Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“Not an inconvenience. Don’t live here, won’t live here ever again. Might as well keep you tucked away until we can figure out who is behind this and why.”
“Really Jennings, I appreciate you and your club coming in to help me. My cousin said she’s going to take care of things. I don’t want to bother any of you. This is probably some crazy mix up.”
I look at her.
Hard.
She continues to avoid my eye contact.
“Michele, who is your cousin that she has private security?” It’s an obvious question. Regular people do not need security.
She blinks, but doesn’t speak.
Full stop.
Alright, time to pivot.
“Things are intense. You don’t know me, and I don’t know anything about you outside of what paper tells me. Trust isn’t easy.”
“You can say that again,” she mutters.
“I’m Jennings Benson, former Navy SEAL, I know what it is to take a life and protect a stranger.”
Are my words brutal for someone to take in? Absolutely, but I am who I am. I won’t deny that I’ve killed more than once. In order for her to open up, it’s time to be raw.
“This isn’t surprising given your time in service. I gathered that from your room.”
Her words are more of a challenge and I like it. I don’t speak, simply lock my eyes to her and blink.
“Jennings, let’s not do this. I’m sure you have figured out all you can about me which tips the scales in your favor. I appreciate your support as the shock clearly got the best of me earlier. It’s not every day one is mixed up with something getting a head in a box.”
She’s hiding something. The woman this morning was blindsided. She didn’t expect anything. The woman this evening almost acts as if this a common thing.
“Okay,” I need to change tactics, even the playing field. “I will give you this. I’m the sergeant at arms for the Kings of Carnage MC. We clocked you the moment you signed the lease for your business so yes I’ve long since known who you are and a little about you before today. It ties to Bianchi Holdings which isn’t surprising since you are from New Jersey, but why Giulia Bianchi invested in this area is a curious thing. It’s important to my club to know all the business owners. You live a quiet life and your business is everything.”
She nods, “yet, knowing this, why do you come every Monday? Did you bring this to my doorstep?” I bite back my smirk at her counter. She’s good at deflection, I’ll give her that.
“Buttercup, tread lightly with this insinuation. I’m not gonna say I don’t have enemies, I do. But nothing I do would ever touch you. As you are irrelevant in my life.”
She doesn’t flinch at my words.
“This could be as simple as a mistake. Wrong business got the order. We’re looking into it.”
“Appreciate your help. I appreciate your hospitality, but I think we have reached the juncture where I go back to my life and I’ll see you Monday.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you leave already? There is something you aren’t sharing. I want to keep you safe, Michele. I can’t do that if I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”
She leans back on the couch. “I don’t know that the box is even meant for me. Like you said, could be wrong business.”
With my elbows casually resting on my knees and my fingers laced together in front of me. “I’m gonna cut to the chase, buttercup. The box was meant for you. The truck delivering your flowers was intercepted by a club out of Tennessee. The shop your distributor goes to before you, not five miles after leaving, they ran Fred, your usual driver off the road.”
She gasps, “where is he now?” her question comes out in a whisper.
I pause trying to read the woman in front of me. She takes a sharp inhale, closes her eyes, exhales, and opens her eyes as if she’s steadied herself for news she already knows.
“He didn’t make it.”
I watch the tears pool behind her eyes. Reaching out, I give her leg a squeeze.
Now maybe we can get somewhere.
CHAPTER 7
Michele
Fred didn’t make it.
I don’t reply. I find comfort in his touch. I shouldn’t but I do.
I can’t help but think about the kind man who came by weekly to drop my flowers. Fred was a kind, older gentleman. He and his wife were empty-nesters. He delivered to stay busy. Retirement bored him, he once told me.
Week after week of having the same driver consistently, you learn things about them. He shared openly about his life and never had a bad day. I wonder how Lois will be. They were married forty-eight years. That is a long time to be with someone. How do you build a life alone after that? Do I reach out and send her flowers? Does she know what happened to him already? It’s been days, I hope she knows. If not, the worry over him will certainly drive her insane. My mind races.