The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy (The Devil's Eyes) (9 page)

“Exactly how much does this job pay?” he asks, sitting down next to me with wide eyes. I don’t want to take him with me, but then I think about Delin and his boring ass. At least Ro talks. He talks too much, but I could leave him in the car when I am tired of him. The advantage he can potentially give me with Kayla may make the trouble worth it.

“It pays a few thousand a week plus room and board.”

“You better take that job Roland!” his mother yells from her room.

“Shut up, old woman! Ain’t no one talking to you!” Ro yells back. A loud banging begins before his mother comes running out with a large belt. Ro quickly pushes me out the door. “No reason to stick around here any longer.” Once we seem to be safely away, he stands up straight in front of me and happily agrees to my terms. “Now, as far as Kayla is concerned, what exactly has you in such a mess right now? What bothers you the most about her?” he asks.

“She inflicts her will on me, and she won’t let me control her,” I say to his scrunched expression.

“And you didn’t know that about her before you married her? That is not exactly something new about her, Nick.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t know her at all,” I snap at him.

“Hmmm …” He nods. He begins to hum as if he is trying to decide how he can help me. “I don’t need your relationship advice. Trust me,” I huff, taking hold of Roland’s arm and moving him back towards my car. “Come with me,” I say as he shakes his head at me.

“You should just give up trying to control that woman. She is too much for you.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion. I handle her just fine, her strong will just caught me off guard is all.”

“Uh-huh, her strong will is that what did it? I don’t care what you say, I can tell you still care for her. If nothing else, I bet you miss having sex with her.” I stop dead in my tracks.

“I have no interest in fucking that woman!”

He laughs, “Okay, if you say so.” He starts making weird noises and dancing suddenly. “Well, I think you’re crazy.
I think you’re crazy … Crazy,”
he sings. Glaring in his direction, he shuts up instantly. Ro walks up to my car in awe. “Are you kidding me?! This is your car? No way. Is this your car?” he asks as three men approach, eyeing my car as Ro does, “Uh Nick, I think maybe you should just throw your keys down and let’s run. I know these guys. They are not to be messed with, and they clearly want this car.”

Ro grabs my arm and tries to pull me away, but I continue on and eye each man directly as they stand boldly around my car to keep me from going anywhere. “Move,” I say clearly to them. They all run without any further trouble.

Ro looks surprised … for a second. “I guess it would have to be one suicidal motherfucker to steal your car.” He looks me over, shaking his head. “Dark and handsome and crazy as fuck.”

Oh shit I forgot Delin. “Stay right here, I forgot something.” Delin is still sitting right where I left him, and except for a lot of empty plates, there doesn’t seem to be anything amiss. I lead him back to the car and introduce him to Ro.

“Dear God, what is it?” Ro says, running around Delin in awe. “What do you feed it?”

“I eat what I want to eat and when I want to eat it,” Delin says in his usually low and mundane voice.

“Of course you do! Who would deny you?” Ro says, getting in the car after Delin. Ro instantly begins playing with every button and control in the car, constantly making some kind of noise with every discovery. “So you grew up as some super rich kid, huh? I wish I had grown up like this.”

“No, not at all. My grandfather bought this for me” I say.

“Oh. What, he didn’t know you existed before? Did he disown one of your parents, and now all is forgiven and he wants to leave his only heir his fortunes? I saw that in a Lifetime movie once.” He looks over at me as eye him. “My Momma was watching it, and I just happened to be in the room,” he says.

A Lifetime movie? That is certainly not my life, but as hard as I try, I can’t remember my life. All I know is what I was told. I was working on some business when I was attacked. Grandfather rescued me, and I was in a coma for some time before I awoke with no memories. Grandfather told me that my mother died when I was young from an illness and that my father was killed in a battle many years later. I know nothing else of my life. Grandfather isn’t one for sharing old stories, and Galena worries she will upset me and would prefer me to ask Grandfather. It is frustrating not knowing, but now, this man Ro seems to think I was married to
that
woman. I look him over as he talks to himself and sings. He is clearly mentally unstable, so I don’t worry any longer about his information on my life.

“Man, I wish I was you. I would be pimping every day! I would be kicking ass and then hooking up with …oh, like your Ms. Hell in Heels. Kayla is an absolute badass. She was way too much for me to handle. Don’t know how you got her with your scary attitude, but people like what they like I guess. Although … I bet you got a twelve inch dick too, huh, Nick? Of course you do. Some people just get it all! Damn! Life screws some of us all too fucking pieces and shit, but then some are blessed with perfection to the tenth power. Your honey, for instance. She is the tenth power at its finest. I bet she even tastes sweet, just like candy,” he says before immediately going into song, “It’s like candy, you’re so dandy…”

Oh fuck! I am going to kill her just for forcing me to have to go through this.

“Ow!”
He continues to sing and dance in his seat. I look him over in horror, considering pushing him out of the car. However, he does break up the boredom of being around Delin all day. “It’s like candy ohhhhhh … you’re so tender sweet candy … you’re like you’re like ohhhhhh,” Ro continues, despite my glares in his direction.

Oh what the hell I am doing?

