TAINTED LOVE ▸ BILLY RUSSO

chapter two - phone calls

It was Saturday and I was sitting in front of my desk, at home. Everything I had on Billy and Rawlins was all over the room. I pushed my chair to the table behind me where Russo's files were. I had found that he was friends with none other than Frank Castle. The Punisher.

Castle died a few years ago. There was this girl named Karen who worked for the New York Bulletin. She was a part of Castel's defense team.

I grab my phone and dial the usual number.

"Stacy." The woman states, surprised by my call. "Is he dead?"

"No. I did what you told me and I've been trying for seven months." I start saying and my phone starts making a weird noise, I pull it from my hear to look at the screen. "Give me a sec, someone's calling me." I tell Eve.

"Don't get attached, Stacy." She says before I hang up her call and answer Billy's.

"Hey." I greet him.

"Hey," he replies. "Got anything planned for tonight?"

"No, you have anything in mind?" I smirk to myself.

"I don't know," He teases, making me look down at the floor. "Do you, Scarlet?"

The mood is ruined by the name he calls me. When I died I changed my name to Scarlet Quinzel. When he called me by it, it only proved how shallow this was. How I will have to kill him in the end, whether I want it or not. That was the only way.

"I don't know." I repeat his words. "You wanna take me to dinner?"

"Actually..." he says. "I do." I can hear him smirking on the other side of the line.

"Good." I nod.

"Can I pick you up?"

"Uhm... tell me the place and I'll call an uber." I decline and he hesitates to answer for a second.

"Sure." Billy replies. "See you for dinner."

"Yeah." I replied, hanging up.

I swallow the lump in my throat and call Eve again. The hacker answers the phone right away, barely giving it time to ring.

"You okay?" She asks and I nod even though she can't see me.

"I have a date."

"It's not real, Stacy. You choose this. Now you have to finish it." Eve reminds me and I take a deep breath. "Juliet is with Rawlins. We need to get her out. If we don't and they find out, she's dead. Don't forget that."

"I can do my job, Eve." I say through gritted teeth. I'm not incompetent, impulsive maybe but the work gets done. No matter how I feel. "I called to tell you about Karen Page. Check into her and then give me what you find, okay?"

"Yeah." She replies.

"I gotta go, I have a date to attend." I hang up the phone.

My head hurts as I walk towards my bedroom. I open the wardrobe and take a dark red tight short dress. I put it on and walk to the bathroom, fixing my hair and putting on dark red lipstick.

Billy had texted me the address and told me to dress up, so I did.

With my makeup ready, I put on my high heels, walk downstairs and call an Uber. Not long after, the car parks at the end of the stress just like I told the driver to. I get in the back seat, telling him the address and he starts driving.

"You look good." The man speaks up and I nod.

"Thanks." I say shortly.

"You're going on a date?" I don't reply but he keeps talking. "I don't bite, miss." He scoffs.

"Can we just keep quiet? My head hurts." I tell him looking at the street through the window.

"Whatever you want, lady." He looks at the road. "Can I ask your name?"

"It's none of your business."

"You're really rude, you know that?!" He looks at me for a split second.

"I'll stab you with my shoe if you don't shut up." I warn him and he scoffs.

As the man turns to the road at the right, I could see the restaurant Billy told me to meet him in. There was a man in the front with a suit and I could tell that it was him. A smile creeps into my face but I quickly get myself back together.

He wasn't looking. Why the hell was I smiling.

The Uber stops and I take a bill from my wallet, paying the trip with cash. Credit cards were an amazing way for Homeland Security to shoot me dead. Again.

I get out of the car, not saying a word to the driver, making him scoff and yell at me. Repeating that I was rude and an ungrateful bitch. What a nice guy.

Before I'm able to say anything, Billy steps in. "Care to repeat that?" He threatens the driver.

The man inside the car scoffs again. "Get out of here, man. Go back to your date. I have work to do."

"I will advise you to listen to me very carefully." Billy gets his head in the car through the window. "If you speak with her like that I'll kill you."

"You're fucking insane, that's what you are." The man widens his eyes at Russo and drives away, as I just stay there, looking at the duo.

"What was that?" I smirk at Billy as he looks at me from up to down.

"You look amazing, darling."

"Darling?" I tease. "Okay." I chuckle putting my arm around his back. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"When do I look bad?" He jokes and I smile, I didn't force the smile on my face this time, it came naturally like the one on the Uber.