His Angel of Death

The crowd was buzzing with excitement, everyone was on the dance floor and the music was blasting across the club.

Chiara scanned the crowd from the VIP area of the club. She never could understand what made people drink and lose their thinking capacity. She had always thought it stupid and reckless. She believed that drugs and alcohol just inhibits the brain.

Even though she criticized them in her mind, she was grateful for them. Her family business survived because of fools like that, people who loved to dull their senses with drugs and alcohol.

Her anger was burning as she saw Diego walk in with two blondes. She checked her wristwatch and scoffed. 'The idiot was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago' she thought.

Diego went to the bar to order drinks and she saw him trade envelopes with the bartender. She started walking towards him and was about to reach him when a man stopped her.

"Hey there, sexy." The man said. She could barely hear him over the loud music. She wondered why people found it fun to listen to ear blasting music.

Chiara looked at him and withdrew her hand. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, he was about six feet tall and built like an athlete. He looked like a college kid having a fun night.

"Fuck off!" She said and turned to walk away but the guy grabbed her arm and drew her close.

"Oh come on. Let's dance, it will be fun." The guy spoke into her ear, pressing his chest against her back.

"One more word from you and you will loose your..." She stopped her threat midsentence as the guy was pulled away from her in a sudden move. She turned around to see a strange man hit the guy that was harassing her. Some people turned to look at them, then continued dancing.

She stood in place as the man approached her. She was magnetized by his alluring hazel eyes. They had a weird glint to them, she just couldn't explain it.

"Hello ma'am. Are you okay?" His voice was smooth and soft like silk. He had a faint accent which she couldn't place.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She noticed Diego moving to the back door and she followed him, completely ignoring the man who helped her.

She followed Diego out of the club and into the alleyway beside the club. He was on his phone, trying to call someone. She walked towards him and grabbed the phone, he was calling Alberto, his accomplice. She ended the call and kept the phone in her pocket.

"Why are you running, Diego?" She asked with a sardonic smile.

"I'm not running. I just... hmmm, I .. I came out to call someone." He stuttered.

"You know, only bad boys run away." She drawled in a sweet voice. She saw him shake and shift his feet in a nervous manner.

"Let's just keep this to ourselves. There's no reason for the boss to know." He said in a firm voice, trying to appear tough.

She caught him pulling his gun out and she smirked. She put her hand around his neck and squeezed it. In a quick motion, she grabbed the hand reaching for the gun and applied force to it till the wrist broke. He tried to scream but only a pained gasp came out.

"What should I not tell the boss?" She loosened her hold on his neck.

"It was only a little, I swear. I was in debt and I needed small money to bail myself out." He said in a low voice, his eyes were filled with fear. He squirmed in her hold, trying to escape.

"Wow!" She tightened her hold on his neck and chuckled. "Five kilos is not little. Stealing is an insult to the family, you just called the boss an idiot and you know what I feel about insults to my family."

"Please, don't kill me. I promise, I will return every dime I stole. Please." He pleaded with a croaking voice. Tears were falling down his face as he spoke.

"I really do not have the energy or interest to keep you alive. Like you said, it was small money, your blood will repay it." She released his neck and he started running. She pulled out her gun from her hip holster and attached a silencer to it. She shot his leg and and he fell down. She walked towards him with slow steps and bent down in front of him.

"Please, I will do anything. Anything you want." He pleaded with her.

"There is nothing you can do for me, but I will do you a favor. I will make it quick." She stood up and shot him point blank, between his eyes.

She heard a clang beside the alley and she went to check it. She saw the dust bin on the floor and a silhouette running. She hid her gun and ran after the person. She caught him just before he could enter the club. He turned his head and she froze.

It was the man who had helped her earlier. The light from the flickering bulb highlighted his face and she noticed how handsome he was. His pointed nose was straight and perfect, his cheekbones and his jawline were chiseled and his luscious cherry lips were beautiful. She wondered how his lips would feel against hers.

"What do you want?" His voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Such a waste." She pouted as she stroke his brown curls.

He jerked back and moved away from her. She punched him in the gut and he bowed over. She hit him on the back and dragged him. He hit her leg and she dropped him. He rolled over and stood up. They both began fighting, Chiara was throwing punches at him and he stayed on defense. She threw a jab at his throat and pushed him against the wall.

She pulled out her gun and held it against his neck.

"Move slowly and do not attempt to run." She guided him to the alleyway where she killed Diego.