Ro, shuffling his feet and eyeing items with itchy hands, walks into the house with me. I give him a hard glare as he smiles over an expensive clock. “I wouldn’t steal from this house if I were you. You won’t make it out alive with anything. Trust me.” He nods and follows me into Grandfather’s study where he has three naked women catering to him. Ro’s eyes grow wide, and his jaw hits the floor. Grandfather smiles in my direction, motioning for us to come in further. “Grand-père, I have news for you. I have gained an aide for myself similar to you.” I push Ro forward as Grandfather looks him over.

“He doesn’t look to your standards, Nicholas,” Grandfather says.

“He has some qualities that are of benefit to me. The rest I can work with and make better,” I say, smirking at Ro’s narrowed eyes towards me.

“If it makes you happy, Ma Joie, then it makes me happy. Give him a room near Rabbie, so he can show him his duties properly. Rabbie!” Rabbie enters the room quickly with immediate attention towards my grandfather. “Rabbie, this is … Ro?”

“His actual name is Roland Roosevelt, Sir,” I say.

“Of course it is. Very well. Rabbie, this is my Nicholas’s new aide. Please be sure to show him where he will be staying and prepare him for his duties to assist my grandson properly.” Rabbie nods and looks towards Ro, waiting for him to follow. “By the way, Nicholas, you have cut out his tongue haven’t you?”

Ro’s mouth drops to the floor, showing his tongue clearly, but when Rabbie opens his mouth to show the lack of his tongue, Ro clinches his jaw shut and covers his mouth with both hands as he stares at me in disbelief. “No, Grand-père, not yet. For now, I am curious to know all I can about him before I finalize my commitment to him,” I say, trying to bring back a peaceful existence between me and Ro.

“Alright, but don’t wait too long, Nicholas.” Grandfather gets up with his drink in hand and a woman at his side. He walks slowly towards us looking over Ro carefully. “Aids are to serve without question Roland. They are not to be heard. Do you understand?” Ro nods, still holding his mouth. “I hold you personally responsible for looking after my grandson. If anything happens to him, you will no longer be needed here, and don’t expect to return from where you came.” Grandfather’s smooth, rugged voice visibly shakes Ro’s spine. “You may go.” He waves him towards Rabbie, and I help push him in that direction.

“Thank you, Grand-père. Good night,” I say before whispering to Ro to never talk to my grandfather or to anyone in the house other than me and only when we are beyond the estate.

“Nick, as great as an offer as this is, I think it would be best if you find someone else for this position. I thank you for the opportunity but … but I got to go. My Momma needs me there, and …”

“It’s too late. You have already been accepted. To leave now would only secure your instant death.”

“Ah damn! You didn’t say anything about death and tongue’s being cut out.” He begins to shake and panic.

“You didn’t ask.”

“Who asks if there tongue will be cut out at a job interview? That is not a normal request of someone’s employee, Nick. If I had known that before I would have said, ‘um, thank you for the opportunity Nick, but I believe I will keep my tongue and be on my merry fucking way. You crazy motherfucker’.”

“It is too late, but if you keep your mouth shut and do as I say, then you can keep your precious tongue,” I say to him with force, turning him back towards Rabbie who awaits us patiently. “Right now, I promise I will look out for you, but you have to help me find Kayla.”

Chapter 12

Kayla

I wake up today refreshed and ready to fight through another day. The men and Cat are all gathered together discussing a new plan, but when I walk into the room, they all go silent. They look at me as if they expect to see a woman at her breaking point. “I have a plan,” I say, putting my coat on. “I need to see Nick, and I need to be in a room with him alone.” I glance towards Amery as a smile forms on his face. “There was a reason Savage forcefully removed Nick from the situation last night. He had us. There was no reason to run. Nick clearly doesn’t know who any of us are; he would have killed us with no problem. So why did Savage force the retreat? I think it was because of me.” They all sit back considering the idea but don’t seem entirely convinced.

Amery stands up, “I think it’s the best idea I have heard yet. Going after them with a usual battle is a death sentence, but if Kayla is right, then we may be able to win over the biggest ally within the walls of Troy.”

“Okay… say we agree, then how do you suggest we manage to get Nick to be alone with you? Savage is never going to allow him out of his sight or Galena’s, not now. One or both of them are surely going to be with him at all times,” Ryan says.

“He doesn’t have to allow it. We force him to,” I say. “Nick came running to rescue Galena once, and I suspect he would do it again. Only this time, he will need to rescue her from the police.”

It is always good to have connections at the police department but even better if your brother in law is the Chief of Police. Brady has always been one to follow the letter of the law. He prides himself on being above the criminals he arrests. It was not easy talking him into my plan, but even the most moral of people have a breaking point, and when it comes to Lena and their unborn child’s safety, Brady won’t hesitate to do what might save them. I wait in the distance, watching over the doors of their family’s office building downtown, Sovereignty. Brady waits with his men out of sight but still near the doors of the building. I communicate with him through an earpiece and let him know when my lookouts spot Galena and her men coming down the road.

“I hope you are right about this Kayla,” Brady says to me.

“Savage already left for a meeting in the opposite direction, and Nick did not go with him. He must be coming in with Galena today. Today is our one chance, Brady. Don’t back out on me now,” I say, trying to reassure him.

“I am not backing out, but I don’t like setting someone up to be arrested. It’s not something I am comfortable with. I would prefer to get a warrant of some kind.” Brady and his by-the-book rules are great for his day to day, but today, I need him to be ruthless and play fast and loose with that book of rules.