Ruthless People (Ruthless People 1)

“I look forward to it.”

As Jinx took us into the sky, I stared at the sun through the clouds. Liam would enjoy my revenge, but not until I made Saige pay dearly. An eye for an eye, and life for life.

THIRTY-ONE

“I guess I’ve played a lot of victims,

but that’s what a lot of the history of women is about.”

~ Jodie Foster

ADRIANA

She didn’t have to say anything, all she did was hold out a plane ticket. She wouldn’t force me to go. She wouldn’t even ask, it was my choice, and I simply took it from her and left her bedroom. Of all the men in Mel’s crew, I was the only one she would ever let leave if I wanted to. Before Liam, I was the only one allowed to see her when she as down, when she had her dark days.

They were never like this, where she couldn’t even get out of bed, but they were dark enough to make normal people cringe. What she did to those who crossed her during her dark days was borderline insane. I, on the other hand, wasn’t normal. Once upon a time, I was. I was bubbly, preppy, and most likely annoying, like every other teenager. But that all changed the day my father went into debt.

Walking into my bedroom, I pulled out my knife and makeup set trying my best to hide those memories, but they would never go away. Nothing could ever make you forget your father selling you like a piece of cattle. I didn’t even know shit like that happened to people in America.

It was almost ironic really that Taken was the last movie I saw before I myself was taken right out of my room. But my father wasn’t an ocean away. No, he stood in the doorway with his head down as they came for me. I kicked, I screamed, I called out to him and my mother, but they turned away. If I hadn’t been speaking to Mel on the phone, there really wouldn’t have been any hope for me.

We were both freshmen in college, and everyone just stayed away from her. It was like she was the moon, and they gawked at her from afar. And just like the moon, she was cold, distant, and downright scary. There was no reason for either of us to have spoken if it hadn’t been for some school project. She never really talked to me when we worked, and I was a rambler then, so it worked out fine.

That night I screamed for my parents and when they looked away, I screamed as loud as I could into the phone that was left on my bed. They shoved me in the back of their car and gave me a cocktail of drugs that took the fight right out of me.

The first night was the worst. They all took turns with the less pretty ones, I fell into that category. I cried, I puked, I begged for death, and it was only the first day. The girls who had been there longer were just wasting away in beds, so high they couldn’t even pick themselves up.

I knew I wasn’t going to end up like them. I swore I wasn’t going to end up like them. I planned on killing myself the moment I had a chance. When my next round of guests came on the second day, they laughed at me as I struggled against the chains. They liked fighters, they liked breaking them, and just as they dropped their pants, bullets were flying everywhere.

They seemed like angels of death, shooting down the pigs who dared to call themselves men. It happened so fast that I wasn’t even sure if I was still sane. I thought my mind was just trying to protect me. That was until I saw her. She walked in, looked around until she met my gaze, and I had never felt so disgusted with myself. I cried, and she simply walked over to me and gave me her white jacket.

She told me, “As long as I live, this will never happen to you ever again.”

That was the start. She took me in and forced me into therapy while she personally kicked my ass in training day in and day out for a year and a half. It felt like only weeks then. When I was better, in the sense that I was no longer weeping during the day and puking during the night, she told me I could go. But where could I go? I begged her to let me stay. I promised to stay loyal to her as long as I lived. It was then that she told me about who she was and what she did.

After a year and a half of seeing bloody walls, drugs, and guns everywhere, it wasn’t too hard to figure out. She told me the only way I could stay was to prove myself. I wasn’t sure how, but I would do anything.

So she drove me back to my old house on the corner of 54th and Adam Street, gave me a gun, and told me to get my justice. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it my ears, and I didn’t want to let her down. I didn’t want to let myself down. I wanted to kill them for what they did to me. Parents like that shouldn’t get to live. So I rang the doorbell, and when my father opened the door, he nearly pissed himself.

“Hi, Daddy.” It was the last thing I remembered saying before I lost myself. When it was over, I walked into the kitchen to find Mel eating the dinner my mother would never get to eat. She looked me over before sliding me a glass of wine.

“From this day forward, Adriana, I’m your Boss,” she said to me. “You will treat me with respect. I will treat you with a lesser form of that respect. But if you ever betray me, I will kill you, and I like you. But I will still kill you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, sucking down the wine.

“Do you need anything?” she asked once she stood up.

“There is nothing for me here, ma’am.”

“Then burn it to the ground,” she said, before walking out the door.

Any part of the old Adriana died in that fire. From those ashes, I came out a Phoenix. Mel had always reminded me that we all had the capacity to be ruthless, that all we needed was the right push.

“Whoa.” Antonio smirked from my doorway at the transformed woman staring back at me. Kissing my neck, he met my gaze in the mirror. “Sexy, but this isn’t my Phoenix. Where are you going?”

“The Boss,” I said, and he didn’t ask any more questions, he knew not to. He kissed my neck before walking to the door.

“Be safe, baby,” he said as the door shut.

Antonio and I . . . well it was new, complicated, and fun. I hadn’t dated since joining Mel, however, Antonio and I always found ourselves in these situations with our clothes off. I had to tell Mel, and when I did, she said that as long as our loyalty to her outranked our lust for each other, she didn’t give a fuck who we screwed.

Grabbing my stuff, I walked out of the house basically unnoticed, and it was only when I was about to board my flight, I sent a text to Liam. Mel would be right behind me. She wanted blood. She would get her revenge.

THIRTY-TWO

“There was a murdered corpse,

in secret land and violent death

in thousand shapes displayed.”

~ Geoffrey Chaucer

LIAM

I couldn’t help but watch her as I drank my brandy. The way she cleaned her gun over and over again had to be one of the sexiest things I had ever seen her do. She was mesmerizing, from her long ponytail, to her sleek tank top and camo pants, everything about her was memorizing.

“I feel you staring at my breasts,” she said not bothering to look at me. But her voice alone was enough to give me a hard-on.

“If it bothers you, love, stand up and let me stare at your ass instead.” I grinned, finishing the rest of my drink before standing up.

“Liam, we need to focus,” she hissed as I ran my fingers against her neck.

Kissing the base of her throat, I grabbed her breasts. “I am focusing.”

“Liam stop,” she said, pushing me away.