Chapter 16

<Gavin Forrester>

It's been about a week since Victoria showed up, bruised and burned, at my apartment. We've hung out at my apartment and some other really low key places but we haven't gone anywhere really public in a while. This is where Victoria's most recent request comes in.

She said that her parents had given her and Carter two tickets to a Broadway show but Carter couldn't make because he had some 'work' to do. So, Victoria called me up about an hour ago and told me that the ticket was mine if I wanted it. I obviously said yes and that is why I'm now seated in the front seat of my car, wearing a tux and driving towards Victoria's house. I dial her number and she picks up almost immediately.

"Hey, gorgeous." I smirk and hear her chuckle from the other end.

"How far are you from my house?" She asks, happiness laced in her tone.

"About a minute, are you ready?" I grin and turn down her street.

"Yes," Victoria mutters in a light-hearted tone.

"I'm pulling up in front of your house right now...Just come out when you're ready." I hang up the phone and tap my fingers on the steering wheel.

Victoria comes out a few minutes later wearing a short, lace covered navy dress and a pair of uncomfortable looking heels. She pulls her coat tighter around her body and taps on the passenger door window, signaling me to unlock it. She slips inside and places her lips on my cheek.

"You look beautiful." I smirk and cup her cheek in my hand.

"Oh, just kiss me before we both pass out from this tension." She leans in and places her lips on mine.

I place my other hand on her waist and pull her in closer. We pull away a few minutes later. Victoria looks in the mirror, smiling at her smeared lipstick and messed up hair. She applies more lipstick as I begin to drive.

Victoria turns on the radio and begins to sing along with the rock song that comes blaring through my speakers. She fixes her hair and then turns to face me.

"Thanks so much for coming with me. I've been looking forward to this play since my parents gave me the tickets and I have a feeling I'll have more fun with you then I could ever have with Carter." She chuckles as we pull into a parking garage about a block from the Gershwin Theater, where we're going to see the play.

"Ready to go?" I ask her and wait patiently for her response.

"Yes," She confirms and gets out of the car.

I get out as well and lock our doors. I walk over to her side of the car and offer her my arm. She takes it gratefully and we begin to walk down the street towards our destination.

"Can you tell me what play we're going to see now?" I give her a small pout which makes her laugh a little.

Mission accomplished...

"I'll tell you if I actually survive getting to the Gershwin." She chuckles and tries to pull her coat tighter around her.

"It's March, it's not like it's the middle of winter or anything." I shake my head and give her an amused look.

"They're predicting snow." Victoria whines and narrows her eyes at me.

"Flurries, there's a difference between snow and flurries." I roll my eyes as the Gershwin comes into view.

"Wicked." She smirks. "That's the play we're seeing."

Her grin widens as we walk through the doors into the warmth of the theater. I find a smile crossing my lips as I look at her. She seems completely captivated by the open space of the lobby.

She holds my hand and drags me around to look at all of the artifacts and pictures on the wall. She looks so happy, and I'd do anything to keep that smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes.

Hell, I guess this is what it means to be in love.

"We should go get our seats." Victoria whispers in my ear and drags me towards the auditorium entrance.

We take our seats, which are a few rows back from the front, giving us a perfect view of the stage. Within 15 minutes, the whole auditorium is filled up and we're all waiting for the play to begin. I pull out my phone and silence the ringer.

"Um, sir, do you have the time?" My hands clutch my phone tighter and I bite my bottom lip.

I know that voice...

I turn to the person next to me and see the cold, dark eyes of Talon Tenebris staring back at me. My blood course furiously through my veins and a million thought race through my mind.

"Boo," Talon whispers and then smirks as he turns to face the stage.

