devil's advocate

douze

CHAPTER TWELVE
red doors and understanding

"Don," a guard's voice rang through the thick wood of my office door in the middle of the afternoon. "There's a delivery here for you."

"Bring it in." The large door opened as he walked in and set it on the coffee table that sat in front of the large fireplace. I stared at the box carelessly knowing it had already been checked for anything harmful as I finished my work.

My mind briefly drifted over to Jade. The ball had come and gone without a problem. I could picture her body in that golden gown in my mind perfectly. It hugged her curves tightly in all the right places. She was dripping in molten gold that night and I groaned at the thought of what she could have been hiding under it.

We had gone on a few more dates after, some just casually at her house or mine. We didn't need very much else besides each other.

I grunted in annoyance as I couldn't focus on my work now that thoughts of Jade had begun flooding my mind. It was almost like she was a hurricane and I was the only house on the shore. She would either destroy me completely or flood my entire being until all that was left was her.

There were thoughts of her, thoughts of what our future would be like, thoughts of if it was worth it to fall for her. I knew she was a strong woman, one that didn't need any sort of protection. She'd been protecting herself her entire life and it showed.

But what could I truly offer her? A life of more danger and threats? Constantly being on guard wondering when the next attempt on her life would be? She was an assassin and a damn good one at that. She was a ghost and ghosts tend to be very difficult to threaten. That sense of security would diminish quickly if she decided to continue with our relationship.

I knew I could offer her understanding. This life would never be for the faint of heart, anyone could tell you that. That thought of understanding quickly turned into how much I knew about Jade.

I knew she was an orphan, that she was born into this life. I knew she was always curious and always looking for answers to anything she could get her hands on. We were similar in that regard. After all, knowledge is power. I knew she was closed off, we both were.

Trust was a hard thing to come by in this life. I didn't trust her yet; I knew that and so did she. To be fair I knew she didn't trust me either. A lot of things in life are simple but for us, trust wasn't. Trusting someone could either be your downfall or your upbringing.

It was safe to say she'd captured my interest from the first day I looked at her. I knew I wanted her as soon as I saw her and so far our relationship had been going well, but there was still so much we didn't know about each other. Our pasts were our ghosts, the skeletons in our closet if you will.

They stayed locked up in a red door in our minds that were filled with carnage and sorrow. I wanted her to trust me and I wanted to trust her. Enough trust that we could share the keys to our red doors. I didn't care if by normal means we were considered monsters for those doors.

Because after all, we weren't normal, and we never would be.

I'd wait as long as she needed to get her key because in the end I knew I'd protect hers with my life and she'd protect mine with hers.

If I knew anything about Jade it's that I wanted to be vulnerable with her and I knew she wanted the same with me. We'd get there eventually, we just needed to have patience.

I sighed and began making my way over to the table. I checked over the unmarked box.

No address is listed besides mine.

Opening it with a blade and peering inside I clenched my jaw as I looked at the contents.

I took them out and laid them across my desk as I began pacing back and forth. My fists clenched on their own accord as I called the guard in that had given me the package.

"Yes, Don?" His face paled as he looked at my face. It was completely calm despite the rage that had begun burning in the coldest pit of what used to be a warm beating heart. The only inclination he had of my rage was the very subtle shake of my hands as I tried not to shoot him in the head.

"Who left this package?" I said it coldly which wasn't much of a difference compared to my usual expression.

"I-It was left at the front sir." His fear must have prohibited his brain from working as he called me sir instead of Don or Capo. I've killed people for less and I would've put a bullet in his head already but I needed answers first.

I hummed slightly before speaking again. "And who brought it in?"

"I did s-sir." The blade I held was already at his throat and by the he had finished speaking blood was seeping out of his neck and onto my floor.

"Guards!" I called out as the two stationed at my door walked in and saw the body. My hands were already making quick work of wiping the blade off.

"Get the maids up here, It seems I've made quite the mess," I said to Gianni who stood on the right nodded in acknowledgment and got to work before turning to Luca on the left. "I want all camera footage from today as well as everyone who laid a hand on that package put in interrogation rooms."

My guards had left my office to do what I had ordered them to do. The faint click of the door sounded as it shut behind them with only a trail of blood residing on the floor. I made my way back to my desk, my gaze falling on the scattered pictures strewn across my desktop.

What seemed like a million photos staring back at me couldn't be more than fifty. I saw myself staring back at Jade in some of them. Others were taken on our dates and in the center was a picture of us at the ball dancing together right before we left.

The fire that had been growing since I first laid eyes on the pictures overflowed and in less than a second I was making calls, the most important being to her.