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She narrows her eyes. “Yes, that’s exactly why I can’t die. I don’t have enough sick days.”
She’s laying the sarcasm on thick, but I ignore it.
“You know, I think I’ll go to work with you tomorrow,” I remark, draping my arms over the rim of the hot tub and sinking lower into the water.
Piper sits up straight. “To the CPS office?”
“Unless you have a third job I don’t know about, then yes.”
“You…you can’t.”
“The only person who matters says I can.” I point to myself. “I’ll give you a ride.”
She swallows nervously. “But I thought—I’m only useful to you as a social worker, right? My image as a civil servant is going to boost your reputation. I won’t be any good to you if I get fired. That’s what you told me.”
“You won’t get fired.”
“It will look unprofessional if I bring my supposed ‘boyfriend’ to the office,” she says. “Especially if that boyfriend is one of my cases. It is going to look really bad.”
I dismiss her with a flick of my wrist. “You’d be surprised how a little money thrown at a situation clears up problems like that.”
“You’re going to pay off my boss?”
“If I have to.” I smile and arch a brow. “Or I’ll woo her with my God-given looks and charm.”
She worries her teeth along her lower lip, nibbling the skin until it’s pink and plump. “I don’t know. I could lose my job. I worked hard to earn their trust, and I don’t want to throw it all away.”
“You aren’t throwing anything away,” I say. “No matter what happens there, you have your job here. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
Piper looks up at me, and I watch as realization settles in.
I control her now.
For as long as she is a pawn in my game, she’s mine to manipulate as I wish. If she doesn’t cooperate, I’ll cut her off at the knees. I’ll bend her to my will whether she wants it or not.
Piper, proving once again she isn’t as dumb as she first appeared, lifts her chin and nods. “Fine. You’ll drive me to work tomorrow.”
I nod back solemnly. “Looking forward to it.”
52
TIMOFEY
“No one is here.” My voice echoes off the creaky hardwood floors and bare cinderblock walls of the CPS office. “We didn’t need to get here this early.”
Piper plants a hand on her cocked hip and glares at me. “Youdidn’t need to be here at all. I could have come alone.”
“No, you couldn’t have. Because I told you I was coming with you.”
She rolls her eyes. “I needed to make up hours, anyway. I am drowning in cases right now and being ‘sick’ the last couple days hasn’t helped matters. I would’ve worked overtime the last two days, too. So I did need to be here two hours early.”
Now that she mentions it, Piper’s desk is overflowing. Folders and files spill out of stackable paper sorters on the corner of her desk. She can barely wedge anything else into the pull-out drawer underneath. In comparison, the other desks in the office look tidy.
“Lots of children to kidnap, so little time.”
She huffs out a frustrated sigh. “Let me get some things in order and then I have an on-site visit.”
There’s a long bench in the back corner with a few stuffed animals and a long pillow. It’s situated next to an office with window blinds. It’s the room where kids recently removed from their parents' care sit and wait for a temporary placement.
