Chapter Fourteen

Lorenzo Montiga propped his feet up on his desk and leaned back in his chair. He stared at the interior of his office. His feet were sitting on a huge mahogany desk covered in papers. The room had a very warm feeling despite the cold hearted men who sat in it.

"Send him in," he said softly to the man beside the door.

The man was Sean Wilkins, Montiga's trusted henchman. Sean nodded and opened the door. Montiga watched as he motioned to someone. Seconds later, a nervous looking gentleman entered the room.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Mr. Montiga...it wasn't my fault. One of her friends showed up..."

Montiga motioned for the man to stop talking.

"So what you're saying is that she's still living?"

The man nodded slowly.

"Calm down, George. Everything's okay."

George looked relieved. Montiga stood up from his chair and walked around his desk. His hand grazed the end of a letter opener. He took it in his hand and began to examine it. George eyed the letter opener with caution.

"You see, George. I don't get angry when I hire a person to do a job and they fail. I just simply..."

Montiga paused and moved closer to George. He gripped the handle of the letter opener and shoved it into George's abdomen.

"...kill them and hire somebody else to do it."

Montiga pulled the letter opener out of George's stomach and watched with an amused look as George collapsed onto the ground. He then motioned to Sean before saying, "See to it that he's taken care off."

Sean nodded before grabbing onto George's arms and pulling him out of the room. Montiga took the handkerchief from his vest pocket and wiped the blood off the letter opener. He then laid it neatly back in its spot.

Montiga walked back around in his desk and reclined in his chair. He pressed a button that allowed him to talk to his secretary.

"Yes, Mr. Montiga," a female voice said.

"Maria, will you send in Plan B?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes, sir."

Seconds later, Montiga heard the sound of someone in high heels walking toward his office. The door opened slowly and in walked what Lorenzo like to call Plan B.

His eyes dropped down to her shoes and he slowly worked his way up. White high heels were a dramatic contrast to the woman's bronze skin. Her legs were long and gorgeous. She was wearing a very short white skirt. Her blonde hair rested on her shoulder, and the red tips stood out against the white shirt she was wearing. Her outfit was professional, but left nothing to the imagination. Piercing green eyes met Montiga's brown ones and he smirked.

"Hello, Sandra."

"Aw, come on, V. When the doctor said two weeks bed rest, he didn't really mean two weeks bed rest."

Vince chuckled and sat down on the bed next to Jocelyn. She was sitting up in her bed pleading with him to let her out of the room.

"Please, Vince. Don't make me stay in here. I'll go insane."

"I'm sorry. Do you realize how much trouble I'd be in if I were to let you out of this room? Letty would kill me."

Jocelyn rolled her eyes and laid back in the bed.

"There are only so many hours a human can lie in bed. I'm way past my limit."

Vince ruffled her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Tough. The doctor said that you need to rest and that's exactly what you're going to do."

Jocelyn groaned and grabbed the remote to the television. Vince started to walk out of the room.

"I'll be down stairs if you need anything."

Vince walked out of the room and shut the door. The sound of something hitting the door echoed into the hallway.

"Hey, V!" Jocelyn called out.

Vince opened the door and found the remote laying on the floor right inside the doorway.

"Could you hand that to me?" she asked sheepishly.

"You really don't want to be alone," Vince said as he picked up the remote.

He looked up and saw Jocelyn shaking her head no. Vince smiled and walked over to her.

"I tell ya what," he said as he handed her the remote. "I'll stay with you for an hour or so, but after that, I got to get to work."

"You mean that you're going to leave me in this house by myself?" Jocelyn practically shrieked.

"No, Jesse will be downstairs."

Jocelyn looked slightly relieved as she scooted over. Vince took off his shoes and climbed into the bed next to her.

"So, what shall we watch?" Jocelyn asked.

Vince noted the perkiness in her voice.

"Oh, oh, I know. Soaps!"

Vince groaned and pulled the covers over his head. The sound of Jocelyn giggling filled his ears. He immediately decided that he liked the sound of her giggling and wanted to hear it more often.

Dom, Letty, Leon, Brian, and Mia walked into the house and found Jesse sitting on the couch channel surfing.

"Hey Jesse," Mia said as she sat down next to him.

"Have you seen V?" Dom asked before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Nah, why?" Jesse asked before turning off the television.

