The Mercenary: Skewed Part 21

Tony didn't try to have me restrained. He knew I had nowhere to go, and no one else to ask for help. My sister was here with him willingly, and I couldn't leave her alone. She was still a minor, even if she was a minor who made s.h.i.tty choices.

"Head down the river," Tony told his men. "Make sure he doesn't get out anywhere."

"You shot him, boss," said one of the suited men. "He's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, but I don't want there to be any chance he survived."

I spoke up. "He was injured, too. I'd already stabbed him twice." I'd told Tony because I didn't want him to make too much of an effort trying to find X. I thought if X stood any chance of surviving a gunshot wound and a dunk in a freezing cold river, then I'd prefer for Tony's men not to find him if he managed to get to sh.o.r.e.

"Good," said Tony, turning his attention back to me. "Who the h.e.l.l was he, anyway?"

"I don't know. He never told me his name." I realized, with a jolt of pain, that I might never get to know now. Why hadn't I asked him such an obvious question? Had I not wanted to know? Had that been my way of keeping my distance from him because I'd been so convinced something bad would happen? For some reason, I'd never pictured that he would be the one who'd end up dead. I'd thought I might be the one shot, but not him, never him.

"You didn't even know his name?" Tony asked, skeptical.

"He didn't tell me," I said again.

"So why was he helping you if you didn't even know his name?"

"He was a hit man, sent by my father to have me killed."

Tony's eyebrows lifted. "He was a hit man? How come you're still alive, then?"

I did the only thing I could in the situation; I fell back onto my cold sarcasm. "He clearly wasn't a very good one."

Two weeks had pa.s.sed and there had been no sign of X. If he'd survived, I was sure he'd have come back for me, so the only thing I could think was that he was lying somewhere at the bottom of the Hudson River.

Despite grieving for him, I remained dry-eyed. I took all the pain I felt at his loss and buried it into a hard, cold stone at the pit of my gut. I would be able to use that pain at some point in the future. I didn't plan to let his life go unavenged.

I was barely speaking to Nickie now. I held her to blame for what had happened, but if she hadn't told Tony the Hound where we were, I'd most likely be dead now, killed at X's hand. I tried to convince myself that he might have changed his mind anyway, even if things hadn't gone down the way they had, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that. He'd stalked my house that night in order to break in and kill me. Only the events that had preceded it prevented that happening.

I'd had no choice but to contact the U.S. Marshals and tell them I was voluntarily leaving the Witness Protection Program and was taking my sister with me. They weren't happy about it, to say the least, but I had no choice. We were under Tony the Hound's protection now.

Unsurprisingly, Nicole still wasn't happy. I guessed she'd expected to come back to New York and just carry on with her life, but of course that didn't happen. Our father knew I was still alive, and that Tony had Nickie, so we were living constantly under the watch of armed gangsters. She hadn't been allowed to go back to school or see her friends. The boredom was driving her crazy, but I had little sympathy for her. In my own cloud of sorrow, I struggled to find any pity for anyone else. She'd brought this upon herself.

I still hadn't been given a date when I would be standing up in court and testifying against my father, but I was determined to make it happen. The last few days with X had shown me that I still had something to live for, and it wasn't only about the few s.n.a.t.c.hes of happiness I'd experienced while in his arms. If it had all been about him, I would have given up, just as I'd wanted to so many times after my mom died. No, instead X had shown me that, despite everything, and even in the most dire of circ.u.mstances, we could still find happiness, even for a short while, and I would have rather have had those few days with X than a lifetime in the black nothingness I'd been caught in before. I was a strong person, and I still had a fight ahead of me, one that would see my father being sent down for the rest of his life. I missed X with every single breath I took, with every heartbeat, with every blink of my eyes, but I wasn't going to let losing X mean everyone else would win.

No, his loss wouldn't break me.

My time with X had only made me stronger.

And I would continue to fight.

THE END.

Like what you've read? 'Warped' Book two in The Mercenary Series will be out on the 26th of January 2017 and is available to pre-order from AMAZON now! So you never miss out, make sure you sign up to Marissa Farrar's new release list to stay updated about new releases, exclusives, and special offers! http://forms.aweber.com/form/61/19822861.htm.

Acknowledgements.

I added a new member to my fabulous little team in the form of Tammy Payne from Book Nook Nuts, who did a fantastic job of proofreading this book after my editor had worked on it. Thank you, Tammy, for your work on this book. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.

Thanks also to my long time proofreaders, and first readers, Glynis Elliott and Karey McComish! You know I always appreciate your extra eyes on the book, as typos are the sort of thing my nightmares are made of!

As always, thanks to my fantastic friend and editor, Lori Whitwam. I don't know what I'd do without you.

Thank you to my facebook group, Marissa Farrar's Fandom, for enduring my numerous questions about the cover for this book and helping me with all your advice and support, I really appreciate it.

And thanks, of course, to you, the reader. I hope you enjoyed the start of this new series!

Thanks for reading!.

Marissa. x.x.x.

Also by Marissa Farrar.

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SURVIVOR.

THE SOUND OF CRICKETS.

The Monster Trilogy DEFACED.

DENIED.

DELIVERED.

The Serenity Series:.

The Vengeful Vampire (free short story).

Alone (free first novel of the series!).

Buried.

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Endless The Dhampyre Chronicles:.

Twisted Dreams Twisted Magic The Spirit Shifters Series:.

Autumn's Blood (free first novel).

Saving Autumn.

Autumn Rising Autumn's War Avenging Autumn.

Autumn's End UNDERLIFE.

THE DARK ROAD.

About the Author.

Marissa Farrar is a multi-published romance, fantasy, and horror author. She was born in Devon, England, has travelled all over the world, and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides in the countryside with her husband, three young children, a crazy Spanish dog, and two rescue cats. Despite returning to England, she daydreams of one day being able to split her time between her home country and the balmy, white sandy beaches of Spain.

Even though she's been writing stories since she was small and held dreams of being a writer, her initial life plan went a different way.

In her youth, inspired by James Herriot, she decided to become a vet, and would regularly bring home new pets to her weary parents. Upon discovering her exams were never going to get her into a veterinary degree, she ended up studying Zoology. Once she completed her degree and realised she'd spent the majority trying to find time to write, she decided to follow her dream of being an author. Seven years later, she was published and two years after that she was able to say goodbye to the day job.

However, she's continued to collect animals!.

Marissa is the author of over twenty novels, including the dark vampire 'Serenity' series. Her short stories have been accepted for a number of anthologies including, Their Dark Masters, Red Skies Press, Masters of Horror: d.a.m.ned If You Don't, Triskaideka Books; and 2013: The Aftermath, Pill Hill Press.

If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.

She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at

SKEWED.

The Mercenary Series.

Book One.

Copyright 2016 Marissa Farrar.

end.