“Leave us,” I spit at her, nodding towards the bedroom.
The police commissioner clambers up from the body and steps in front of her, pushing her behind him. His stance is one of authority, but the tremble of his jaw tells me his bravado is waning.
I slowly stand from the chair. The screech echoes through the room. “I said, leave us,” I snap. I twist the chair behind me and take a step closer, and he glances over his shoulder and gives her a nod. She scurries off into the bedroom and slams the door. The unmissable shrill cries flow through the room as she continues her mental breakdown.
“Sit.” I nod at the table. He glares for a second before reluctantly walking towards the chair, and once he’s seated, I sit in the chair opposite him again. “Police Commissioner.” I take in his appearance, his flies open and his trousers hanging low on his hips, the blood drenching his back from the unfortunate slip.
“Who the fuck are you?” he spits out as he leans towards me.
I grin, lifting my gun and placing it on the table in front of me, pointing it towards him. “I’m just here to introduce myself and set a few… boundaries.”
“Get the fuck out before I call security.”
“I think you can see what happened to your security. Police Commissioner. Let’s not be rash.” I rise from thechair. “How about I stay right here, and we have a little chat?” I tap the gun against my phone, which is propped up on the table at the side of me, with the paused video of them both dry humping each other in the doorway.
“So what the fuck do you want?” he snarls under his breath.
“An understanding.” I allow a slight smirk to pass my lips as he continues to glare at me.
He crosses his arms over his chest as he sits and waits for me to elaborate, but I just sit back down and stare at him, contemplating the kind of man he is, the kind of man that would be bribed so easily, the kind of man that would do business with my father.
“Go on,” he finally inputs.
“You worked for my father; you worked closely with him. I’m here to take over and set a few boundaries for our… new working relationship.”
“Who the fuck is your father?”
“Was,” I reiterate. “Don Alessandro Bianchi.”
His face pales. Then there’s a moment of realisation before he smirks, as if now, what my father held over him to keep him in line is null and void. “Yeah, you might want to knock the smug grin off your face. I know everything. I have access to the same information as my father did. In fact, I have so much more. I will warn you, though. I am not my father.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” His jaw tightens as he stares at me. The stern look may work elsewhere, but I’ve been used to being looked at like that from all the men in my life. They think they can intimidate you into doing what they want from a stare alone, but I have newsfor them: they’re not scary, they’re desperate and unassuming.
“My father was very lenient with you. He allowed you a certain level of”—I search for the best phrasing—“wiggle-room, shall we say. Me? I won’t be allowing the same!” I push the large manila envelope towards him and smile.
He opens it and gasps as he pulls out the papers. The envelope is stuffed with multiple photos with close-ups of all my kills, detailed in the horrific images that spill out across the table. I tap my gun on the table against one of the images. “I would hate for this to end up being little Marie or Laura. And Heaven forbid if Mrs Chief Commissioner, Debbie, gets wind of your extracurriculars.”
“So you’re fucking blackmailing me?” He snarls and goes to rise from the chair, but I fix him with my glare—the one that says fuck around and find out if you dare.
“Not. At. All. On the contrary. I’m telling you just how it is. You will turn the same blind eye you did for my father. Otherwise, you will be dredging the river to find parts of those pretty little girls. I can assure you, you will never find every last piece. So I’ll assume we have a deal. There will be more than a few bodies over the next three months. See to it you deal with them appropriately. Commissioner.”
“B… W…”
I lift my finger to my lips and shush him. “As you were.” Only time will tell if we’re on the same page, but I have no qualms about destroying his family to prove my point. “I’ll see myself out.” I step through the door, then hear him yell out and toss the chair across the room.Leaving him to clear up the dead body in the middle of his hotel suite, I grin to myself. Who would have known taking over would be so much fun?
As I leave the hotel, I step out into the cool night air. I get an eerie feeling that I’m being watched, and I turn and make my way down the street. Strolling slowly, listening to every slight sound, every shift in the surrounding air. I can feel someone following me a little too close for comfort. I slide my knife into my hand as I stroll nonchalantly along the street.
It’s the early hours, not really dark but not light yet either. I slowly cross the street, leading them away from my bike and heading onto the darker side of the road. I see the alleyway up ahead and turn abruptly into it before jogging further along and slipping behind the dumpster, before slamming my back against the wall. The figure steps tentatively into the alley, glancing around before taking another step. He slips a phone out of his pocket and flicks the torch on, scanning it around the alleyway. Before he lifts it to his ear and dials someone.
“I lost her boss… I don’t know… Sorry, boss… I’m sorry… I understand… understood.”
I slowly and silently inch closer. He pushes the phone back into his pocket and closes his eyes, hanging his head in defeat. I slide my hand around his throat and grip him tightly, pushing the tip of the knife into his carotid.
“Now then, what do we have here?” His hands rise, and his breathing starts to elevate. “Who sent you?
He shakes his head.
“So you’re not gonna tell me?”