"You do not want to kill me. You will put your business at risk of many investigations." He said while looking at Diego's corpse.

"And why is that?" She removed the gun from his neck and stood in front of him with her gun pointed at him.

"I am a FBI agent. The whole agency will be looking for me."

She laughed and shot the wall two inches beside his head.

"I can make you disappear and erase your existence. I can stage your murder, kill you and blame someone else for it. Caro, if I want you dead, no one can stop me." (Darling) She caressed his face with the gun. He tried to grab the gun but failed. She switched off the safety and pointed it at him.

She knew that she ought to pull the trigger but she could not. She did not know what it was, she just did not want to kill him.

"You are in luck, I just might find a use for you." She held the gun against his back and directed him to her car. When he got in, she hit his head with the gun and he lost consciousness.

"Marcos, send some guys to clean up the garbage. I will send the address to you, I want it done soon and efficiently." She spoke through her phone.

Marcos was her capo and her childhood best friend. They grew up in the mafia together and they knew everything about each other. Her dad was the Don and his dad was the consigliere.

"Okay, I have received the address. They will be there soon." He replied her.

"Supervise the disposal, I have some business to attend to."

"Okay, call me when you are done."

She ended the call and looked at the man through her window. His large body was laid in an awkward position on the backseat of her Mercedes Benz. She smiled and got into the car.

As she drove, she wondered what she would do with him. She could not set him free and she did not want to kill him. He was not the first handsome man she had seen, but there was something about him that drew her to him.

*****

Xavier groaned as he woke up with a throbbing pain in his head. He looked around and realized he was in some kind of basement. He observed the place, there was a single bulb providing faint light in the room. There was a mattress and a plastic chair, the walls had dried blood on them and the place reeked.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He really should have just listened to his supervisor. His supervisor had told him to drop the case, but he was too stubborn to just give up. He believed he could find the evidence and missing pieces to pull the case through.

'At least I was not wrong', he thought to himself. He did find the evidence against Diego, just before Diego was murdered. His stubbornness was both a gift and a curse. If he had just listened instead of following Diego, he would be safe in his house right now. But then, he would not have gotten the evidence and witnessed Diego's murder, which he was sure had to be connected to something bigger.

'Maybe I can make this situation work, if she does not kill me first. I could draw information from her and put the pieces together.'

*****

Chiara threw the remote against the wall in anger. She was pissed with herself and confused. She did not know what was wrong with her. Never had she done anything so stupid. The family came first, always had. She really needed to figure out what to do, she could not keep him simply because of an attraction she did not understand.

That was the most confusing thing, she had never been attracted to a man before. In all her twenty four years of life, not once had she felt a sexual attraction to a man. At some point, she had thought she was gay, but it turned out she was not attracted to ladies either.

It was the worst way to find out her hormones did work. She ought to kill him, he was a loose end that needed to be tied. She took her phone and pulled up the app connected to the cameras in the basement. She watched him search the concrete floor with his hands. She knew he was looking for a weapon and she scoffed. She was not stupid to leave any harmful thing there with him.

After she had knocked him out, she took him to her house in Beverly, MA. It was a villa she got four years ago after she moved out of her dad's house. She had dumped him in the basement and locked it. She had no maid or servants in the house as she preferred her privacy and the five bodyguards assigned to her always stayed outside except under extreme conditions or if she requested it. She made use of a cleaning agency, they sent two maids to clean the house three days every week and the maids did so under the supervision of two bodyguards.

She had dismissed her bodyguards early so she could get his body into the house. She did not want her dad to find out about him and her bodyguards would have reported to her dad if they found out. Her dad was the boss after all.

She calmed down after taking a shower and she went to the kitchen. She was rummaging through the refrigerator when she heard her front door creak. She pulled out the gun strapped beneath the countertop in her kitchen and she walked stealthily towards the door with the gun pointing forward. She cut through the living room and saw a man with his back facing her in the hallway. She sighed in relief and relaxed her arm.

"Hey Jackass! What happened to knocking?"

Marcos turned around and smiled, he walked pass her and headed straight for her bar in the dining room. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and downed it in a go.

"That bad?" She asked him, referring to his day.

"I had to get information from a dude." He poured himself another glass and drank it.

"Ooh! Have they caught Alberto?" She smiled at him and went to the kitchen. She knew how much he hated torturing people. Marcos was one of the few people she knew who had a conscience. He would act all tough, but she knew he preferred to just kill his targets quickly.

