As Cold As Ice

Murder

A year had passed since I had become Ace's right hand. I had fully slipped into the role now, and I was almost flawless at it, which was terrifying.
I had skills I never thought I would have; I could tell someone was lying by a twitch in their brow, or if someone was in their own mafia by their tattoos. I had gotten our mafia symbol tattooed on my back. A skull. We're nicknamed the reapers for how many lives we take. Some people jokingly call Ace, the grim reaper; he doesn't find as funny though.

Sofia and Ace had gone to stay in Hawaii for a couple days, and he'd left me in charge of the mafia. I figured it was time to see just how much work he actually does. I had only recently gotten a dog to distract myself from how lonely it can be. I named him flash and so far, he was quite a handful.

I sat in Ace's office, with my legs stretched across his desk. I knew that he'd never let me do this normally, so I thought I'd take advantage of his absence.

I hadn't thought about Deja in awhile, or I tried not to anyway. I shook my head as I searched through the pile of papers on Ace's desk. None of them were of any relevance at all, but they were all 'important' as Ace had explained. He sat me down and I pointed to the pages on his desk. He said something about needing them to be done and that my signature would be valid to use.

I sighed as I flipped through the pages, none of them catching my eye except one.
"Payment in regard to Anderson's death." I read aloud. He had payed the police to stop them from searching into my father's death. Ace told me that he'd take care of the body, and that I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. I do wonder that if he does this for everyone else, who does it for him?

I continued signing papers for hours until my puppy, flash, came running in. He barked as he climbed up on my lap. I patted his head while pressing the pen against my chin.
"You need to be fed, don't you?" I asked him, and watched as his head cocked to the right, as if he could understand what I was saying. His little tail started to wag as he looked at the desk. He leaned forward and grabbed a couple of pages in his mouth, before prancing over to the fire and dropping them.

My mouth opened, as I watched the papers burn. Flash barked with happiness as he ran back over and jumped against my leg.
"Oh you're a little trouble maker, let's hope none of those were important."

My phone began to vibrate against the table. I glanced down.
Deja.

My eyes widened as I answered the call. I had unblocked her weeks ago, incase she ever needed me.

"Alex" she muttered through the phone.
"Deja, are you okay?" I asked worriedly, hearing the worry in her tone.
"Can I come over, I don't have anywhere else to go?" She blubbered into the phone.
"Of course, I'll send you the address."

I hung up the phone, and informed Terry that he'd need to let the guards be notified of her arrival. Allowing people into that gate pissed me off, even if it was for protection purposes.

Within half an hour, there was a knock on the office door. Terry entered.
"Ice, that girl is waiting in the living room for you," he announced before heading back out.
I followed him as I made my way downstairs. I turned the corner to see Deja, soaked from head to toe, holding her eye.

"What the fuck?" I muttered, as I approached her. Her eyes welled with tears as she stood in-front of me. I gently grabbed her wrist and removed her hand from eye. Below her eyebrow was slit and dribbling with blood. It was swollen... almost as if she'd been punched. My eyes widened at the sight.

"I'm sorry Alex, he's at my apartment and I didn't have anywhere else to go. I'm sorry for how I spoke to you the last time, I should've heard you out. I feel so awful that I turned you away and now I'm here," she spoke between sobs, her eye still leaking blood. I grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom, where I found the first aid kit under the sink. She sat on the counter as I cleaned her cut.

I couldn't speak. I was going to explode with anger. How could that bastard do something like this to her?

"You don't have to feel guilty about coming over Deja. It's been awhile but I'll always be here for you." I focused on cleaning her cut. "What happened?"
"I don't know, we were arguing and I couldn't deny what he had said and the next thing I know, I'd fallen to the floor and he sat on the couch, his head in his hands," she explained, biting her bottom lip to stop her from crying.
"What were you arguing about?" I questioned her, not even thinking about it, as I pressed her skin together and applied paper stitchings.
"He was rooting through my room and found a picture of us. He had put two and two together, from seeing you at the cafe that one time. He freaked out and started accusing me of cheating on him. Then he kept asking why I'd kept the photo after all these months. I just kept saying that he wouldn't understand and he didn't know the full story. Then he told me to say that I wasn't in love you....and I stopped. I stopped speaking because I couldn't get the words out." She looked at me.
"I couldn't get the words out because I've always loved you Alex, I've loved you since we were kids."

I stiffened at her confession, a million thoughts spinning in my mind, but one stood out. I was going to kill that bastard for touching her.

"I'm sorry Alex." She began to sob again, shaking her head. I didn't speak, instead I wrapped my arms around her, and allowed her to rest her head against my chest. Her arms wrapped around me and her sobs quietened.
"Let's get you changed out of these soaking clothes." I rubbed her back.

Murder was all I could think about. I was going to murder him.