“Let her go,” he said.
She was an innocent. She was his.
Boss tutted. “I can’t do that anymore.”
“She hasn’t seen anything, and all she wants to do is live her life. A simple, unassuming life.”
“And you made sure with your sloppy hit that it’s not going to happen. By taking her, you put a target on her head. You think I don’t know about the cop as well, Priest? For fuck’s sake. Put a pussy in your vision and you become an amateur.”
****
Cleo wasn’t asleep. She wasn’t even chained up.
Boss had asked her to play along, and she didn’t have much choice at this point.
After stepping into the brothel of what looked like nightmares to her, she figured she had nothing to lose but do as told.
There was no way she was going to work in this place. Selling her body was never going to happen. She’d die first.
Not that anyone would want her.
She pushed all her negative thoughts to one side. There was no room for a pity party right now. She had no choice but to focus on attempting to stay alive.
Cleo didn’t even dare to open her eyes as Boss started talking with Priest.
A massive wave of relief washed over her knowing he was alive and well.
“She’s innocent, and the last time I checked, you didn’t go around killing civilians.”
“You’re right. I don’t. I make sure they’re well cared for. I do damage control. I make them disappear without others knowing how or when. It becomes like a ghost story, but this, the way you handled it, is a fucking shitshow. Do you think you helped Cleo here?”
Priest inhaled, and she imagined he went to say something, but Boss was pissed.
She had never known a man to talk so much. He seemed to rival her, and that was saying something.
Cleo tried to control her face, though. She needed to pretend to be completely knocked out or face the consequences.
“No, you fucking didn’t. Instead, you’ve put a bigger bounty on her head.”
“Is that why you’ve got Harb? Seriously, fucking Harb? That piece of shit? I thought Killer of Kings was above that.”
“And I thought I had men I could trust who wouldn’t put women in further danger, but guess what, I fucked up there as well because you’ve done exactly that. There is a big bounty on her head, Priest. Fucking huge. The cop you killed, he had connections within the mafia. Some bastard son of a boss or some bullshit. You see where I’m going with this?”
Fuck.
It meant that Cleo’s death now became an act of revenge and retaliation.
“I see that you can see that.” Boss cursed.
“Gustavo Bianchi didn’t have a son. And why send his own kid for a hit anyway?”
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…” Boss said.
She chanced the risk of slowly opening one eye, just to see.
Priest, the big giant hulk of a man, was strapped down with thick chains. She could stand if she wanted. She wasn’t restrained like him.
“I see we have company,” Priest said, looking at her. God, the man was sexy.