand was a pen. Cain looked at it in his fingers and shrugged.

The pen was always mightier than the sword, in the right hands.

Bringing it down, he plunged it deep into Mr. Valentino’s temple and then yanked it out again. He backed away from him as his opponent gasped and tried to hold onto the side of his head, blood spilling from the wound like a waterfall as he slumped his knees, his upper body still sprawled across the desk. Meeting his eyes, Cain hardened his expression, narrowing his own eyes into icy blue slits.

“You couldn’t just say yes. You had to say no.” He watched as Mr. Valentino’s eyes turned dull and glassy, the blood pouring from him slowing to a trickle as he fell to the floor limp and lifeless.

Grasping his side, Cain sighed and walked out of the office, subconsciously slipping the pen into his pocket.

* * *

Cain walked through the streets, gripping his side tighter and ignoring how the pain made him feel dizzy. He needed to get somewhere safe, and fast. He wasn’t going to stay conscious much longer if he didn’t get the cut across his ribs seen to. Calculating the distances to the nearest places he had access to, Cain screwed his face up in frustration. Fate was being a royal bitch tonight.

The nearest place to him was Lily’s.

He weaved his way through the back alleys and passageways that led across town to her place. They were streets that he recognized all too well from his previous hits. He pondered how this was going to work as he came to a halt outside her building. She would be at work for another couple of hours at most. It would give him enough time to get in, clean up and get out. She’d never know he’d been there. If she did come home and find him, then he would tell her the truth. He’d been in a fight about her. Only he’d omit the fact that he’d killed the other guy.

Reaching the apartment, he turned the key in the lock and eased the door open. The room was
pitch
black. Cautiously flicking the light on, he slipped into the room, making sure that he moved silently in case someone was around. After standing still for a few minutes, he felt assured that he was alone and made his way towards the bathroom. Opening the little mirror fronted cabinet, he pulled out the medical box and placed it down on the vanity and unzipped it. He stared at himself in the mirror as he closed the cabinet door. He hadn’t realized just what a state he was in. Blood was caked across his left temple and in his ear, his lip was split and his cheek was bruising rapidly. A noise caused him to freeze, instinct making him reach for the nearest weapon. In this case, it was a pair of scissors.

“Lily?” An unfamiliar voice rang through the apartment. Cain grasped his side again and slinked towards the bathroom door. “You home?”

Peeking around the door, he could see a girl. She was a little taller than Lily and her dark brown hair almost reached the small of her back. Cain winced as the pain in his side worsened. Stumbling backwards, he grabbed hold of the doorframe and flinched as he heard a bottle behind him smash.

“Lily?” The girl’s voice sounded out, a slight tremble to it.

Cain screwed his face up and cursed himself. He could hear the girl heading towards him. Swallowing his pain down, he stood up and straightened
himself
out as best he could. When the girl appeared, she looked more than a little shocked to see him there.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize... um... is Lily home?” The girl blushed furiously.

“No,” Cain said bluntly. “How’d you get in?”

“Was gonna ask you the same thing. I’m Sarah, Lily’s sister. I’ve been staying here a few days now.” She extended her hand to him.

Cain stared at it, unable to focus clearly on it as the pain in his side made him dizzy. He struggled for a few moments before forcing his words out. “I just dropped by... thought Lily might...”

“You’re him, aren’t you?”

“Me?
Who?”
Cain looked flummoxed. The pain in his side was making him feel sick and this girl didn’t seem to notice anything that was happening around her. She just stared at him with wide eyes full of fascination.

“The guy, the one who’s been helping Lily out.
Man, she cannot stop talking about you.” The girl stopped talking and frowned. “Are you okay?”

“No, bloody well... not okay. Are you blind? I’m sodding bleeding to death... and you... you’re yammering on about fucking Lily.” He gritted his teeth as he held onto his side.

“Sheesus... cranky?”
Sarah frowned again and then her face blanched and a look of panic surfaced in her eyes. She flapped her hands about and made an odd whining noise. “I’ll call a doctor or the hospital or something...
wait
there.”

“No...
no
doctors... no hospitals...” Cain grabbed her arm tightly, his fingers digging into her skin as he desperately tried to stop her. He couldn’t go to the hospital. There would be too many questions. “No...
you
go... sit down and be a good little girl... I’ll fix this.”

Sarah backed away from him and blinked before turning away.

Cain slammed the bathroom door shut and collapsed against the sink as the world spun around him.

When Lily pushed the door open, she found Sarah curled up on the couch watching the television. She leaned against the back of it and stroked her sister’s hair.

“What’s up, Sarah? I know that face,” she said softly as she watched her sister frowning, her lips tightened into a scowl.

“Your boyfriend, that’s what. He was here when I came home. He’s a real bundle of joy, isn’t he?” Sarah folded her arms and set her jaw.

Lily looked incredulous.

“I don’t have a... oh... Cain? He was here?” Lily watched as her sister looked towards the bathroom.

“He still is here. Shut himself up in there, wouldn’t let me call a doctor...”

“Doctor?
Sarah... what’s going on? Why would he need a doctor?” Lily felt a sudden panic rise up and lodge itself in her throat along with her heartbeat.

Sarah stood sharply and shouted, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him? You can give him a lesson in manners at the same time. I took this kind of crap from
Dad,
I’m not taking it from him, too.”

Sarah stormed off into her room and Lily flinched as the door slammed.

Heaving a sigh, she walked in the opposite direction and knocked on the bathroom.

“Cain?” Lily opened the door slightly and peered around at him. He was sitting on the edge of the bath dressed only in his jeans and boots, and he looked as pale as the white tiles around him.

She moved quietly into the bathroom and knelt down in front of him, her eyes dropping to rest on the discarded bloodstained rags and then rising to the bandages that were wrapped around his ribs. As she reached out to touch his side, Cain raised his head and met her eyes.