AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“One she takes very seriously, the bitch.”
“I swear, I hate that woman.”
“I want to stab her in her eyeballs, sometimes.”
“Ugh, she has that haughty look she gets. Like she’s better than us.”
“She’s no better,” I agreed, “worse, if she thinks she is, when they run her life as much as ours.”
“Exactly.” Lux nodded her head. “She’s deluded.”
“What else do you know about them? Anything I can use?”
She shook her head. “Rook knows a lot more than I do, but I want to keep it that way. I don't want to know who they are."
“How did you even get involved with them?”
She pressed her lips in a firm line. Standing, she began to straighten a collection of things on Rook’s dressers. Some spare coins, a bottle of cologne. A pair of cufflinks. They were already in a straight line, but she rearranged them, and I wondered if that would bother him.
“I came to the Magnolia, just like you. I had plans, big plans, money all saved up and everything. I was going to go to New York.” She moved to the grey curtains, tugging them closed. “But then Kuru, my grandma, got sick. And I stayed. And, the bills, well…” She shrugged. “That’s how they get you.”
"Oh." I glanced down at my hands, fidgeting with Rook's oversized shirt. “Like the ravens.”
She nodded. “And, well, you don't need to hear my life sob story, but my grandma has been the only person to ever take care of me. When she was diagnosed, and so late in her life, I had to do what it took to take care of her."
I nodded, knowing exactly how she felt. "That's how I feel about Callie."
"I know," she said simply. "And they courted me, just like they did you, except I...Well, my blood isn't as pure as yours."
"What does that even mean?"
"Hell if I know," she chuckled ruefully, "sounds like some kind of white bullshit to me."
I laughed.
"Anyways, since my blood isn't good enough, or whatever, I would've ended up in one of the pens, or something like that--"
“Pens?"
"It's where they keep and traffic the sex workers. Out on some island near here.”
“Oh shit,” the blood drained from my face.
“But your dad saved me. He somehow got me a job working at the bank, where you met me. And that's why I tried to warn you. To save you, just like he saved me."
"So you knew who I was when you met me."
She nodded, her lips tilting downward. "I wanted to chase you out of there but they would’ve killed me. I’ve seen it happen first-hand. They control, manipulate, fuck, kill. Whatever they want and to whomever they want.” Her voice had gone low, her eyes menacing. She was pulling on the curtains so harshly—I was afraid she would rip the rod from the wall. It seemed that, despite Lux’s claims, she knew more about them than what she was letting on.
"And my mom?" I needed to know more about that night.
“I’m sorry," she shook her head. "I met your father only five years ago. I don't know what happened to your mom."
"And how do you know Rook? Through the company?"
She shook her head. "Through your dad."
My lips parted in surprise. "My dad?"