Dom re-entered the living room with a Corona in his hand. He opened it and took a sip.

"He was supposed to work today. I was just wondering why we were one man short."

Jesse nodded. "Last time I saw him, he was trying to convince Joce to stay in her room."

Letty chuckled and began to walk up the stairs. The rest of the team was right behind her. As they neared Jocelyn's door, Letty motioned for them to be quiet. Everyone nodded. The sound of a TV could be heard outside the door. Letty opened the door slowly and smiled at what she saw. The rest of the team peeked over her shoulder. Inside, Jocelyn and Vince were asleep. They were on their sides. Vince had an arm wrapped protectively over Jocelyn's waist.

"Come on," Dom said softly before shutting the door.

Everyone walked down the stairs. Dom and Letty were the last ones down.

"Maybe the 'ol Coyote isn't so bad," Letty said with a smile.

Dom slung an arm over Letty's shoulders and said, "See. I told you."

"Yeah, yeah," Letty replied as she playfully shoved Dom.

"That's all you want me to do?" Sandra asked.

Montiga nodded. "How soon do you think you can kill her?"

Sandra sat back in her chair and looked like she was deep in thought.

"Well, with the way you want it done, it'll take two to three weeks."

Montiga nodded.

"Good. That's very good. I do trust that you will be successful in completing this...task."

Sandra smiled. "But of course."

"All right," Lorenzo said as he clasped his hands together. "You have me sold. You start tomorrow."

Sandra smiled and stood up. She walked over to the door. Montiga noticed a definite sway in her hips.

"Oh, Sandra," Montiga called out.

Sandra stopped and turned around. She watched as Montiga stood up from his chair and walked over to her. Her eyes raked over his figure. He was 6" tall maybe taller and had wavy brown hair down to his shoulders. His eyes were chocolate brown. He had a mustache and a goatee.

"Yes?" she asked curiously.

Montiga quickly closed the gap between them and placed his hands right below her butt. Sandra placed her hands on his and slowly moved them up her skirt. Montiga kissed her jaw and slowly made his way to her shoulders.

"You know," she said huskily. "I normally don't get friendly with the boss until after the task in complete."

Montiga smirked and moved his hands up her skirt further. He pressed closer to her and smiled when she gasped.

"Can you make an exception this time?" he said.

Sandra wrapped her arms around his neck and said into his ear, "There are always exceptions."

Jocelyn woke up and glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"Ugh...it's 3 AM," she groaned.

A laugh filled the room. Jocelyn rolled over and found blue eyes looking at her.

"I thought you had to go to work," Jocelyn said.

Vince smiled. "Yeah, well, I got a little sidetracked."

Jocelyn blushed and laid her forehead on his chest.

"Ya know, this is the first time that I have actually felt safe since..."

Vince ran a hand through Jocelyn's hair.

"You deserve to feel safe. And don't worry, I'll make sure that the man who tried to kill you doesn't live to see another day."

Jocelyn sighed. "I don't want you to kill anyone, V."

Vince looked into her eyes. "We both know that whoever came after you won't stop, and the only other choice is for you to leave. I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen."

Jocelyn smiled.

"I'm gonna go downstairs and get us some food," Vince said as he climbed out of the bed. Jocelyn immediately missed the feeling of his arm around her.

"Be right back," he called over his shoulder as he exited the room.

Jocelyn rolled on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She sighed.

"Carter," she said out loud. "I don't know if I can do it anymore. I've tried so hard to be strong, but it's just so hard. I know he'll come after me again. It's just a matter of time. I can't help but think that...that it'd be simpler if I just went ahead and got it over with. I mean, that's what they want, right? I'm afraid that someone other than me is going to get hurt...Carter, I miss you so much..."

Jocelyn stopped talking when she began to cry.

'Please Carter,' she begged silently. 'Help me get through this.'

Vince leaned against the wall outside Jocelyn's room. He had heard her talking.

'She still loves him,' he told himself. 'How can I compete with a dead man?'

'She needs you, though.'

'How?'

'She needs someone to lean on. You have to be that person. She needs you to be strong for her.'

Vince sighed and began to walk down the stairs. He prayed that Jocelyn wouldn't do anything drastic in future. And if she did, that he would be able to stop her.