I laugh at the wit in his tone before farewelling him with a lift of my chin. Since I have to be unshackled before I can leave, Owen exits the room a good thirty seconds before a guard advises I have another visitor.
“Who?”
The guard checks the paperwork in his hand before shrugging. “They didn’t say.”
Since I’m incapable of attaching Demi’s name to a curse word, I grumble about her inability to listen before retaking my seat. This room is generally used for inmates to speak with their lawyers, but the guard wouldn’t have nudged his head to the table if he wanted us to host our visit in the visiting area.
I drop my eyes to the watch circling my unshackled wrist, noting there’s still an hour left for standard visiting hours when the door Owen walked through ten minutes ago pops back open. My visitor isn’t who I was anticipating, and his smug grin boils my blood. It isn’t Col. It is the man one spot down from him. Agent Arrow Moses.
While smirking at the shocked expression I didn’t shut down quick enough, Agent Moses signals for the guards to leave the room. When one puts up a fuss, Agent Moses is quick to remind him of his position in the Bureau. “And let’s not forget theotheracquaintances who are desperate to pay your family a visit.”
The uneased guard’s eyes flick to mine for the quickest second before he bows his head in shame and scampers out of the room. I don’t know whether to be pissed about Agent Moses’s pull or shocked when the guard’s evacuation of the room is quickly followed by the security camera in the corner of the space switching off. He didn’t just cut the feed to the security personnel at Wallens Ridge. He ended Col’s live stream as well.
Col has to watch his minions because even he knows they don’t fear him enough not to occasionally stray. I can’t help but wonder if that is what Agent Moses is doing today. In a way, I’m hopeful. He’ll find himself on Col’s hit list remarkedly quick if he goes against him.
I smile at the thought.
It’s wiped off my face when Agent Moses places a tablet down in front of me. It’s playing a live recording of the visitor section of Wallens Ridge. Demi is seated behind a thick pane of glass, nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Visitors to this prison have a strict dress code to adhere to, and Demi has followed it to the T. As I requested last week, she also came with a chaperon. Caidyn is sitting in the visitor holding area. He’s mere feet away from her.
My brows furrow when Agent Moses switches screens on the tablet. The live surveillance this time around is from one of the many cameras mounted around the yards and eating hall.
He points to a man I’d guess to be mid-thirties with dark hair and a wonky grin. “He has something I need. I want you to get it for me.”
I scoff instead of replying to the superiority in his tone with my fists.
Let me tell you, it is a fucking hard feat.
As arrogant as ever, Agent Moses balances his hip on the edge of the table before folding his arms in front of his chest. “I’m sorry, did that sound like I was asking you to do it.” He leans in close like I’m deaf. “I wasn’t. You either do as I ask, now, or I call in a tip that your girl is carrying contraband. You know how randy these guards are. It wouldn’t take much to convince them to conduct a strip search.”
My hotheadedness gets the best of me long before words form in my mouth. I pin Agent Moses to the wall separating us from the guards milling outside before throwing a precisely aimed fist into his ribs. It winds him enough to warn him I’m not playing, but it doesn’t come close to knocking him out. I need him alert to ensure he gets my message loud and clear. “Demi is off-limits. I made sureno onecould touch her before I agreed to come to this shit hole.”
Agent Moses’s words are as breathy as mine. His are just compliments to a possible cracked rib instead of red-hot anger. “Your deal is for a world far away from here.”
I ‘ha!’out loud. “My agreement is forallcorners of Col’s realm, including the corrupt fuckers beneath him.”
“Beneath him?” My reply seems to agitate him more than a fist to the ribs. “You think I’m below the likes of Col One-Foot-In-The-Grave Petretti?” He pushes me back with more gusto than I realized his weaselly frame had. “I’m more powerful than him. Have more drive. I could crush him like a bug.”
I feed the ego beaming out of him like the Hulk breaking out of a suit. “Then why haven’t you?”
Unfortunately, he’s a little more clued-in than I give him credit for. He glares at me while the mask he generally wears slips back over his face. “Greatness takes time, Ox. Only fools rush in.”
I’m about to tell him he’s the biggest fool I’ve met, but a voice projecting out from the tablet left discarded on the table stops me. It isn’t one I recognize, but the stunned reply of the person he’s approaching is highly familiar. Demi is as put-off by the guard’s accusation she’s brought illegal substances into the jail as me.
Air traps in my throat when I spin the tablet around to face me. A guard I’ve never seen before is blocking a doorway opposite to the one Caidyn is manning. He’s in the process of putting on a pair of latex gloves, his gleam way too familiar. It is the same glint Col’s eyes had when he told Ezra he has no sexual interest in his niece, and she’s often misunderstood. He even went as far as saying she was mentally challenged from a traumatic childhood. It’s the gleam of a man willing to say anything to get what he wants. Nothing is below his needs.
Once the guard has his gloves in place, he steps into the room where Demi is the sole occupant. “Stop him,” I demand Agent Moses, my voice a roar. I’d end the guard’s campaign myself, most likely without words, but the visitors’ section of the prison is near the front entrance. I’m in the east wing. I’d never get to Demi in time. “Stop him before I smash your fucking teeth in!”
Agent Moses doesn’t even flinch when I grab him by the throat. Idiots aren’t known for their smarts. He has no idea I could kill him in under a minute.
Well, so I thought.
“If you kill me, Demi will face an in-depth search byallformer and current employees of Wallens Ridge State Penitentiary.” I feel the screams of his lungs as they frantically hunt for air. “But if you do as asked, I’ll ensure she remains untouched not just in here but outside of these walls as well.”
The black hatred clogging my veins makes it hard for me to see sense through the madness. This can’t be real. I can’t be fucked by both the law and the people they’re meant to take down at the same time. This isn’t how life works. Justice is meant to be the balance between good and evil, right and wrong. It isn’t supposed to fuck me over more than I’ve already been fucked.
I scream my annoyance into Agent Moses’s face before loosening my grip on his throat. I hate that I’m giving in to him, that I’m acknowledging that he can play me like a fucking fiddle, but I don’t have any other choice. Demi is being led out of a room by a gloved-up guard, and Caidyn is none the wiser about the impending danger she is facing. If I don’t do as asked, I won’t be the only one being fucked by both sides of the law.
After taking a step back with flaring nostrils and balled hands, I ask, “What do you want?”
