The Deal Changer (Book IV)

Chapter Thirteen - Bravo

Chapter Thirteen

Bravo

THE MENTION OF MATTHEW'S NAME SHOOK CEDRIC.

He didn't reply immediately, and he didn't seem surprised I asked him about Matthew. Cedric wringed his hands and looked at me as if he were afraid to even open his mouth to speak. The other men seemed almost as mystified by Cedric's expression as I was, which made me wonder if they hadn't met Matthew. I was patient, as in I waited about a minute or two before I lost patience and slammed my boot against the hardwood below my feet.

"Are you going to tell me?" I demanded, causing him to flinch away from me.

Cedric frowned deeply and looked on the verge of tears, once more rendering me speechless. "He approached me," he muttered.

I knew this already because of the contract. "When?"

"A few months before our encounter." He gestured between us and shrugged. "I can't remember when, exactly. I was high a lot that year."

I also knew it was a few months before I confronted Cedric, but I had hoped he'd clarify. "Why did he approach you? What did he want?"

Cedric looked miserable, as if telling me this was literally eating him up inside. "He approached me to do a job."

My teeth gritted and I waved an angry fist at him. "If I have to keep asking questions and getting this vague responses, I'm going back on my word about not killing, got it? Now tell me everything without me having to constantly ask new questions, starting with how you met Matthew and what he wanted in detail."

Cedric cringed and gave a sorrowful nod. "He approached me one night when I was dealing in an alley. He offered me a job, 'It'll pay hundreds of thousands' he said, and I immediately took it." He shivered and rubbed his eyes. "He told me there was a girl I was supposed to target, but not kill. He was super serious about the kill part."

I was lost for a brief moment, wondering why on earth Matthew would hire Cedric to target a girl. "Who was the girl?"

"Your sister."

My world shook under me and I swear I was in the middle of an earthquake. It was like having a series of dizzy spells. I needed to know more, but I didn't have the strength to ask. I didn't realize I was shaking until I noticed Cedric watching my trembling hand in my lap. I tried to gather strength before speaking, but more difficult than it sounds. Swallowing hard, I looked Cedric in the eye and said, "What were his exact instructions? Why Cindy?"

"He said I needed to get the word spread that I was going to kill her, and make sure it spread to certain people. It wasn't hard. I thought it was a fun way to make an easy couple hundred grand, ya know?" His eyes drifted from mine and went back to the shagged carpet. "He never told me why. I was just supposed to scare her, nothing more. He said you might show up, and if I so much as pricked ya finger, I'd lose everything."

I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. Everything I had read in Matthew's library about what he has done was horrific, but this was something entirely else. I wanted to tell Cedric to give me a minute to process this, but he didn't.

"When ya showed up, I expected it. I didn't think it'd be a problem to scare you off. That's what I was supposed to do if ya showed up, 'Just scare her,' he had said. But I didn't expect ya to fight me, or to be that good at it. I lost control..."

"You shot me in the leg," I whispered.

He nodded, almost seeming regretful. "It all got out of hand. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. Ya were supposed to show up and I was supposed scare ya enough to leave. I already got the call where ya sister was, so I was supposed to tell ya I knew where she was and ya were supposed to leave. But ya didn't leave, and I nearly died along with my men, so I shot ya."