3. OWEN POWERS

OWEN

I never hesitated during a kill.

This was business. It was meant to be a smooth in and out. Probably cut off some hands, some toes, an ear… some slow torture before I called it a night.

Nobody told me Miguel had a daughter—a redhead, to be precise.

She sat there on the dirty floor, begging for her father's life, even if we both knew that it would be a lot easier for her to just let me put him down, to make sure she would not have more debts to clear in the future.

Her answer to my question was, "He cares about me. He just has a bad drinking habit, we are working on it."

I scoffed, thinking hard. Her offer was sensible.

After all, what would I gain by killing off her father for nothing, when I could just take his daughter for myself, have her work for me as whatever I want for free.

She was making a point. Maybe Miguel could live.

"Get up." I ordered and she hesitated, probably thinking of telling me that she could not, because of her hurt leg, but thinking against it in the end.

She got up, limping towards me with a pained expression.

"Closer." I growled, when she stopped a few inches too far from where I stood. She swallowed, then continued walking until she was directly in front of me.

"What's your name?"

"Mae."

"Mae." I tried the name on my tongue, choosing to ignore her shudder after I voiced it out. Mae struggled to maintain confidence before me. Her back was straight and her river green eyes were focused on mine, as if she feared that if she tore her eyes from me, I would do something to her.

No one ever managed to look at me like that. Like she was not scared. I knew she was, I could feel her fear radiating from her in waves. But then again, it was bold of her to pretend.

"Turn on the lights." I urged the boys with my eyes still on her. The room was suddenly too dark, I needed to see her more clearly. Mae was blinking a lot now, and shifting on her feet too.

"My leg hurts. Can I go back to sitting now?" She whispered, like she wanted me to be the only person to hear of her pain.

I shook my head no, then as soon as the lights came on, I grabbed her hip and pulled her to me so her body was flush against mine. She gasped quietly and her both hands came down on my arms.

I didn't expect Mae to be so soft, especially seeing the environment she was in, but she was. She smelled natural; like soap and then a hint of cheap vanilla lotion. It wasn't overwhelming, but it lingered, soft and sweet, clinging to her skin like it belonged there.

She was also so fucking beautiful.

Long lashes, lush pink lips and a spotless skin. She had siren-like eyes, which made it seem like she was seducing a man only by looking at him. Her hair was wrapped in a messy bun on her head, but I could tell she had long hair, just by how it was wrapped.

She wore a long t-shirt over her body and shorts, so it was difficult to see the outline of her body, though the swell of her breasts was enough promise of something good.

Moreover, men were so ridiculously attracted to redheads. I had fucked one or two, and their most asked question which they had told me, was always if the hair down there was also red, like the hair on their head.

It would be no different with Mae.

I was done accessing, I decided, before the fucker in my pants got too excited. She would be a good asset to one of my clubs or even casinos. I had not yet decided where exactly I needed her to be.

"Like what you see?" She asked, her voice assuming a level of confidence that had not been there a while ago.

I nodded once.

"Alright. You will be coming with us tonight."

She blinked twice, then stared at me hard as if waiting for me to say sike, or anything of that sort. When I said nothing, she started by shaking her head,

"No… I have to take my dad to the hospital and—Oh shit, he's losing blood." She turned around, but could not move out of my vice grip.

"One of my boys took care of that already. His injury has been tied up to stop more blood from pouring out." I told her.

She turned back to me, shifting on her leg, "I need to pack. My paintings, my clothes…"

Paintings… I thought, immediately interested, but quickly snapping out of it at the same time.

"The boys will handle it."

I let go of her and moved back, waiting to see if she had another question while trying to ignore the part of me that already missed her body warmth.

She went back to sitting on the floor.

Then she crawled to her father who was weak and quiet now. Without looking up at me, she muttered,

"I won't sleep with them."

"What?"

"The men," she finally looked up at me, her expression hesitant, "I only want to strip and attend to other duties, I do not want to have sex with anyone."

There was a snort in the room from one of the boys but I stayed calm, deciding that we could further speak on that later, if circumstances required it.

"Take him up, to the car. And then, Mike, take her with you in the other car." I had just finished speaking when the door was slammed in and fell to the floor with a thud, dust filling the room.

In a flash, my hand went into my gun holster, pulling out my gun before casting a brief glance at Mae who looked more scared than relieved.

"Oh God, no.." She muttered, running towards the door.

A group of masked men with uniforms filed in, cocking their guns but they were too fucking slow for me. I fired the first shot, and my boys fired the rest, missing no single one.

"No! No, Oh my God… Liam!" Mae shrieked, rushing to them.

"Grab her, and her father too. Check if the coast is clear." I dished out the orders and the boys proceeded to do all I had said before I finally started to walk away from the house.

"You killed him! You killed Liam! Oh God, Oh God.." She cried as she trashed against Mike who was carrying her to one of the cars. He slipped her into the backseat but she refused to stay down, crying as she blamed me for killing 'her only friend'.

Fed up, I found my way to the backseat where she was seated and I gritted out, my face barely an inch away from hers,

"You will shut the fuck up this instant, or you watch your father take a bullet to his brain, after which I end you too, for being a witness."

Satisfied with the terrified look in her eyes, I moved back, then slammed the door close, shutting her out more for my good than hers.

Fear and pain turned me on without a doubt, like the sick monster I was, but this woman's fear and pain was on a different level. I did not like it one bit.

"Boss, there's someone hiding behind those trees." One of my boys reported.

"Three of you, stay behind. Tidy the bodies and the house… and then bring whoever is lurking around to me dead or alive. There should be no living witnesses apart from the redhead and her father. Understood?"

"Noted, Boss."