Chapter 1

• Amira
• The air is muggy from the heavy rain last night but thankfully it stopped earlier this morning so that it wouldn’t mess up my hair for my coffee date with Alexis this morning. I’m walking to my car in the parking garage under my apartment building and I think that I need to pop the hood before I start the car because I’m sure they put a tracker in there while I was gone last night. After I get the hood open I reach underneath the side of the engine and sure enough planted out of sight but not far enough underneath to where my slender arm can’t reach, I pull it off and throw it on the ground and crush it with my heel and close the hood of my car.
• I grab a makeup wipe out of my purse and clean the slight grease off my arm and I think that they have probably gotten slightly more clever in the last couple of months so I open my car and put my purse on the driver seat and slowly walk around my car examining anything that might be out of place. I feel above the tires and don’t feel anything and as I walk to the back of the car I see the smallest black scuff mark next to my taillight, I roll my eyes and reach under my skirt and pull the knife I keep hidden on my inner thigh out and gently pop my taillight off.
• “Cheap German car parts.”
• I mumble to myself as the taillight of my Audi R8 comes off and sure as shit there’s another tracker on the side wall so I pull it off and look back at the security camera in the garage because I knew months ago that they tapped into that but I intentionally left it alone and I flip it off knowing that someone is watching and throw the tracker to the ground and smash it to pieces with the back of my heel and pop my taillight cover back into place. I slowly walk around the rest of my car looking for anything out of place but it looks like everything else is in order so I go to the driver’s side and get in my car.
• As soon as I start driving my phone starts ringing right on cue and I see that it’s the head of security Bradley so I roll my eyes and answer the call in the car, “What do you want?”
• I hear him sigh on the other line as I pull into traffic, “Well you sound about as cheery as your old man.”
• I roll my eyes again, “I don’t have time for your casual conversation Bradley, either tell me why you called or I’m hanging up.”
• “You know we put those in your car for your safety.”
• “Relying on others for my safety will be what gets me killed so no thanks, I’ll keep protecting myself by myself.”
• I hang up the phone and I know I promised my dad that I would keep the tracker in my phone but I am half tempted to pull that shit out too but I don’t want to stir the pot too much with him, especially since I’m so close to getting my in. So I take a deep breath and push the annoying thought to the side so I can be cheery with Alexis and try to move past the constant breath down my neck during the day.
• I pull up to the coffee shop after about ten minutes of driving and I see Alexis’s car in front as well so I probably made her wait with the time it took me to get the damn trackers out of my car so just another thing to be slightly upset about that I need to push aside. I take a small breath and take a quick peek in the mirror to make sure I didn’t unknowingly get any car grease on my face because that would be an utterly embarrassing thing to try and recover from. I get out of my car and as if an icy breath was breathing down my neck I feel eyes on me as soon as I step out, my father always has people follow me during the day and even though I could lose them in the crowds it’s just too much effort, especially after last night.
• When I walk in I quickly scan the room and see Alexis sitting in our usual corner and as soon as our eyes lock she smiles so big at me and waves at me as I walk over towards her, “I went ahead and ordered your usual so you owe me next time.”
• “Thank you, I definitely appreciate it after this morning.”
• “Daddy issues?”
• I roll my eyes and shake my head, she knows that my dad and I get along just fine but that he is rather strict but that is all she knows, “That’s gross but yeah.”
• She laughs at my cringe thought to having daddy issues, “Do you want to talk about it?”
• I shake my head at her, “No it’s alright, nothing I can’t handle, but I may have an offer to pay you back for the coffee today.”
• She raises a curious eyebrow at me, “I’m all ears babe.”
• I quietly laugh and reach into my purse and grab the envelope that I put in there this morning before I left and push it across the table to her, she looks at me suspiciously as she slowly grabs the envelope and opens it and once she pulls out the glossy paper slip her eyes grow two sizes larger.
• “Holy shit no way!?”
• I give her a small smile and nod my head and ignore the few eyes that she gained from her excited tone, “How on earth did you get tickets to this charity event?”
• I shrug my shoulders, “I pulled a few strings with the right people.”
• A few strings or broke a few fingers but she doesn’t need to know that part so she can remain excited about this and stay in the dark about my true identity, “Girl I don’t know what people you know but this is going to be such a huge charity event and the fact that the theme is masquerade ball is going to be so much fun!”
• I nod my head at her and think that going to this charity event with big names and targets while hiding in plain sight is the perfect scene for me to get closer to my end goal, “So do you want to go shopping?”
• I know it was a wasted question as soon as she looks at me like I should already know the answer to her question, “Uh duh!”
• I laugh at her as she stands up and I do the same and she wraps her arm around mine as we walk out of the coffee shop, “Just follow me, I’ve got a great place we can go that will set us up with everything.”
• She nods her head at me as we part ways to our cars and as soon as I see her get into her car I pull out into traffic and drive past her and slow down slightly so she can follow me to the dress shop I’ve had picked out for a few weeks now. Everything is working out smoothly but I know better than to expect things to keep falling into place, I need to keep being diligent and hyperaware of everything around me so it doesn’t spiral into chaos and my dad is forced to get involved.
• After about twenty minutes of driving we reach the multi-level dress shop and I see a few parking spots so I pull into them and Alexis parks right next to me and when we get out of the cars I hear her gasp slightly, “Mira…don’t you need an appointment to get into this place?”
• I wrap my arm around hers, “Yes and we do, don’t worry, I’ve got it all taken care of.”
• She slightly skips and giggles slightly, “Well I think I’m going to owe you after this!”
• I laugh at her as we walk towards the building, “A girls trip to your beach house in the Bahama’s will suffice.”
