Only Love (The Atonement Series)

CHAPTER Twenty

Colin





“Did you tell them what was going on?”

Colin faced a scarlet-faced Mikayla as they stood in the sitting room of his condo. “No, of course I didn’t. Why would I do that when I want Deirdre back? If you killed the prick, you would be doing both of us a favor.”

She glared at him with hard blue eyes. “Don’t lie to me. Why were they suddenly gone from the party?”

“I think you would know more about that then I would, sweetheart. How great is Drake in bed because if he’s that good then she probably took him home so they could get it on,” he responded before he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Beck’s from the fridge.

Mikayla’s high heels clicked against the hardwood floors. “You’re not a very good liar, you know that? If I wasn’t so impressed by your own bedroom skills, I would kill you myself.” She walked closer until she was pressed against his backside, her fingers working over his still-clothed manhood. “They never went back to the hotel so where would they be? There are only a few places they could have gone…”

“Listen,” Colin began as he turned around and faced the horny nympho in front of him, “I don’t know where they could be! They wouldn’t have gone to Liam’s since we live in the same building. I don’t know much about Deirdre’s comings and goings. They wouldn’t be at Drew and Aubrey’s because they were still at the engagement party when we left and they came together. I don’t know what kind of rental they had so I simply can’t help you, sweetheart.”

She crossed her arms against her ample breasts as she stepped back from him. “I have a feeling they went to the mother’s house. She’s a widow on her own and they probably thought they would be safe there but they are wrong. If Drake doesn’t want to be with me then I will still make him pay.”

Colin’s heart began to beat faster in his chest and sweat began to gather in the most intimate places of his body. “I don’t understand. Even if they are at her mother’s house, surely you wouldn’t murder innocent people just to get to him. He’s not worth it.”

“Don’t you think that is something I should be deciding and not you?” Mikayla turned away from him and all he saw was the back of her white blonde hair, including the part where she added extensions to her own very short hair, ruined by the extensive bleaching it had been subjected to repeatedly over the years.

“Listen, this is Seattle, not East L.A or f*ckin’ Compton. You don’t just shoot people up—gangsta style—because it’s cool or because you need to get rid of someone. I highly doubt this hit can’t wait until we are all back in La Jolla. Don’t bring this kind of violence here because frankly, we don’t need it.”

She already had her iPhone pressed to her ear before she issued instructions in Ukrainian to the caller.

Colin tried to reach for the phone but she was faster and began to run down his hallway shouting instructions before she hung up.

He caught her at the end of the hallway and she began to laugh. “It’s all done now. The hitmen will go to the mother’s house and murder everyone in there. You really should have told me where she was, Colin…especially since I know she isn’t at her mother’s.”

The bottle of Beck’s slipped from his fingers and fell on the hardwood floor where it shattered. “Why would you send people to her mother’s house if you know she isn’t there and for Christ’s sake, I don’t know where she is—I swear to God I don’t know where either of them are! Do you think they would have honestly told me?”

Mikayla slipped a Marlboro Red in her mouth and lit it before she dragged on the cigarette and began to walk into the living room again. “Probably not…but it’s a nice message to send. The Shevchenko family won’t be f*cked around with for any reason and this little bitch you all protect has to learn this lesson for herself.”

Colin felt the rage build and before he knew it, he grabbed a glass sculpture he purchased from Baccarat. It was an art-deco piece, shaped like a phallic symbol with sharp edges. He walked toward Mikayla and swung it at her head. The sound of the object connecting with her skull sounded like it had shattered the bone in the back of her head. He’d done irreversible damage and no doctor would ever be able to put her back together again.

Mikayla stumbled several feet before she fell to the floor and a pool of blood began to form around her head, inadvertently putting the cigarette out she still gripped between her right index and middle fingers.

His heart thudded in his chest and his whole body was covered with sweat but it didn’t stop him from setting the object down before he pulled out his Samsung Galaxy Note and called Liam’s.

His brother picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“You have to call the police and send them out to Deirdre and Caitlyn’s mother’s home. Mikayla called some people and they are on their way over there now to kill her. After you have done that, you have to come here. Alone.”

Liam said something to Caitlyn in the background and Colin could hear her taking care of the first piece of news.

“What’s going on, Colin?”

“I covered your ass the first time around and now I need you to cover mine because Mikayla is dead in my home and she can’t be found ever…or the Shevchenko family will slaughter us all.”

“Dear God what have you done?”

“Don’t pull out the deity card right now, Liam—it’s unbecoming, especially coming from you. Just get your ass here to my house as soon as possible so we can clean this shit up.”

Colin ended the call and his breath continued to be deep and raspy as if he’d ran a marathon. It appeared he was his brother’s keeper after all. This time he’d murdered in cold blood and though he stared at the dead body on his hardwood floor, he couldn’t summon an ounce of sympathy for her. She would have murdered the love of his life and everyone else Deirdre loved just to prove a point. As far as he was concerned, him killing her was just desserts.





Liam kept his promise and showed up at Colin’s home alone. He was also prepared for the job at hand. There were industrial strength garbage bags from the local hospital that were used for biohazard waste, and various other tools for a job of this sort. Not that they had ever done something like this before but they had watched enough Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese films to know how it was done.

Colin and Liam went through the motions and when they were finished, they drove over to Seattle General Medical Center where an old college buddy of Liam’s happened to be practicing surgeon. The doctor walked them through empty hallways to a large industrial sized room in the bowels of the hospital; “Biohazard Waste Incinerator” was written on the double doors.

After the industrial strength garbage bags were deposited into the incinerator, the doctor made small talk with his brother while Colin seemed numb beyond belief. Somehow that night didn’t feel real to him and he began to convince himself this was a terrible nightmare he would awake from any moment.

The dream state ended as they drove back to their condominium building on Fifteen Twenty-One and Second Avenue in silence.

Colin said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, bro. You watched my ass when that accident happened and now I am simply watching yours. As far as you know, she left in hurry after you two had an argument about where your relationship was going and you haven’t seen her since. Scrub the floors with a combination of ammonia and Clorox mixture but wear an industrial strength mask because it’s toxic but it’s the only thing that destroys blood evidence. After that, air out your apartment, leave a few windows open and stay in a hotel for the next couple of days—”

“Nah, f*ck that. I’m going back to La Jolla. Cassie is there and she’ll take me back in a heartbeat. I’ve had it with this place and there’s no reason for me to stay,” Colin interrupted in a quiet voice.

“Well, it’s a damn good cover and you’re safer there anyway. You don’t look guilty. If we are in any luck, those goons she calls family will be looking for her before the Police will and by that time, your regular cleaning lady will have been to your condo several times. There will be no trace evidence left,” Liam replied in a no-nonsense voice.

“What about their mother, Jeanette? Did the police get there in time?”

“Yep. They arrested a couple of suspicious individuals but with this in motion, I am going to spring for some security and so should you. We all should. Something tells me we’ve stepped in the shit and it would be prudent if we were all careful from now on out. You did the right thing. She wouldn’t have stopped…the woman was crazy. It was a situation where either you watched people you loved die or she had to go. I wish you hadn’t gotten involved with her in the first place but that is neither here nor there. Shit happens. Now we just have to move on with our lives.”

Colin stared at his brother as he drove and agreed with him. It was a life or death situation; he’d done the right thing.

Too bad Deirdre would never know what he had done to keep her safe and if she did, would she still hate him? These were questions that he would forever have to ponder because what happened that night, he swore to himself and God—if there was one—he would take this particular incident to the grave with him.