Page 59 of Dreaux: The Corporate Assassin

Looking as if she was seeing me for the first time, she sighed heavily before dropping her head. After a few moments, she held it high before responding, “Denim Atkins; special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Hearing her finally say who she was out loud caused me to seethe in resentment. Her eyes stayed on mine as I tapped my Glock against my knee. Looking at this woman, I wanted to kick myself for not calling her out on her shit earlier. Now, here I am, conflicted about how I want to her end her life for thinking she could play with me.

“Special Agent Atkins… age twenty-eight. Daughter of Judge Joe and Mrs. June Atkins. No siblings. One daughter: Briley Jo Holmes.” I leaned forward in my seat. “I know everything about you—from the moment you graduated college, became an agent, and even when you enlisted Detective Morales to come to South Florida in hopes of setting up Rosier. Let’s not forget you’re the reason the port director, Paul, is no longer with us.”

“So you admit you killed them? Paul, Morales, my cousins… you killed them?”

“I admit that I’m considering killing you…” I smirked as her eyes expanded at my confession. “You see, Denim… you tend to stick your nose in the wrong shit. I, dear wife, am the wrong shit. And your cousins, they didn’t give a fuck about you. Nobody disrespects or threatens me—sorry they had the same fate as others who’ve tried to son me. Maybe the Big G has a way ofinterveningon my behalf. Enough about the worm food…” I stood from my chair and walked over to her. As I lingered and peered down into her beautiful face, my finger lifted her chin before my thumb traced her bottom lip. “Tell me, baby… why did you think it was a good idea to come after a nigga like me?”

My eyes darting to her tongue as she swiped at her bottom lip, panting heavily. Standing slowly to her feet, her eyes were trained on me as she began to speak. “When your father and David approached Morales for help to take down Rosier, they contacted me. Morales and I had worked together in the past, and he knew I was the only one he could trust. He knew you guys didn’t have me in your pockets like everyone else. He set the seed for Chris to get involved for information from Ari, Rosier’s then-fiancée. When he was killed… and then Morales, I knew you all had gotten to him. I felt all hope was lost—the efforts were for nothing until Paul Reeves, the director overseeing your ports, told me about the illegal shipments you guys were docking. Then… out of nowhere… he vanishes.” Searching my eyes, I gave nothing away. “Just admit you killed them all, Andre.”

I placed my finger under her right lobe before dragging it across her throat until I made it to her left lobe. “I slit his fuckin’ throat from ear… to ear. I stood over him and watched the life leave his eyes as I mutilated him. Then, I wrapped him up nice and tight before feeding him to the biggest gators in North America, baby.” I smiled as goosebumps covered her neck. “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you and don’t expect to receive consequences. Now, tell me… what did you learn from all this? How do you feel knowing the blood of those niggas are on your hands?”

Shaking in distress, she stepped back from me with a look of horror in her eyes. She was terrified and had every right to be.

“You’re a monster,” she spoke barely above a whisper. “I wanted you to be punished for the things you’ve done. People may think you’re a good man because of the money you put into communities, but you also slaughter everyday people like cattle.”

“Men. Women. Children. Cats. Dog,” I said, taking a step toward her with each word. She took one back until her back was pressed against one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. “I’ve killed them all. I’m an exterminator. A fuckin’ reaper, baby. Tonight, you got to see it firsthand. How does it feel knowing you’re married to a murderer? The very man you thought you were going to finesse with a fat ass, wet pussy, and a smile ended up finessing you. You fell in love with the big bag wolf, Lil’ Mama.” I smirked as a tear slid down her cheek. “What a dumb lamb?—”

Whap!

Slapping the shit out of me, I growled at Denim as my head turned slowly back to face her. Gripping her neck, I wanted to choke the breath from her body. This muthafucka really put her hands on me.

“Let me fuckin’ go, Andre.” She clawed at my hand, but I refused to loosen my grip. “I’m going to kill you!”

“Kill me?” I threw my head back and laughed loudly. “Like I killed Bryce? You were so busy worried about me and the nigga you thought I was but didn’t know who the real monster in your life was. You procreated with a fuckin’ pedophile, but I’m the one that’s fucked up?”

Hearing me speak about her dead baby daddy caused her to fight even more. My grip on her neck tightened, but I was sure not to completely cut off her airway. Her movements slowed for a moment before I let her go. She dropped to the ground with her hands around her neck as she caught her breath.

“You’re a liar!’ she cried. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“No?” I asked as I stood over her with my fists clenched. “Why do you think I ended up with Briley? That auction of his wasn’t for getaways, Denim! It was for selling underage children! Those vacation stays me and my people bought? They were fuckin’ kids!” Crouching down in front of her, I removed her hands from her ears so she could hear me. “Do you know all the vile things that man wanted to do to your daughter? He was sick as fuck, but you couldn’t see that. She voiced being uncomfortable with those people, but your solution was sending her to spend alone time with her father. She’s fuckin’ six; she couldn’t voice what was right or wrong. I ain’t blaming you, but I am! Instead of trying to jam me on some bullshit you think you know, you should have put that energy into making visits to his home to figure out why your kid hated it there.”

“No!” She jumped to her feet and screamed, “You’re lying!”

“You know what… you’re delusional.” I simpered and shook my head. “You’re closer to more devils than you know, but you’re worried aboutme.” I placed my hands in my pockets and stepped away from her. I needed to get out of here before I killed this bitch. “Don’t worry, though. That’s one less demon you have in your life. Soon, it’ll be three.”

“Three?”

“You think Holmes was working alone?” I raised my brow at her as I placed my gun in my waistband. “You think that wife of his helped organize his event with no idea of what was happening?” I watched the blood drain from her face at the realization. “Exactly. Also, the devil before you will be a distant memory soon enough. Once I’ve washed this city clean, we’ll take care of that marriage shit, too,wifey.”

I kept my mug on her for a second longer than I should’ve. I knew deep down I was still stalling from the duty I had to off this girl. For now, I was going to leave and take some time to plan out my next moves. She and Bri would be locked in the penthouse until I figured it out. They had whatever they needed here, and I wasn’t worried about them leaving. Guards and cameras were everywhere, and any calls on the tablets would be redirected to Mimi.

“Wait…” she called out to me as I placed my hand on the knob. “Why did you marry me?”

Slowly, I turned to face her. Stepping toward her, she stood her ground with her distraught eyes on me.

“Spousal privilege is a real thing and is inadmissible in court, love.” I tapped her chin and grinned. “Anything a husband says to his wife can’t be used against him in the court of law.”

“I’m sorry, Dre…” She dropped her head as I let her chin go. I didn’t want to hear that shit, so I was out. “I was wrong for how I tried to play you. But I didn’t know who you really were before! I didn’t expect to fall in love with you! I love you, Andre Boudreaux!”

Leaving out of the room, I closed the door behind me and listened to her fall to the floor and cry her heart out. Feeling overwhelmed, I wanted to scream as I punched the wall repeatedly. This shit was a fucking mess, and this was the first time I didn’t know how to fix it.

What made matters worse was I had undeniably fallen in love with Denim too.

“Mommy!I love Andre’s house. We get to order whatever food we want, and they bring it right on up!”

Smiling softly at my daughter, I played with her soft curls as we sat on Dre’s couch and watched a movie. We’ve been held hostage at his house for two days now, and I know my family was worried sick about not hearing from us. I haven’t seen or heard from Dre either, which had me stuck between depressed and mad as hell. He’s made sure we had food and clothing but nothing else. I even tried to dial out on the iPad he left here, but it just rerouted me to his cousin Mimi.

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