AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You shouldn’t have picked her up, man. You should have stuck to the plan.”
“I saw an opportunity and I took it. And it’s going to pay off.”
“How?”
“She’s smart. Not educated, but she isn’t stupid like most of them. I can teach her things. Eventually, she’ll be doing the recruiting for us.”
“Huh.” The other guy rubbed his chin. “That’s intriguing. But how can you trust her with that?”
“That’s why I’m taking my time.” Preston shrugged. “It’s like the Marines. I’m breaking her down, then I’ll build her back up. She’s practically a blank slate. I can make her into anything I want.”
“How’s your girlfriend going to feel about that?” The way he said that implied he already knew the answer; his girlfriend wouldn’t know.
But that also meant the other girl they were talking about wasn’t Marigold.
Preston just shook his head, as if that question didn’t require an answer.
“She’s a risk too, you know,” the other guy said.
“You don’t have to worry about her. She doesn’t know anything.”
“I know she doesn’t. That’s obvious. But how long do you think you can keep it from her?”
“Long enough.”
“You better be like heroin to her. Get her good and addicted or she’s going to bolt on you. She doesn’t strike me as the type who’ll look away.”
“Not like Tess,” Preston said.
The other guy laughed. “Tess doesn’t want to know. She sees what she wants to see. My gut tells me you won’t have that luxury with Marigold.”
“Marigold is not your concern.”
He held up his hands. “You know I won’t get involved there. I’m still skeptical about your little experiment, but I won’t get involved there either. Just don’t screw it up. If something happens and she turns on you, we’ll all be fucked.”
“She won’t. I already have her eating out of the palm of my hand. Won’t be long before she’ll do anything I say, whether she’s doped up or not.”
“Okay. You’ve been right before. You were certainly right about this place.”
“I’m always right. Trust me, I’m going to make you a shit ton of money.”
Their voices faded and eventually disappeared as they wandered into the building. I thought about trying to follow—see if I could keep listening. I was many things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. I’d probably get caught.
And I had no idea what I was really dealing with.
I slipped back through the job site, careful to avoid the areas where work was being done. What I’d overheard didn’t make much sense. I’d hated—fucking hated—hearing them refer to Marigold as Preston’s girlfriend. But who was the other girl? Was he cheating on Marigold?
I went out to my truck and called Garrett.
“What’s up, Z?” he answered.
“Can you arrest someone for me?”
“No.”
“What if there’s a good reason?”
He hesitated. “At the risk of hating myself for asking, what’s the reason?”
