Chapter 21
ASH
Whoever said there's no such thing as just fucking a woman and not catching feelings needs to have his head examined.
I take a sip of the scotch in my hand and wince as it burns a path down my throat. As I throw back the second refill, I grudgingly realize that person just might be correct.
I know hazel eyes no longer works for Harry's cargo and she's starting nursing school the following week. That means whatever shit I have with her should have closed down the moment I heard. Instead, I made a deal with Mr. Harry, that as long as I keep sending in goods through him, he should keep paying her, and double of what she was earning.
That wasn't all.
When I got a text from her asking if I'd sent her flowers, I felt something inch its way across my chest, tightening it, constricting it. I shouldn't have gone to see her, hell, seeing her that day wasn't even on my mind.
What did I do?
I got into the car and drove, like a madman, to her doorstep, asking the first thing that popped into my mind. I sounded like a love-sick oaf. When I saw those big innocent hazel eyes staring at me, and those full pink lips opening, the only thing I could think of was having those lips wrapped around my cock.
Even now, it swells at the thought of how they had pleasured me.
For someone that had never sucked cock before, she did pretty amazingly. Her lips, were so warm, like suction pads. I could have cum inside her pretty mouth but I didn't think she was ready for all that grossness coming out of me. I shift uneasily as I adjust my pants.
That was last week.
I've deliberately stayed away from her. No calls. No texts, and no thoughts of her. . . until now. It was going great until I set eyes on Tanya. And now I don't know what I'm gonna do about Tanya. I should fire her, set her needy ass onto the street after her threat against me. But for her sister's sake, I don't.
And now I don't know what I'm going to do about her. She's definitely trouble, that much I've surmised. And I don't take threats lightly. So it's back to my initial question.
What. do. I. do. about. her?
I'm saved from the dilemma when a knock sounds at my door and Moro comes in. There's a file in his hand. It's blue. I immediately stiffen because the color blue means important. If it had been red, I'd have known someone was going to die today at my hands. Today may not be that day, but tomorrow, pretty sure it'll happen.
"I've got news." He drops the file on my table and gives me the look.
I nod and pick the file up. I flex my neck and close my eyes before opening them. I'm hesitating, I know because once I open it, there's no going back.
It always feels like a part of me dies everything time I open a blue file.
It's like the point of no return.
Knowing I can't stand staring at the file all day long, I open it, and the first thing I see is the subject matter.
Human trafficking of women and children.
I unknowingly curl my hands into fists trying to unsee what I just read. I take a deep breath as I slide my eyes to the first sentence. It's an excerpt from a newspaper dated five years ago.
There's a rise of missing women and children from their homes and the government-
I don't finish the rest when my eyes catch something else. Pictures of women and children from different races, but they're mostly Asian women. I close my eyes and try to steady the heavy breaths leaving me. If there's anything in this world I hate most of all, it's preying on the weaker sex, taking advantage of them. I can tolerate everything except that. Messing with women and children is where I draw the line.
"The fucker!" I exclaim.
"That's what I thought," Moro says, speaking up for the second time since he came into my office.
It takes a special kind of monster like Guoliang to mess with women and children. It's not enough he's raping his underage stepdaughter, he traffics women and children as well. Sometimes, I think shit can't get more twisted than what I see every day, but then something new comes along and tops what I already know.
"That's not all," Moro speaks for the third time. "I think you better turn the page."
I close my eyes, willing the file in my hand to disappear but when I open them again, it's still there. It can't get worse than what I've already read, can it? My hands tremble, knowing fully well I'm only trying to convince myself. Like a fly to a honey trap, I turn the page, and -
I drop the file and the contents flutter to the ground. "Shit! I can't do this."
Before me, Moro sighs but says nothing. Unfortunately for me, the pictures are splayed all over the floor of my office. I can't escape seeing them. Naked women are tied with their hands above their heads. Some with swollen faces, others with blood all over their bodies. And then, there are those with both. The same goes for the kids. It gets even gorier, the more I force myself to look at those pictures on the floor. What does it for me are the naked men hovering over them, most with their cocks out.
