Page 5 of The Handyman

“Oh, um, yeah. They kicked him out, said he was banned. That if he came back, he’d end up behind a dumpster. I’m not sure that last part was really necessary, though.”

“You’d be surprised how dramatically people like him lash out when this kind of thing happens. A few years ago, a fem-dom smothered and killed her sub because he reported her for abuse.”

My pupils blew at this, my throat tightening as a cold sweat broke out under my long-sleeved shirt.

Reece stared at me levelly. “If your ex-partner goes after you, call meimmediately, Riley. Brighton won’t protect you outside these walls, but I will. Good?”

I inhaled a deep, shuddering breath as my face prickled faintly. “G-good, yeah. Yeah, I’d—I’d really appreciate that ride, Reece.”I regret this so much.Rolling up the donut bag, I shoveled the rest of mine into my mouth to stand up. I’d been here at Black Cat since they closed last night, and they wouldn’t be open for another few hours. I wanted to go home, but this was the only safe place I knew of. I didn’t want to risk Brandon finding out where I lived, either.

Reece was right— he was very much the kind of guy that needed a serious threat, and even that might not be enough.

4

Reece

“You look hungover.” Vanessa frowned at me.

I shrugged carelessly, reaching to take off my sunglasses. She ruled New York City with an iron fucking fist and didn’t think twice before shoving it up my ass— and I wasnotin the mood for that today.

“What happened?” she asked.

“What do you think happened? I saw my mom, they buried her, and then I went to the lawyer’s office to get all the paperwork and shit. Then, I drove 20 hours back, read through all the stuff, and got stupid drunk until about 8 at night. And before you tell me that’s not very late, I started at like 2 in the afternoon.” Grumbling as my own voice rattled my teeth and up to my temples, I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sharp exhale. “What about you? What happened while I was out?”

“Nothing exciting. You’re still combing through Makovich’s visit, right, Reece? I’d rather gossip than do any real work right now, to be honest.”

Vanessa’s and my offices were in the same room, so I couldn’t really escape her. Dropping my coat on the back of my chair, I ran my hands up my face and through my hair with a low groan. Up until that brat Mateo went missing, she’d just been a pain in the ass secretary, and I hadn’t had much experience with her.

But Vanessa was a slave driver, demanding as close to perfection as anyone could get. She wasn’t nasty or anything, thankfully. If she was, she’d be truly unbearable.

“I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but Aleksander Makovich is the ultimate elitist. He really came here expecting to be bowed to, but I had to Google him to figure out who he was. According to Illya, the dude’s got amassivegolden spoon up his ass. He’s spent so long in near total control of Russia that he thinks it’s the same out here. I heard a rumor from Jerry in Surveillance that his brother got so fed up with it he ran away to Germany the second Aleksander left Russian airspace.”

Yeah, Russia was a clusterfuck of unimaginable magnitude. I sat heavily in my chair to twirl around to face Vanessa.

She wasn’t surprised by my rumormongering, her dark eyes glittering to showcase her incredible mind hidden behind them. “What about that woman— Malda? How’s she doing? I know you were told to keep tabs on her.”

“She’s fine.” I flopped my head back to close my eyes and stretch out my legs. I didn’t have nearly as bad a hangover as I expected, which wasawesome. Even though the Makovich meetings ended over a month ago, they were such a mess that I hadn’t finished the paperwork, yet. And I had a feeling that today wouldn’t be my golden day. “You know, Vanessa. . . If Aleksander really does want to become Prime Minister of Russia, why take such a roundabout way to do it? Why antagonize Carlyle by requesting those meetings and then being such an asshole? What does he stand to gain by making yet another enemy?” I’m sure everyone involved had been asking themselves those questions since Aleksander Makovich left the States. “Why fuck his relationship with his brother…if that rumor is true? Personally, I think it was all supposed to fail. I think it was just supposed to be a show so he could say he was in cahoots with Carlyle, which would give him leverage in itself.”

“That seems to be the running theory, yeah. Carlyle wasreallypissed that Aleksander was jerkin’ his chain for publicity. Our deal with Makovich doesn’t benefit us anymore, so he’s got me doing the numbers to cut them out completely. Darren Willians is open to negotiating. I mean, we own his girlfriend. Literally.”

Ah, the other Russian bastard.I was getting sick and damned tired of these people. Carlyle didn’t like Makovich, so why were we still dealing with them? Frustration beat against my brain, and I put my sunglasses back on to hide my aching eyes. “I miss the Italians, at leasttheirincompetence was funny.” Pursing my lips thinly, I thought back to that incredibly tense discussion between the Santino men. Carlyle was more than happy to let Mateo get whatever he deserved, but the old man overruled him. It was no secret anymore that George Santino was a sociopath, and it was admirable how he went to bat for his youngest kid.

“Well, we have some downtime, Reece. Makovich’s not supposed to come back until next year. I got the impression that Carlyle wasn’t keen on seeing him again. Especially after what happened after Thanksgiving.”

Curiosity thickened my tongue, sticking to the roof of my mouth, and I lifted my head a little.

Vanessa leaned eagerly on her elbows as her brown eyes brightened. “You didn’t hear? Carlyle demanded Aleksander’s other brother, the one that tortured Malda. He said that it’s only fair since Aleksander demanded Carlyle let Malda stay that he makes one of his own.” She’d never admit it, but Vanessa was a major gossip whore. She was worse than Carlyle’s maids were if it was something particularly interesting.

“I didn’t know that, no.” I sat up fully to beat back the pounding against my temples.

“Yeah. I guess Aleksander just got up and left…like,left, left. As in got on his stupid private plane and went back to Russia the next day, left. At least it was towards the end of his stay.”

Oh. So that was the emergency.Honestly, I wasn’t surprised. Aleksander Makovich made enemies of people he’d never even met before. That Carlyle would defend someone like Malda, who Aleksander saw no worth in, was probably beyond that commie’s ability to comprehend.

I liked her. I thought Malda was really sweet even though she obviously lied every waking second of the day.But that’s why she’s sweet. She didn’t want the people around her to worry. Probably not ask any questions either.“. . . Do you think my mom would be proud of me if she knew what I was really involved in?” The question just slipped out of my mouth, and I frowned darkly as Vanessa’s brows rose high in surprise. Waving a hand dismissively, I clenched and released my jaw in the expectant, heavy silence that followed. “I guess now that she’s dead, it really doesn’t matter, does it?”

“I don’t think any mom expects their kids to become contract killers, Reece. This job was opportunistic for you and you got paid a lot, but once the paperwork is done, you’ll go back to a handyman. Whether your mom would be proud of that or not doesn’t really matter, but not because she’s dead, Reece. Because you’re not gonna quit. You like your job most of the time. I think that’s what moms care for more…that you’re happy with your job.”

I hoped Vanessa was right, but who could say for sure? It’s not like I’d ever get the chance to ask my mom. I couldn’t come clean now that she was dead.