Vox slipped his phone back into his pocket. “So, why did you stop paying him? You defied him, and he just backed down? What happened?”
It was hard to think clearly when I couldn’t stop picturing my sister locked in a cage like an animal. I knew the kind of shit that happened to those women. They were stripped naked, beaten, and… I couldn’t even finish the thought. I had no idea she’d been captured because I didn’t see her on a daily basis. By the time I would have known she was missing, she might have been shipped to another country, and by then…terrible things would have happened to her. If Heath hadn’t walked in there when he did, she might have disappeared forever. Then he outlawed the institution altogether, against great resistance, for her.
Maybe he had changed.
Vox waited for an answer.
“I am paying him.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“Business has been bad for the last month because I gave him all my profits the last time he stopped by. It’s just taken me a little time to make some money again.” I lied to his face, lied like my life depended on it.
Vox stared at me with a hard gaze, like he wasn’t convinced that I was telling the truth. But he didn’t call me out on it either.
I’d just lied to protect the man I hated—because I knew I owed him.
I owed him everything.ThirteenHeathI sat on the throne with my beer beside me. Steel kept me informed about the accomplishments of the week because there was too much for me to keep track of by myself. There were so many businesses to monitor, so many streets to keep clean, that it was tough even for a big organization such as ourselves.
The rest of the men drank at the tables, stuffed large bills into the shorts the girls wore as a tip for having nice tits.
Ian stepped through the doors and jogged to the bottom of the stairs. “Heath, Damien is here. Wants to see you.”
In bewilderment, I stared at him, digesting the words like a swallowed piece of gum. Had he come here to take me out? To bomb the place so the walls collapsed on all of us? “Is he alone?”
“He’s got a few men—and lots of bags of money.”
What? Now this wasn’t making sense. “Scan the bags before you let him in.”
Ian turned away.
“And scan them well, Ian.”
Ian nodded before he kept going.
After that last conversation with Damien, I knew he was furious. So furious, he might go back on the promise he made to Catalina. Maybe killing me was his only option to protect his sister, because she couldn’t hate him forever, even if he did kill the man she loved.
Steel set down the binder. “Want me to get the rifles?”
I shook my head. “We’re all strapped.”
The doors opened again, and Damien entered first, taking the lead with a bag of cash in each hand. He carried it down the aisles of men and stopped in front of me, dropping them on the floor, a look of rampant rage in his eyes.
What the fuck was happening right now?
The rest of his men did the same, piling up the cash at my feet. Then they turned and left.
Damien lingered behind, his shoulders as stiff as his upper lip. “There’s your money, asshole.” He said the final word with such rage that spit flew from his mouth and sprinkled the stairs below me. Then he turned around and exited the room.
All the men looked at me with respect, like I was powerful enough to get Damien to hand-deliver payment at my leisure.
I wasn’t sure what my expression looked like—because I was confused.
So fucking confused.When I got home, Catalina was still asleep, so I went to bed without waking her. I usually slept until noon, and that day was important because we were getting her cast removed at the doctor’s office. After a few X-rays, they’d determined she’d healed, and a little quicker than most people.
Because of her fire.
When I woke up, I rolled out of bed and washed my face and brushed my teeth before getting dressed and walking out the door. I wanted to tell Catalina what had happened, but now wasn’t the right time. When we got home and were in the privacy of the apartment, I would tell her what happened.
At the office, the doctor cut into her cast and got her foot free.
When she tried to move it, she winced in pain.
“It’s going to hurt for a while,” the doctor said. “But that’s normal. Start physical therapy immediately, and after a few weeks, try to walk more on your own.”
I took her home afterward, carrying her so she wouldn’t have to deal with the crutches. When I got her into the apartment, she tried to walk on it, wincing as she attempted to get used to moving it normally again.