The lights dim and I'm left with my thoughts as the show begins.

~~~~~

It's intermission right now. I tell Victoria that I need to take care of something and then I storm off furiously towards Talon. I drag him to the men's bathroom by his shirt collar and I lock the door behind me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I mutter, failing to control my temper.

"Seeing a play, what else would I be doing here?" He states serenely, enjoying how much his presence is angering me.

"You're here to pressure me into killing her. Aren't you?" I whisper, so no one but him can hear.

"I'm glad you came to that conclusion on your own."

"I thought you were going to leave me alone until the rehearsal dinner." I cross my arms and glare at him.

"I realized something a few days ago...You were just trying to buy yourself more time so you could fall even deeper in love with her."

"So what if I was? Aren't you going to make me kill her no matter what?" I dig my nails into my palms as I wait for his response.

"I'm trying to make it easier on you, Gavin. The less in love with her you are, the easier it will be to kill her and the less guilt you'll feel later. You just need to get it over with." Talon gives me a serious look, as if he's trying to convince me that he's doing this for my benefit.

"I'm already in love with her, it won't matter when I do it...I'll still feel like killing myself afterwards. I'll still have to force myself to pull the trigger and I will regret it all when it's done. Making me do it sooner will only benefit you, not me, not her, not anyone but you." I stare at him disgustedly, taking in a deep breath.

"Gavin, this could've all been over if you'd just killed her the first night you met her. You never would've fallen in love and you never would've gotten involved in a whole operation that doesn't involve you." Talon mutters angrily, taking a step towards me.

"Well, it involves me now and now I have a personal stake in this."

"What would that be, besides Victoria?" Talon glares at me but doesn't move any closer to me.

"Carter is going to wire all of the money I'm supposed to make off of this mission to his contact so he can get more drugs to sell and use." Talon's eyes widen with surprise as that sentence leaves my mouth. "Bet you didn't know your drug puppet was using your money and taking all the merchandise for himself."

"I told him to get the hell out of that business but I guess now I know why he wouldn't...He was using my money to get him what he wanted and he kept doing it because it wasn't costing him anything." Talon shakes his head and then looks at the wall, deep in thought.

"He's lazy and I think you should make him pay for what he did." I admit with complete honesty.

"You just want to screw Carter over. You want him to pay for betraying Victoria." Talon chuckles and raises an eyebrow at me.

"He's betraying her for drugs and to take all my money, the money I'm going to earn if I go through with this assignment. I can't have that." I grit my teeth and try to dial my anger down.

"I could fire the spineless bastard but then I'd lose all of my valuable connections. I'd have to wait until someone with just as many connections came around. I can't let him take down my whole operation. He knows I need him and that's why he thinks he can get away with this." Talon clenches and unclenches his fists as he speaks.

"What about Victoria's mom? I mean doesn't she have just as many connections and she's got the police chief wrapped around her little finger." I hold up my index finger to further my point.

"Don't speak of him...I'll deal with the police chief later." Talon scoffs and turns to face the sink.

"You have to get rid of Carter before he finds out about the other stuff...The stuff that could get you life in prison." I whisper, the tension in the room multiplying.

"He already knows...He's the one who laundered the money for me. He bribed the cops and he forged the permits so I could keep my office building. I was running low on funds when my business was in its 5th year. I'd just caught Carter dealing and he offered to get me some money, he said he had some friends that would be more than willing to share their assets. So, I gave him some of my bank account numbers and he had money wired into them by the morning. I gave him access to my most vulnerable area and now he's abusing it. I should've known. Why did I trust the guy who I caught selling crack cocaine on the street corner with my finances of all things."

Talon curses himself as I try to process all of the information I'd just been given.

"Why did you start getting Carter to get you drugs?" I ask, curiosity lacing my tone.

"The same reason he went back to dealing...I was running low on funds again and I needed something expensive to sell. I found a few bags of crack in Carter's bags and sold them. They had a street value of $160 for 4 grams so I kept stealing them from him and soon enough I was back on track. The more I stole, the more he had to get and the more I had to sell. Soon enough, his overlord started sending him more expensive, harsher things to sell. I took those too and then my finances were having a surplus. I had more money than I knew what to do with so, I told Carter that he needed to stop dealing. I had my money and I had more clients who had people they wanted dead. I didn't need Carter to get himself arrested and go screw all of that up. He, obviously, didn't stop and so I decided to turn the other cheek because I got what I wanted. However, up until a minute ago, I didn't know that he was using my money to continue his side job." Talon mutters bitterly.

"This story is made for Law and Order." I run my fingers through my hair, trying to make sense of everything.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're living in a Law and Order episode."

"Yeah, one that never ends and gets worse with each commercial break." I rub the left side of my head to subdue the incoming headache.

"Don't take any more commercial breaks and then we can reach the climax." Talon grins darkly, enjoying every second of my discomfort.

"I can't kill her, you know that." I cross my arms and give him a harsh look.

"Then I'll get someone who can." Talon states in an annoyed voice.

"No don't do that." I say quickly, like I'm trying to convince myself rather than Talon.

"You need to stop playing superhero, Gavin. This is one time where the good guys are going to lose. You can't fix everything in this situation and the option I've given you is the only way to solve this problem."

"No, there's always another way." I glare at him, the daggers in my eyes piercing right where his heart would be if he had one.

"Gavin, you're in too deep. You should've just killed her on the first night. You could've avoided all of this and could've moved on with your life."

"That's the point, I'm already in too deep and I can't go back." I shout, my anger taking over without my permission.

"You cannot fix this, do I need to spell it out for you? There are too many people and things involved that you don't know about so, do us all a favor and kill her." Talon snarls, a livid look taking over his eyes.

"So, she's getting killed because she's your daughter, your wife won't get back together with you and she's has a life insurance policy on her that could help you to start over?" I ask, fighting to keep my voice calm.

"There's one more thing you should know about why she has to die..." Talon says, expertly keeping all emotion out of his voice.

"Well, spill...you might not have many more chances." I cross my arms and stare at him.

"She knows a bit more about this situation than you think."

"Does she know you want her dead?" I ask suspiciously.

"No but she does know about my business. She followed Carter to work one day and she found out some things she should've never known about."

"You really need a better security system." I give him an amused look and wait to see if he has any more to say.

"You want to know why she's been in the Bronx lately?" Talon asks, sparking my curiosity.

"That might be helpful..." My eyes narrow as he continues his story.

"Victoria hired a private investigator to look into my business and what Carter was doing there. My contacts have told me that she plans on leaking her findings to the cops and you of all people know why I can't have that." Talon crosses his arms and gives me a serious glare.

"And I can't kill her..." I cross my arms and match his glare.

"You could if you'd just let her go."

"I don't want to..." I bite my lip and continue to glare at him.

"I know you don't but if you want to play in the big leagues then you have to get your hands a little dirty, even if you don't like it." Talon chuckles and I suddenly feel like breaking his nose. "Just grow a pair and get the job done."

"Obviously I already have a pair...otherwise I wouldn't be standing up to you right now." With that I walk out of the bathroom and go searching for Victoria.