Page 2 of Complications

There was a small whimper from the closet. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’d deal with my great-nephew, who didn’t listen, later. Much later. I needed to figure out what to do with this problem first.

“Get your stuff together. You’re coming with us.”

My voice was perhaps harsher than necessary, but it was effective. The man scrambled to his feet and hurried to the bathroom. My eyes narrowed at his limp. He emerged from the bathroom with a single toothbrush in his hand.

“I’m ready.”

“Your stuff is a toothbrush,” I said flatly. It wasn’t a question. What the fuck was Ralphie into, and how had my investigation not picked up on it? “Shoes? Jacket? Anything?”

“He destroyed all that stuff when I was delivered.”

“What’s your name?”

“Connor. Connor Higgins.”

With a nod to Joey, I grabbed a blanket off the closet shelf. Connor shrank away from it when I went to put it around his shoulders, but it was too cold to go out with nothing. He was barefoot, so I rifled through Ralphie’s dresser until I found some thick socks. When Connor protested, my stern look quieted him immediately. There was obviously a story here, but now wasn’t the time for it. We needed to get out of here.

“Joey, finish up in here and then get the fuck out. Drop the word that Ralphie skipped town when he couldn’t pay. Until we know what’s up with this one,”—I jerked my head to Connor before I continued—“there’s no reason for anyone to know Ralphie’s dead.”

Joey murmured quietly into his earpiece and left the room to supervise his guys. I tossed the socks at Connor. He caught them but made no move to put them on. There wasn’t time to wait for him to follow orders, so I took them from his hands and put them on myself. He obediently raised each foot when I tapped it. I grabbed some slides from the closet and draped the blanket over his shoulders. His look of revulsion at the items was a clue to my unanswered questions.

“Don’t worry. We can burn them all after we get to the house.” Connor nodded but made no other response. He followed me into the living room, where I stopped to watch Joey systematically erase our presence. “Joey, make sure there’s no trace of us.”

Joey raised his eyebrows and jerked his head at Connor. I nodded.

Connor was mine now.

CHAPTER TWO

Connor

Riding in the back seat of a black town car, wrapped in a disgusting blanket and shoes that didn’t fit, was not on my bucket list for life. I hoped my split-second decision to skip an escape attempt was right. As stupid as it was, I didn’t want to die, and these guys were all armed and not afraid to use their weapons. The silencers on their guns were a pretty damn big clue these guys weren’t from Ralphie’s usual crowd. Running meant a guaranteed bullet in my head.

I still didn’t know the name of the man who’d ordered me out of the apartment. His custom-fitted suit, gold cufflinks, and Italian leather loafers screamed money. His black hair and honey-toned skin made me think of the Mediterranean. I’d never been, of course, but geography had been my favorite subject in school. It had let me imagine I lived anywhere but where I did. Kids staying in the back bedroom of a single-wide trailer weren’t usually the ones headed off on European vacations.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t willing to risk angering the fancy man. When Ralphie got mad, he punished me with his fists and feet. This guy was much larger than Ralphie, and after that last beating, I wasn’t sure if I could take another so soon. If I tilted my head a sliver, I could see him in profile. His dark hair was cut short with a bit of silver at the temples. I’d put his age at mid-thirties, maybe a little older, but that didn’t lessen the bulge of muscles. He hadn’t slipped into dad-bod territory yet. The tic in his cheek didn’t bode well for me though.

“Why are you staring at me?” He turned his head and looked directly into my eyes. His dark-brown eyes weren’t cruel, but his cheek tic was scary as hell.

I lowered my gaze immediately. One of Ralphie’s rules was to never look directly at him. The last thing I wanted to do was piss off my new…owner…before we got to where we were going.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He sighed and looked back out the window. The tic was more pronounced now and his hands were curled into fists.

Fuck. I’d already upset him and wasn’t sure how to fix it.

Here to serve. Shut your mouth. Here to serve. Shut your mouth.

I repeated the mantra Ralphie had drilled into my head over and over so I’d be prepared. My thoughts were so preoccupied that I didn’t realize we were pulling into the garage of a townhouse. Stupid me should have been paying attention to my surroundings. The purr of the engine cut off, but the man made no move to get out. He finally looked over to me with carefully schooled features.

“Are you going to give me any trouble?”

“No, sir. I know my place.”

He grunted at that but opened the car door and exited the vehicle. My door opened, and I scrambled out. The man holding my door had unmistakable bodyguard vibes. I whispered my thanks, but only received silence in response. He jerked his head toward the door, and I immediately followed his unspoken directions.

We wound our way through a maze of hallways until we reached a staircase at the far end. I did my best to keep up, but with sore ribs, it was hard to keep air in my lungs. The few times I stopped to catch my breath, the guards crowded me to keep moving. It was a struggle, but I finally reached the top. I heard a ping from a nearby elevator. Internally, I groaned, but there was no way in hell I would say anything.