"Fuck this!" I turn away from them and stride to my bar. There, I ignore the glass I used and lift the whole bottle of scotch into my mouth and guzzle. I welcome the heat. Maybe it'll wipe away what I've just seen.
Behind me, Moro moves around, the sound of swishing paper rife in the air. By the time I slam the bottle on the table and turn around, the pictures are no longer on the floor and the blue file is missing. I don't know what he did with it and I don't care either. If I never see it again It'll be too soon.
"Fuck!" I exclaim once again, louder, this time around.
He shakes his head and stares at the floor. "I'm sorry you had to see all-."
"Shut it, Moro! I'm not some pussy that needs to be coddled, so spare me the apologies."
He shrugs. "For what it's worth, I puked when I first saw them."
This time I look at his face, only to see he's already looking at me. There seems to be a sheen in his eyes that wasn't there when he first entered my office. I see a bit of red around the edges as well. The corners of his lips tug up, and then a ghost of a smile comes through. It's infectious. Before long, we're both laughing our heads off, letting off steam. Once we come down from our laughter high, I know what I need to do.
"Keep that shit with you, but send a message to Guoliang. Tell him if he knows what's good for him, he should send a ton of coke and heroin to LA first thing tomorrow morning, otherwise-"
Moro looks at me and I can see it. The question is in his eyes, so I beat him to it. "Oh, don't worry, he's going down. Some of those women and kids may already be dead, but it ends. It ends soon."
I tell him what needs to be done to end the mayhem reigned on the weaker sex. His face brightens up and he nods. "On it!"
As soon as he leaves, I'm back to guzzling some more scotch down my throat. You see, there's a thin line between the contents of a blue file and a red one.
So maybe I lied earlier.
Someone's definitely going to die tonight, but It's not going to be by my hands. That doesn't take away the fact that I ordered it.
A well-deserved death, if I ever saw one.
I send for Tanya and within seconds, she's standing in front of me with an attitude so loud, I know I'm going to have a problem with her sooner, rather than later. I never thought I'd say this but it comes out of my mouth. "Ready for some real assignment?"
The sour look in her eyes disappears replaced with a wide confused look. "Are you serious?"
Instead of addressing her question, I walk out from behind my desk and stand in front of her, cocking my head to the side. "See any problem fucking someone on the job?"
Her eyes widen and her lips coil into a sneer. "The same way you're fucking my sister?"
If words could do damage, I'd probably have imploded right now. I bark out a laugh, but it sounds empty. Hollow. "Last time I checked, she was a grown woman. I didn't do anything to her she didn't enjoy." I shrug.
"You bastard!" Her eyes spitfire as she stands with balled fists. It would have been comical if I weren't on the receiving end of her anger. "I don't understand it - how you worked your way into her life." She shakes her head. "She's always been level-headed, and-"
I stop listening at level-headed because I already know where she's going even before she says it. Hazel eyes is too good for me. I agree. So I'm going to fix this here and now. "If I stop seeing her, will you slide into your new role?" I watch her closely. She seems to be silently debating if it's a good deal. "How does a hundred thousand dollars sound for the first useful information you give to me from your first mission."
I watch as her mouth goes slack and her eyes go big and round.
I narrow my eyes and raise my forefinger. "Listen to me, kid, if I so much as hear a word of you favoring the other side. . ." I shake my head. "Let's just say it won't be pretty."
She seems to cave in on herself. She regains her composure a few seconds later and I know she's come to a decision when she nods.
"Sure about this, Tanya?" It's the first time I've called her by her name. "It'll involve getting your hands really dirty."
She shrugs. "I don't mind fucking one man, or two, to get information in exchange for money." She juts her chin. "So. . . you leave my sister alone, and I do this?"
It's my turn to nod. "Looks like we have a deal."