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TWENTY-TWO

Dante

In a perfect world, I would have told Father, “Happy 28th Anniversary,” as I watched him take his last breath moments before I took mine on the eve of August 5th. It didn’t happen. Instead, I spent that day killing more of his flesh drones and closing another cell of his business. Before, I was making him bleed money, but now he’s hemorrhaging it. His net worth drops by the minute.

For the first time since Father has turned me into this person, I couldn’t complete my mission. I couldn’t kill her. I was at the resort, standing over her sleeping form, ready to call Father so he could watch her take her last breath. I wasn’t happy, or at least detached enough, to go with my original plan, but I was willing to try. I was still on the fence about wanting or even reaching for what she was offering. I cannot imagine a different life where I wasn’t the detached killer who was beaten into me. Inaya was offering an alternate life that I never tried to think about to reach for in any capacity.

I was willing to end that dream. To clear my head from all the notions she put in my brain and start the last part of the war where Father and I would kill each other. I never imagined living long after the day I was supposed to kill her, but she had smiled in her sleep with my name on her lips. I knew she wasn’t conscious, and it all could have been a dream, but the next words she breathed made me back out of her space.

“I love you.”

My two selves split again, with part of me wanting to climb into bed with her and the other part wanted to rip off my skin. Sweet words sounded almost cruel because it reminded me of the last time I heard any semblance of that declaration; the day my life turned into shit. My brain started churning with a new plan; the main thing that continued to replay in my mind became the main focus for that moment.

Leave her here.

After putting the items I acquired before I kidnapped her in the safe, I looked at her for what I hoped would be the last time in person and got a ride to the airport. As usual, I was in full disguise and completely unrecognizable as I got on a commercial flight like I didn’t just leave the hostage I had for months. Father thought it’d be easier to find me if he placed a hefty price on my head, but his biggest mistake is forgetting that he taught me. I took his lessons and perfected them. The student was the master, as they say, a long time ago. I just never bothered to update him.

Now, it’s damn near December and I’m still taking out the occasional random assassin he sent to kill me. Each time I send him the confirmation of his assassin’s death with the burner phone he gave them. Every one of them mentions avenging Inaya. It amuses me since she’s hiding in plain sight, but he’s convinced that I’ve already killed her. Inaya and I can’t move in the same space right now. Absently, I rub my hand over my chest, just like I seem to do every time I think about her. I don’t know why, but it’s a habit at this point.

I stand in the shower watching all the blood run down the drain with the water. Father is becoming impatient. He sent four this time, but aside from a few bruises and stitches over my left eye, I’m fine. It took me a moment to realize how they kept finding me so quickly, but I won’t make that mistake again. I was too busy monitoring Inaya and erasing traces of her moving around that I wasn’t masking my own whereabouts. I’d fallen back into old habits by using sources that I used when I didn’t have to hide.

I still don’t have to hide; I choose to hide. I’m going to bring the fight to him on my time and not a moment before that. Concentrating on my shower. I finish all the necessary washing, then get dressed and grab my bag. A few confirmed kill pictures later, I take one of the assassin's bikes and disappear into the dark. He won’t find me again.

After ditching the bike, I steal a car and drive it across state lines. I ditch it at the airport but take a taxi to the port. No one looks for a killer on a cruise ship. I’m not in a cruising mood, but misdirection is my specialty; I won’t be on it when it returns. Plus, I need time to rest.

It’s not until I’m lying on my bed in my cabin that my mind goes back to Inaya. I miss her; it’s the first time I’ve admitted that to myself, but it’s been true from the moment I left her. Time has made the feeling worse. I thought it’d be the opposite. I thought I’d begin to feel detached again. I was wrong.

Rolling to my side, I stare into the blackness that would be the sky if it were daytime. I can’t think of a time I’ve been this lost for a decision. Yes, I still fully plan to kill Father, but what after? My confusion followed me into sleep, just for me to awaken the next day, still unsure.

For the first time, I truly try to imagine a future for myself but opt to connect to the internet once I come up blank. Inaya was last visiting Montreal and if she follows her same pattern, she should be leaving soon. While she continues to make mistakes with each relocation, I’ve noticed that I have fewer mistakes to correct each time; she’s getting better. All the fighting and killing of the assholes who keep popping up has made me less attentive than I have been since we split.

My fingers clicking across the keyboard is the only sound in the room as I get logged in and onto the internet. I don’t get past the news page on the stupid browser because everything in me goes hot. I fight the urge to throw the laptop because it’s brand new and I still need it. If it weren’t for its use, I would have chunked it across the room. My eyes fly across the page as I soak in details.

I was hurt and furious once it was clear that he manipulated me my entire life. The hate I felt for him was familiar because it always simmered beneath the surface; I knew exactly what to do with that feeling. But the feeling thrumming in my veins right now is new, and I have no idea what to do with it. The only thing I know for sure is the moment we dock I’m going to be the hell he wants me to be but it won’t work in his favor.

I took my eyes off the prize for two days. That's it, and now this. If this was his plan with the assassins all along, he and the remaining ones are all going to wish they never fucking met me.

Shutting down my laptop, I close my eyes, but I can somehow still see the words that have already etched themselves into my memory.

Investment Billionaire, Antoni Wójcik, is Reunited with his Daughter.