"Not yet, the guy is sneaky."

Marcos took the bottle and was drinking directly from it.

"Are you trying to cook?" He asked with a fake frightened expression.

"Calm down, I'm not ready to die. I'm just looking for leftovers." She took out the pizza in the fridge and put it in the microwave. She could not cook to save her life. The one time she ever cooked, she and Marcos ended up in the hospital with food poisoning. She had not tried cooking ever since then. That was three years ago.

"You know that whiskey is worth four thousand dollars." She glared at him and shook her head. He was not affected by her glare, unlike everyone else. He always took her wine whenever he visited her and they squabbled about it.

"No wonder it tastes so good. Thanks." He replied and continued drinking it.

"I did not buy it for you."

"Well, you certainly did not buy it for yourself. I am just helping you out here." He teased her about the fact that she didn't drink alcohol.

"Yeah, it is for guests."

"Well then, it is serving it's purpose." Marcos smirked and started pressing his phone.

"You do not count as a guest in this house. One day, I am going to start making you pay for the drinks." She pulled out the pizza and served it in two plates. Marcos took a piece from hers and she slapped his hand.

"So what is the deal with this Xavier McKinney?" Marcos asked as he took another gulp of the whiskey.

"How do you know about that?" She had sent Xavier's details to Logan for a background check. Logan was an associate of the family, he was a highly skilled hacker and was good at acquiring hidden information. She had told him to keep it between them because it was a personal affair.

"Logan told me. Is it a new assignment?"

She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. 'Of course Logan told him, I am going to have a nice talk with Logan about the meaning of confidential', she mused.

"No, it is personal." She said in a flat voice and resumed her eating.

*****

Marcos looked up at her face in shock. She had a blank expression on her face, which meant she was serious. They had always shared everything with each other, so he was surprised by her answer.

"Did you get in any trouble?" He pressed on.

"No."

That only made him more curious. Logan told him the guy was a FBI agent and that had him worried. He was concerned about Chiara, she could have gotten herself in trouble but didn't want to admit it. He promised himself to get to the bottom of the matter.

"Where are your bodyguards?" He changed the topic because he did not want to stress her.

"I gave them the night off." She replied tersely.

He knew she was hiding something from him and he was determined to find out.

"Alright then. Can we watch a movie now?" He walked to the living room and switched on the television. He saw the broken pieces of the remote on the ground and he smiled as he noticed she was staring at it too.

"I guess the television offended you. I am grateful you did not break the television at the very least."

She avoided his eyes and sat down. He was concerned about her behavior, it was not the first time she broke an appliance or furniture out of anger, but her avoiding his eyes was weird.

"It seems we are going manual." He sat down beside her after choosing a movie. He watched her intensely while she watched the television.

*****

Chiara groaned and rolled over in bed. She stretched to pick up her phone on the bedside table.

"Yes?" She answered the call with annoyance in her voice.

"I see you just woke up. I need you to get Alberto today and close this little issue. You have to prepare for the deal with the Nicolettis." Her dad spoke in his astute voice. She could imagine the frown on his face as he reprimanded her for waking up late. It was one of the problems he had with her.

She looked at the time on her phone, it was 9:30am. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Okay, do you want me to bring him to you?" She asked him, referring to Alberto.

"No, he is of no use to me. Just off him and clean it up." He said and cut the call.

She sighed and stretched her arms. She went to her home gym and did her usual workout.

An hour later, she took her bath and dressed up. She strapped her knives on her ankles and covered it with her pants. She put her gun in her hip holster and shrugged her jacket on. Ever since she was ten, she never went anywhere without a weapon. It was ingrained in her by her dad.

Her bodyguards were already waiting for her when she got outside. She entered one of the cars parked in her driveway and her bodyguards entered the other.

"Jamaica plain." She told Dante, her driver.

*****

When they arrived at the house, she told her bodyguards to wait outside and she walked to the front door. She knocked on the door and waited.

"Hello. What can I do for you." A short, petite woman in her midfifties opened the door.

"It is rude to keep a guest at the door. Don't you think so?" Chiara smiled at the woman.

"I am sorry but I do not know you." The woman scrutinized her and looked at the bodyguards standing beside the cars.

"My bad. I am a friend of Alberto, Mrs. Torres." Chiara chuckled as Mrs. Torres blanched.

"He is not home." Mrs. Torres tried to close the door but Chiara put a foot in the doorway, preventing the door from closing. Her expression morphed to fear and she wringed her hands.

