Page 11 of His Puppet

“What did youthinkyou were stealing for them?”

She looks away and blushes. A lot of it has to do with the alcohol, I’m sure.

“Honestly, I was pretty blinded by the money. They were going to pay me five hundred for the lift. They said the mark was a tourist, so I thought it could’ve been a lot of things. I don’t ask questions.”

My lip curls, and I narrow my eyes. I believe her. She’s a petty thief who took the wrong job, and frankly, she’s an idiot for it. Never take a job when you don’t know all the details. Never.

“Do you have any idea who you stole from?”

She pauses picking at her fingernails. “Well…” she begins, her voice strained. “Judging by the two Italian psychopath’s I’ve met in the last hour, along with the mobster-looking guys chasing me today, I have a pretty good guess.”

I don’t respond, and she looks up at me. “So, what are you? A capo? Or are you Settimo, himself?”

I smirk and take in her hands, trembling in her lap. Her voice is strong, though. You can tell she’s been through some shit in her life. Anyone else would be on their knees begging right about now. My eyes lift to meet hers.

“Blade.”

5

Emily

“Ithink I have what I need.”

Blade stands and takes the two steps to the couch I’m sitting on. He extends his hand, and I hesitantly take it and let him help me up. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells with this guy. He hasn’t been particularly threatening, but I’m not stupid enough to think that means anything. One wrong move and he could explode.

It took me a minute to realize I’d fucked with the Italian mafia, but once I did, I knew I was as good as dead.Nobodyfucks with them and gets away with it. I’ve heard many, many stories, and I’m about to be another one. And still, I let myself have the most foolish thing possible… Hope.

“I can help you find them,” I say when he starts leading me by the hand to the door. My heartrate has barely slowed since being here, but now it ramps up to full speed, and I can feel the panic taking hold.

Blade doesn’t respond, and I dig my heels in and snatch my hand away. He pauses and looks behind him, his lips in a thin line.

“Th-those guys. I can ask around and find out their names. I could arrange a meeting with them.”

“What a nice offer.” Blade’s expression doesn’t change. He looks bored. “But we’ll take it from here.”

“It would make things easy for you. You wouldn’t even need to put in any effort,andyou would get the people who really tried to fuck you over. Me?” I let out a nervous chuckle. “I was just a tool they used. They fucked me over just as much as they did you.”

Blade’s lips lift into an amused smile, and he turns to face me fully. “‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’. Is that the approach you’re taking?”

“It’s true.” I take a breath and look past him at the front door, then I dart my eyes back to Blade. “You could use me, and you know it.”

“Maybe. But I don’t need you to hunt down a couple of low-lifes. There are many people on my payroll more than capable of that.”

“Yes, but—”

“Emily.” His voice is hard, and internally, I shrink away from it.

I want to beg. Cry. Fall at his feet and ask what I can do to keep my life. But I can’t. That kind of thing doesn’t work with these people.

So instead, I let his stare root me to the floor, and I close my mouth.

“I let you make your case. That’s as much as I’m going to give you.”

I bite my lip when it quivers and hold back my tears.

Blade glances at a clock on the wall then looks back at me. “It’s two o’clock in the morning. If you keep me up much longer, I’m going to get angry. You don’t want that, do you?”

I shake my head.

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