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And Gabriel presents her with the best gift of all – fifty thousand dollars in cash. He’s even tied it up in a sack and drawn a dollar sign on it, because he’s Gabriel.
“I can’t accept this.” She pushes the money away, like it makes her physically ill to touch it. “This money is yours. You earned it. I can’t ask you to spend it on me—”
“You didn’t ask,” Gabriel says, his voice unusually tender. He sits beside her and clasps her hand between his. “Please let me do this for you. I’ve never had the chance to do something selfless before. It’s actually quite titillating.”
“Gabe,” Noah warns.
“What?” Gabe flashes him an innocent smile. “We’re having a Christmas moment, Noah. Don’t ruin it.”
“If you like, Ms. D, consider it payment for suffering through Gabe’s obnoxiousness in class,” Eli says.
She laughs through her tears.
“I resent that.” Gabe folds his arms and pretends to pout. “I’m the perfect student. Dashing, witty, and rarely in attendance.”
She sets down the bag and throws her arms around Gabriel. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means for me.”
“You’re almost free of him. I’m speaking with Nero as soon as he gives me an audience,” I say. “I imagine it’ll be soon once he figures out I’ve stolen his shipment.”
Her face pales. “I don’t want you to put yourself in danger for me.”
“I’m not afraid of Nero,” I growl.
She touches the bag of money gingerly, like it might explode in her face. “I can’t believe it could all be over,” she whispers. “It’s too much to wish for. When Nero first showed up to collect on Randy’s debts, I laughed in his face. The notion that I owed anything to this cheesy gangster in his pinstripe suit seemed so absurd, I thought it was one of the other teachers playing a cruel joke. But then Nero started threatening my family, my career, even the safety of my students, and the debt kept growing larger and larger no matter how much I paid… I thought I lost everything, but when you pulled me off that stage, Eli, I saw that I had so much more I could lose. I won’t know what to do with my life after he’s no longer part of it.”
“A word of advice,” I say. “Get far away from Stonehurst Prep and Emerald Beach as possible. Shit is about to go down, and you don’t want to be anywhere near Nero when I take back this city.”
Eli
“You’d better stay out of Nero’s way,” Livvie whispers. “He’s on the warpath, and it’s all because of your woman.”
We’re in the basement, playing with Casper and his brothers. I brought in potted plants and some of Gizmo’s cat toys and a cat playground I gifted Queen Boudica for Christmas that she turned up her nose at (cats are ungrateful dicks). It’s not much in the dingy, depressing space, but seeing the cubs zooming around on the tower and playing peek-a-boo behind the plants makes me feel a little better. The python watches us through the glass, and I can’t help but think it looks a little jealous.
I’m still determined to free them all, but now that Nero’s decided not to give Casper to Constantine, I know I need to focus on our current problems – like the women we rescued from Nero.
And Cleo. We need to get her out of the picture before she ruins Gabe’s life.
It’s hard to have Christmas without thinking of my dad in jail and my mom with Nero. And that made me remember the last Christmas we had as a family – the TV cameras rolling as Dad presented Mom and me with custom bedazzled coffins to be kept in storage for ‘the big day.’ And that made me remember that reality TV crews film everything, hours and hours of footage, and then decide later what to put on public display.
Cleo’s influencer career began after she was voted off a reality TV game show in the first episode because she was a class-A bitch to everyone on her team, although rumor has it that something went down behind the scenes. She even posted a video about it on her social media, about how the show ganged up on her, and there are things we don’t know, and she could ruin a lot of lives but she won’t because she’s the bigger person. People came to her feed for the drama, and she grew her audience and got new sponsorships, which is exactly what she wanted. But no other footage was ever made public.
It had to exist, though. And I knew who’d have it – Nero Lucian, who has a finger in every TV production company in California. I need to figure out how to get copies of Cleo’s tapes for Claudia without tipping my hand to Nero or Livvie. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to sneak into the laboratory, because I want to check the archives before Nero gets so pissed at Claudia he fires me, but Livvie’s been glued to me every moment since I got here. It’s only days away from the big grand opening, and Claudia’s shot all their plans to hell.
“You knew about Nero bringing in those girls?” I ask Livvie.
“Of course.” She frowns. “Don’t judge me. I’m not exactly in a position to protest. Now he’s got no women for his big New Year’s bash, and who do you think bears the responsibility for fixing that mess?” She waggles a fish on a string for Casper, who bats at it with his big paws. “At this stage, it’ll be me and Casper doing a solo show.”
I think of Yara and the other women huddled into their beds at the Colosseum, and I can’t muster up a single ounce of sympathy. “Can’t he just use legitimate prostitutes? Surely there are enough women in this city who enjoy lying on their backs for rich assholes and will dance with a snake if it pays well enough?”
Livvie shakes her head. “You don’t get it. Part of what Nero’s guests pay through the nose for is the thrill of getting off on their victim’s fear. These are sick people. If they were poor they’d be in jail or a psychiatric unit. But they’re rich so they run the world. That’s what money buys you – freedom from consequences.”
Not if I have anything to say about it.
Daniel, one of Nero’s soldiers, pokes his head through into the basement. “Livvie, the boss is asking for you.”
She stands up, dusting white hairs off her shirt. “I’d better go. Are you okay down here?”
“Of course. I’ll get started on the monkey cage once this guy is done playing.”
