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“When are you leaving?” Axell asked.
I clenched my jaw, barely containing the fury constricting my lungs. “When I drop Sutton off with Dmitri.”
“You’re really doing that?”
“Seems like my only choice if I want to leave this place,” I admitted, and the ache in my chest dug deeper. She’d hate me for it, but it was the only thing that made sense at the moment.
I needed more time. To plan. To figure out ways around handing her over. Except every scenario that entered my mind was one I hated.
Silence infiltrated the car, thick and heavy, until we arrived outside the coroner’s building and parked near the back. I opened the dashboard compartment to pull out a few manila folders and handed them over.
“I need you to recruit some inmates when they’re released in a few days,” I said. “You’ll need to track them down.”
“Released?”
“If I bribe the Parole Board for too many early releases, Ronan will be questioned about it. So, recruit them once they’re out.”
Axell flipped through the pages, his eyebrows shooting to his hairline. “Jesus Christ.” He hooked his thumb toward the body in the trunk. “Their crimes are way worse than that guy.”
“I know.”
“And we’ve never had—”
“I know,” I clipped, running a hand down my face. “Just do it, alright? He needs new members, and those are our options.”
Axell sighed, his eyes fixed on those pages.
Killing women and children was a hard line for me, and I carefully inspected each inmate to ensure the Crimson Crowes kept that intact. Though the ones I tasked Axell with had done exactly that. They were nobodies—criminals society would be thankful to be rid of. The kind of people I trusted Axell to find and recruit without raising any questions.
“We need to talk to the coroner,” I said, shooting a glance toward the backseat, “to make sure he gets this done tonight.”
Axell’s brows furrowed, but he said nothing else as we exited the car and popped the trunk to drag the body out by his arms and legs.
After our delivery and a thorough discussion with the coroner, money did, in fact, motivate the man. Dropping this guy off eased some of that heaviness, but it didn’t make it go away. It thumped behind my eyes, always there and lurking until something or someone made it snap.
Not this time.
Axell slipped into the driver’s seat and looked over, cautiously studying me. Like he was testing the waters, my mood, and my sanity. Yeah, I was a little insane, but that was nothing new. He should be used to it by now. Another minute in silence, and he let out a breath.
“Alright,” he said slowly, mostly to himself as the engine hummed. The corner of his mouth turned up before smoothing out. “Well, now that that’s taken care of…”
I sighed and rubbed my jaw, exhaustion settling in. “I have some things to do over the next few days. Can you handle the rest?”
He nodded, letting out a small, disbelieving chuckle before easing the car forward with one hand on the steering wheel. Sunrise bled over the horizon and snow piled at the edges of the road, grey and hazy from yesterday's storm. A mirror to my thoughts.
The entire drive back, I wondered if I was making the right decision, or if I had just secured Sutton’s innate hatred for me. There was only one way to find out, and I wasn’t ready to face her when the time came.
33
SUTTON
I woke with a head between my legs, to a mouth that nibbled and licked the insides of my thighs beneath the comforter. A moan crawled up my throat as I rolled my hips and reached for him. I tugged at his damp hair. Did he shower?
“What are you doing?” I breathed.
Manic’s breathy laugh warmed the inside of my knee, sending tingles up my leg. “Rewarding you for staying in bed.”
“Mm, well I was—” I yelped as his teeth sank into tender flesh, “—tired.”
