The Playboy's Assassin

​A Visit from the Law: Vanessa.

I felt the sun on my face and I opened my eyes and blinked. I was in a hospital. My fever was gone and my head was clear. I heard the click of a camera and sat up. Enrique was holding a camera and taking pictures of me.

“Why do you have that?” I asked. My voice sounded small and weak even to my own ears.

“I got it from a*****e across the street.”

“I asked why not how, idiot.”

“That’s not a nice way to say thank you.” He hung the camera on his neck and folded his arms.

“What should I have to thank you for?”

“Let me see…” He placed his finger on his lips as if in thought. “Maybe for taking care of you while you were sick and for saving your life? I even had to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation a few times.”

“Eww!” I grimaced. “That’s not possible.”

“Oh, it is! My lips touched yours several times and there was even some tongue and saliva involved.” He puckered up his lips in a silly way like he was going to kiss me and moved closer to me. He looked so ridiculous, I laughed. Then I groaned and grabbed my stomach.

“I made you laugh.” He wiggled his brows at me. “You’re not so cold after all.”

I leaned back on the pillow and winced. My stomach was still hurting but the pain was less now. I might’ve been delirious at the time but I did remember him taking care of me. “Thank you for saving my life, I said.

He gasped. “Holy s**t! You’ve even developed manners somehow. Who are you and what have you done to my Scarlett?” He narrowed his eyes at me and I laughed.

“Please stop.” I grabbed my stomach to stop the pain but I couldn’t stop laughing. What he’d said hadn’t been that funny but I couldn’t control my laughter. I felt like I had just inhaled laughing gas.

“It's good to see you laughing. You look beautiful that way,” he said and then he blushed. “It's not that you don’t look beautiful every other day. I haven’t been noticing your looks or anything.”

“You really should stop talking,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. By the way when I called you my Scarlett, I didn’t mean mine like you’re my girlfriend or something. Honestly, I don’t even know why I called you mine.”

Now he’s made everything awkward. “Just stop talking, Enrique.” I sighed and closed my eyes. If I had to hear him call me Scarlett one more time, I’d pull my hair out.

“Right, of course. I’m shutting up now.” He didn’t say anything afterwards. The silence was so unusual of him, I opened my eyes to see what he was doing. He was fiddling with the camera.

“Funny story about how I got this camera. There was another woman at the store who had picked it up at the same time I did too. We were both holding the camera and she didn’t want to let go of it. She was so insistent–“

“Can you please get me a glass of water?” I cut him off. He opened his mouth to say something and shut it.

“Well since you asked so nicely, sure.” He got up and left the room. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the brief moment of peace before he came back to ruin it with his annoying voice. He had a kind of high pitched voice that ensured he was loud even when he whispered.

A knock sounded at the door and I opened my eyes. The door opened and a police officer stepped into the room. He had a sheriff’s badge on his chest. He took off his hat as he approached the bed and bowed his head a little.

“Good afternoon, Miss,” he greeted.

“Good afternoon, officer.”

“I’m Sheriff Michaelson.” He took off his badge and showed it to me. “Sorry to bother you but I got a call from the doctor who treated you saying you had a gunshot wound.”

I knew this was going to happen. “I’d like to know how you got the injury,” he continued.

“Well, I…” I couldn’t think of anything to say. I hadn’t been expecting him to show up so soon. I licked my lips and looked around the room searching for an excuse.

“She’s my nurse,” Enrique said as he came into the room with a nurse behind him. The Sheriff turned to him.

“And you are?”

“Enrique Capone. I’m an influencer and I run a travelogue on social media.” He held out his hand for a shake and the Sheriff took it.

“I was attacked in my apartment recently. You must’ve heard about it.”

The Sheriff shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t listen to entertainment news.”

“Okay. She was the nurse assigned to me at the hospital and she got shot when I was attacked.” The nurse placed a tray on my bed and handed me a glass of water. I took it and gulped it down. Enrique looked so sure of what he was saying even I believed him.

“Why didn’t you just request for another nurse?”

“I didn’t have the time for that. I had to leave in a hurry to prevent another attack and I couldn’t leave her behind.”

“Why are people trying to kill you? If you had to leave in such a hurry, you must be in real danger.”

“Believe me, Sheriff, that’s what I’m trying to find out too.” He looked at me then and the serious look on his face made me think it wasn’t all an act.

“Are you planning on settling here?” The Sheriff asked and he shook his head.

“No, just passing through. I was invited by the White Whale Hotel to do a review on the Island. Harrison was hoping it would attract more tourists.”

The Sheriff sighed. “We certainly haven’t had those in ages. I know a few spots you might want to see, I could take you around town if you want.”

“Harrison would be giving us a tour but I can take you up on that offer later.”

The Sheriff wore his hat back and tipped it towards Enrique. “Welcome to White Whale Island. This is the safest place for you. No one ever comes here. Literally no one ever,” he said in a jovial manner and Enrique laughed. “Nothing bad ever happens here. Sometimes I feel we don’t even need a sheriff.” He chuckled.

“Have a good day. And I hope you enjoy your stay here,” he said and left. I handed the nurse the glass and thanked her and she left.

“You’re so polite today. What am I missing?” Enrique asked. He pulled a chair close to me and sat.

“You didn’t have to lie for me but thank you anyway”

He smirked. “Protecting you means protecting me so of course I had to get you out of that predicament. You looked like you were about to choke on your spit.”

“You’re such a gentleman.” I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t by any chance have an idea of who wants me dead, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know the clientele. I just follow orders. Why are you asking?”

“No reason.” He shrugged then toyed with his camera. He looked up at me and frowned. “Out of curiosity, why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance? If you only follow orders as you said, why didn’t you go through with it?”

I looked into his brown orbs and I remembered Arabella. I thought about my life and realized what a bleak existence I had been living all along. I had more money than I knew what to do with but I had no one. No family. No home. “I was tired of all the killings and I just wanted an escape.”

Killing Arabella that night had changed something in me. I had joined this game out of anger and a sense of justice. But along the way, I'd had to kill more innocent people than guilty. Maybe this hadn’t been the best way to go about it or the best time but it wasn’t like I could go to Sniper and tell him I wanted out.

“So your idea of an escape is to be on the run from a group of assassins that’s hell-bent on killing you? That doesn’t seem like a good plan to me.” He threw his legs on my bed and crossed them.

“They’re not looking for me. They’re looking for you. I’m just risking my neck by helping you.” I pushed his legs off the bed and he put them back, this time placing them on my lap.

“Then why are you risking it? It’s not like I have money or anything valuable for you.”

“I have my reasons.” The truth was there was no reason for me to be helping him. Not killing him had come out of a desire not to take the life of another innocent person. But I guessed if he hadn’t been there to help me, I’d be dead. So I suppose he was serving a purpose.