• She laughs at me as we walk inside, “Deal!”
• Alexis and I have been friends since we were nineteen and started college together, her and I were roommates in our dorm at Cornell and I have always been envious of her charisma and her joyous outlook on life, something that I haven’t been able to fully relax in because I knew from a young age the truth of what this world is really like. A lot of people at college thought we were sisters, she played volleyball and I did fencing and martial arts so we’re both very athletic and our brown hair is almost exactly the same minus hers being past her shoulders and mine is just above my shoulders.
• As soon as we walk inside we are greeted by one of the associates, “Good morning Ms. Campbell and Ms. Jackson my name is Brenda and I’ll be taking care of you both today, can I interest you gorgeous ladies in a mimosa before we head to the back?”
• Alexis practically squeals with excitement and I feel her nod her head very quickly so I smile slightly, “Yes please, that would be great.”
• Brenda looks over her shoulder at one of the other associates and nods her head and she walks to the drink bar at the other side of the building, “Any particular colors that the two of you would prefer?”
• I look at Alexis for her to go first because hers will probably be more elaborate and flashy than mine, “I’d love something in either green or red or maybe even gold.”
• I chuckle slightly and Brenda smiles and writes some notes on her tablet and then looks at me, “And for you Ms. Campbell?”
• I brace myself for Alexis’ comments, “Black all the way around for me.”
• I practically feel Alexis trying to burn me with her stare, “Mira! Why black? It’s such a dreary color and this event is going to be so much fun.”
• I look at her and smile because I don’t want to tell her that blood doesn’t show up on black so I try and come up with something that might sound more excusable to her, “Well my thought was that everyone will probably have loud flashy colors so I wanted something that would stand out from everyone else.”
• She chuckles slightly and seems only mildly okay with my reasoning, “If you say so girl but you’re going to look like you’re going to a funeral.”
• I laugh at her as Brenda puts some more notes down, maybe a funeral for someone wouldn’t be a terrible thing, I’m brought out of my thoughts as the other associate walks up to us with two glasses of mimosas, Alexis and I both thank her and then Brenda gestures for us to follow her to the back part of the building where we’ll get fitted and get all our accessories.
• We spent almost two hours picking out the perfect dresses and accessories like masks and shoes and various other items and I’m back at my apartment now going over stuff that I found last night.
• “He’s one of the main sponsors of the charity so It would be stupid if he didn’t show up, I just need to find out what he’ll be wearing.”
• I tap my fingers on the table while thinking, “All these pictures from the past eight years show him wearing black, so maybe that is a trend that he sticks to.”
• Women flock to that man like moths to a flame so getting him alone will be difficult, maybe since I’ll be wearing black as well I’ll naturally stand out to him and just maybe he’ll come to me. If that were to happen that would make my job significantly easier to get to the next step in my plan which will require every level of training I have received if I plan to stay alive and see this through to the end with my knife in his heart and watching the light drain from his eyes. I’m going to do it slow and make it painful, so he understands the pain that I have had to live with since I was ten, he will feel all the suffering his family caused mine and I will crush his empire and I don’t care if my soul burns in deepest parts of hell for it.
• I’m brought out of my violent thoughts to the sound of my cell ringing, I look at the caller ID and see my dad’s name pop up, “Hey Dad.”
• “Don’t hey Dad me. Did you have fun last night?”
• I roll my eyes at his slightly strict tone, a tone that stopped working on me the day I turned fourteen and started scheming my own agenda, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I went out with the girls and didn’t want any eyes on me last night.”
• I can practically hear his eyes roll, “You really expect me to believe that sack of bullshit?”
• I sigh slightly, “Whether you want to believe me or not is up to you, but that’s what I’m telling you. I always have eyes on me and I just wanted to taste a little bit of freedom. That’s what we agreed to when I graduated college so how can I keep myself safe if you constantly have your goons tailing me everywhere?”
• He grunts loudly, “I hear you; I really do but I just don’t want anything to happen to you like what happened to your mother.”
• I close my eyes slightly, I hate when he brings her up, all it does is make me angry at the monster that took her away from us, “Yes I know, but I can keep myself safe if I don’t have to worry about breaking away from the eyes of the guys you send out to watch me and can keep all my focus on keeping myself safe.”
• He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, “Do you honestly expect me to just not have someone watch you? To make sure that if shit hits the fan you are not alone?”
• I roll my eyes, “No of course not, but maybe they need to get better about not being spotted by me, because if I can see them then others can as well and they will blow my cover which puts me in more danger than if I fuck up by my own accord, which may I remind you has never happened in the fourteen years I have been taking care of myself.”
• He chuckles slightly, “Just like your mother, there’s no arguing with you once you set your mind to something. I’ll tell them to back off slightly but I would encourage you to not do anything without running it by me first. Can you at least agree to that?”
• He won’t drop this unless I agree, “Yes, I can do that if it gets everyone to give me space to breathe.”
• “Thank you, I love you Amira.”
• I take a small breath at his sympathetic words, “Love you too dad.”
• He hangs up the phone and I think to myself that I will never tell him any of my plans because he will just get in my way and I don’t want him to get hurt. I love my dad but I loved my mother more, and the fact that she didn’t get to keep living in this fucked up world isn’t fair, I feel the sting of tears so I shake my head and blink a few times.
• “No, crying now is not the thing to do.”
• I put all the pictures and papers in the envelope and put it back in my safe that needs my thumb print and password to unlock it. The charity event is in five days so I have a lot of planning to do and backup plans to make for any spontaneous things that may or may not happen, I can’t afford to fuck up, not when I’m this close.
• “You will pay, I swear it on my life.”