MAKE HIM PAY

OLIVIA

Look how quickly time passed and how some of what I set out to do I failed to accomplish. I tried to stop Emily’s wedding, but I couldn’t. There was nothing I could have done to warn her about anything. Things would have escalated for the worse and if Kevin found out about our plans, the chances of catching him would have evaporated. 

Whether it suited me, today I had to watch my sister marry the most dreaded gangster and I couldn’t do anything about it. It gave me a toast to the most dangerous people in society. I was dreaming of a time when they were all caught and locked up, but I certainly still had a long way to go before I got to see my dream come true. It was hard enough seeing Emily surrounded by so many dangerous people without me being able to protect her. It was the hardest day of my career.

        After such a tense day, the only thing I wanted was to curl up in my comfy bed and get my thoughts in order. And look how instead of planning my next steps, my thoughts were flying back in time to my home, to my father.

I had many achievements in life, but catching the most feared criminal would have been the most important of my entire professional history. 

Becoming a chief agent was an honor, but I couldn’t afford to languish behind a desk full of charts and just stick to organizing people. That wasn’t what I wanted out of life. Of course I couldn’t give up my job now. Fortunately, my father worked at the same agency as me. He was an excellent professional, drastic and fair, but also a veteran of the agency. I took advantage of all that and made him my deputy chief agent. God, I could remember it like it was yesterday. The conversation I had with my dad and his reactions that I had never seen before. They were absolutely heartbreaking. 

“Olivia, but you know very well that I signed the retirement papers. I’m of pensionable age,” he told me, trying to pull back. Luckily, my colleagues were running away from their responsibilities and jumped to my aid.

“Mr. Andy Brown, Olivia is right. No one better than you will be able to take over this job. We’ll talk it over higher up and ask their permission to stick around for a while until the waters calm down.”

“You boys don’t realize that I need quiet and rest, too. I’ve been working all these years. Besides, I never enjoyed leading. It’s been an honor to be your colleague and especially my daughter’s, but giving you orders I don’t like at all.”

“Agent Brown, let me set you straight on a few things. In our agency, we are all like family and like any family, we need a leader. “

“Well, we already have a leader. You’re a very good and competent chief captain.”

“Dad, I didn’t have time to tell you they stationed me at the agency in England for a while. Chief Agent Frank needs someone competent to go undercover and follow Kevin Parker.”

“Kevin Parker? That dangerous interloper? The most feared outlaw?”

“Yes! That’s him!”

“I don’t think so. How are you going to get close to him? Olivia is very dangerous. I know our job is perilous, but right now it’s way too unsafe.” Dad’s voice was strained. It was the first time he’d ever really been afraid. I’d never seen him like this in all the time I’d known him. To him, his job was sacred, and he valued it more than his life. He never cared about danger. 

“You know when you went on that dangerous mission to Austria to catch that mafia clan? Remember what you said to me when I said I feared for your life? My life is worthless if dangerous people are running loose in the world.”

I looked into his eyes carefully, carefully, trying to read his thoughts, but I couldn’t. He was so good at it. I could never read his face.

“It’s hard for me to give an answer now!”

“Dad, Kevin is Emily’s boyfriend! I have to protect my sister from him. They’re getting married!” The reaction he got still gives me chills to this day. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched the table so hard we all flinched. His teeth were so clenched I could hear them grinding. “I’m going to be heading up a publishing house as editor-in-chief and I’m going to entice Emily to join me by publishing the novels she writes, which are wonderful anyway. She’s an exceptional talent. She’s a really talented writer. From there, we’ll see how things go, but I need your help.” 

“Promise me you’ll take care of yourself and her!” That was all he could say before his eyes flooded with tears.

“I take it I’m counting on you?”

He nodded affirmatively, then hugged me warmer than ever. It was the most emotional thing I’ve ever experienced, but also the most wonderful. To know that someone loves you unconditionally was a divine thing.

Frank’s unexpected visit chased away the homesickness that had been nagging me ever since I returned from the wedding. Now I had to admit that it was a very pleasant visit for me. When I was around him, we had some mixed feelings and, frankly, I think he felt the same way I did.

“How was today?”

“Honestly, it was harder than I imagined. Witnessing my sister’s unhappiness is so hard. Having the most feared gangsters under your nose and not being able to arrest them....”

“Olivia, there was nothing you could do. We don’t have enough evidence to prove his actions yet. If you’re with her, it’s the best thing.”

“I wish I had at least told her she was my sister.”

Frank walked over to me, clasped my right hand in his and said in a warm voice. 

“You realize that she could have pushed you away from her and then you would have lost touch with Kevin too, but also lost the chance to make great friends with her. The best thing is to be there for her and support her when she’s having a hard time. You need to be prepared to defend her because it won’t be long before she shows up crying at your door. Protect and support her. You’ll have to pick her up from the bottom and show her she can always count on you.”

“You’re right! Thanks for always cheering me up.”

“No need to thank me. You’ve come to my rescue on my most difficult mission, so I have you to thank. By the way, what did you find out about Mike, his brother?”

“Nothing to compromise him. He’s just another one of Kevin’s victims. He’s so trusting. I feel so sorry for him. His only fault is that he has the same father as Kevin. I’ll always stand by him. He needs support.”

“Of course, you do well to stay by his side. He’ll need a friend like you. And later, who knows?..”

“If you’re insinuating that maybe I’ll fall in love with him, I’ll think someone has short-circuited your mind. Really! How can you think of such a thing? You believe I have time for love now that we’re in the middle of the most important mission of our careers?” I said with a downcast look. “And besides, how do you know I don’t already love someone else?” I continued in my thoughts.

I knew I loved this man, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. It wasn’t because I was afraid of love, or maybe it was because of the past that haunted me relentlessly. But also because I wasn’t sure of his feelings for me, and a romance would have drawn us away from our business, something we couldn’t afford at the time. It was no longer our personal lives that mattered, but the lives of those innocents who were suffering at the hands of heartless evildoers who believed that everything could be bought and sold. Those people who believed that even love could be bought and sold at will. Although my heart ached, I could not love at those times. 

The ringing of the phone quickly took me out of the tense situation I had entered. I sensed that something was wrong with Frank, but I was not in the mood to have an argumentative discussion with him.

“Emily!?” I asked, surprised that he was calling me on the wedding night.

“Kevin... Susan... pregnancy....m hurts Olivia!” 

I couldn’t understand anything, but I could tell what it was all about. What I couldn’t understand was the pregnancy thing. 

I looked at Frank, who quickly figured out what it meant. He helped me find out where she was. I reached her in a heartbeat. She was in a terrible state. I hugged her and vowed that I wouldn’t rest until Kevin was behind bars. I would make him pay for every tear Emily shed.