his Porsche.
I stare at him. How in the world did he find me?
His countenance darkens. “Now.”
Feeling it’s best to obey, I get in without a word. He starts driving.
“I’m not going back to Eric’s place,” I say.
“That’s not where we are going.”
“Then...”
But he doesn’t seem like he wants to talk, so I don’t finish my question. I guess as long as we’re not headed to Eric’s, I can stop worrying.
Only he pulls up in front of The Lair.
“Why—what are we doing here?” I ask as the same lady from last time opens my door.
I feel stupid not getting out of the car, so I step out, but I keep my backpack with me in case I need to find my own way to City College.
“Eric’s getting his money back,” Tony tells me after he hands the woman his keys.
He takes me by the elbow and half drags me inside the building.
I try to dig in my heels. “So what does that have to do—”
He stops and stares at me. “I’m going to give you one last chance to earn the money.”
From his expression, I get the feeling he’s going to eat my alive.
“Twenty thousand,” he specifies, then pulls me inside.
I’m not sure I want this chance. I had reconciled myself to missing out on the money. But I am now out of a job...
“Good morning, Mr. Lee,” the same receptionist greets.
On the counter in front of her, on a velvet tray by itself, is the red and black mask I wore the last time I was here.
I don’t take up the mask and instead ask as nonchalantly as I can, “Does Carmen know about this?”
He looks at me sharply. “She has no need to know.”
“Cell Three is ready as you requested,” the woman says cheerfully.
Tony grabs the mask and me, then heads for the stairs.
“I didn’t say I agreed to this,” I protest.
“You agreed to ‘anything and everything.’”
“That was before...”
“Before what?”
“Before I knew about Carmen.”
It’s early in the day, and the place seems deserted. Tony and I might be the only patrons here.