"Do not worry, I will wait inside."

Chiara opened the door wide and walked in. She went to the living room and sat down. She scanned the room and noticed the family pictures adorning the walls. The house had a homey feel to it, unlike her house.

"Where is Catherine?" She asked Mrs. Torres who was standing like a statue by the doorway of the living room.

"She is.. hmmm... she is not in the house." Mrs. Torres looked around the room as she spoke. She deliberately avoided eye contact with Chiara, scared that Chiara will catch her lie.

"Go and get her from her bedroom and do not try anything funny. One wrong move and you are both dead. Do you understand me?"

Mrs. Torres nodded her head in a frantic manner and went upstairs. Five minutes later, she came down with a beautiful teenage girl who resembled her. They both had the same auburn colored hair and were the same height.

"Catherine darling, come here." Chiara patted the space beside her on the sofa. Catherine walked timidly towards her and sat down with her head bent downwards.

"I am rather famished, can you whip up something nice for me, Mrs. Torres?" Chiara watched as Mrs Torres reluctantly left the room.

"Now, I need you to call your brother. Tell him to come home if he does not want to attend your funeral, and try to sound convincing." Chiara held Catherine's chin and caressed her face.

Catherine quivered in fear as she dialled her brother's number. Her hands were shaking and sweat was gathering on her forehead.

The phone rang three times before he picked up.

"Hello, Fratello." (Brother) Catherine spoke in a shaky voice.

"Put it on speaker." Chiara crossed her legs and relaxed her back against the sofa.

"Your boss is in the house and" Catherine turned to look at Chiara and she gulped. "She said you will be attending our funerals if you do not come home now."

"Mierda! Tell her I am coming. Make an excuse to use the toilet and go to my room. Take the gun in the second cabinet and run." (Fuck!) Alberto said over the phone.

Chiara laughed dryly and grabbed the phone from Catherine.

"Wow! You really have no conscience. You are sending your little sister on a suicide mission all because you are scared."

The line went silent but she could hear his ragged breathing.

"You have an hour to get here. Try anything stupid and I will kill your cute little sister and your mother. But I will not stop there, anyone who associates with you will be brutally murdered. Save me the hassle of hunting you down." She chuckled and cut the call.

Catherine was staring at her in terror, tears were falling down her face and she bit her lips to prevent her cries from coming out.

Chiara smirked and switched on the television. About fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Torres walked in with a tray. There was spaghetti and tomato sauce with chopped sausages on a plate and a glass of water. She placed it on a small table and put it in front of Chiara.

"Hmmm... this smells nice. I finally get to see if you are as great a cook as Alberto says." Chiara picked the glass of water and sipped it. "Out of respect for you, I will let you take the first bite."

Chiara observed carefully as Mrs. Torres took a bite of the food. She waited a while and when nothing happened, she started eating the food.

She was still eating when Alberto barged into the house looking frazzled. She ignored him and continued eating.

"Thanks for the lovely meal. It was not as amazing as Alberto claims but I am sure we can all accommodate his lies. After all, it is a habit of his." She held the glass of water against her lips and slowly drank the water. All the while, her eyes were on Alberto, watching him. He shuffled his feet in a nervous manner and looked everywhere but avoided her eyes.

She placed the glass on the tray and stood up.

"We have a matter to discuss, right?" She asked with a blank expression.

"I have nothing to discuss with you. You are going to let me and my family go or else, an incriminating file concerning your business will be released to the police." Alberto clasped his hands together behind his back and looked her in the eyes.

Chiara laughed and the sound reverberated through the room. She walked towards him in a brisk motion and pushed him to the wall. She searched him and removed the gun he had on.

"I did not know you were this stupid. No police in this state will risk getting on my bad side, none! But I guess you do not want to die alone." She released him and walked towards the wall where the family pictures were hung.

"I have gotta say, your family looks adorable. What a shame." She picked up a picture, Mrs Torres, Catherine, Alberto and three other teenagers were in the picture, a girl and two boys.

"No!" Alberto shouted and ran to her. He knelt down and held her leg. "Please, I did not do anything. It was a lie, I swear on my mother's life. Please." Tears were falling down his face and he was trembling.

Chiara chuckled and pulled her leg away. Alberto fell to the ground and he stayed there, sobbing.

"I have not yet done anything, darling, save your tears. And I would not worry, your mother's life will be the first to go if any disappointing news reaches me." She walked away and signalled him to follow her.

*****