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He leaned against a concrete wall, breathing heavily. “Prove it.”
I shrugged and pulled out my phone. “Mila? Joey wants to say hi.”
“Joey?” Her gasp was audible. “Where are you?”
He took the phone. “In a parking garage with two fucking vampires.”
“Oh, God. I’m sor—”
I’d had enough. I nipped the phone from Joey’s fingers. “We’ll be right there.” To him, I said, “Come,” putting just enough compulsion in my tone to get him to obey, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
But he shook me off to walk the few feet slowly to the elevator on his own. On the way up, he leaned against the elevator wall, chest heaving like an old man with emphysema.
Mila waited in the foyer. At the sight of her brother, she clapped her hands to her mouth. “Joey.Ohmigod. You’re safe.” She darted into the elevator and threw her arms around him. “You’re safe.”
I guided them out of the elevator and told Bajoie to go back to Redbone’s nest to help with the cleanup. “My own security can handle things from here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mila still had her arms around Joey. As the elevator door closed behind the enforcer, she sent me a look over her brother’s shoulder. “Andre?”
I wordlessly drew my finger across my throat.
“You’re sure?”
“I staked him myself.”
Her eyelids squeezed together. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” She held out a hand to me, her dark eyes bright with tears. “I don’t know why I’m crying,” she said, sniffing. “But thank you. Thank you so much.”
My heart constricted. Didn’t she know I’d do anything for her?
I wrapped my fingers around hers. “He’s your brother. That makes him family. But he’s hungry—I’ll tell Jessa to make him something to eat.”
“Oh. Right.” Mila sprang into action, seating Joey on the couch, getting him water, bringing him a plate of cheese and crackers while Jessa prepared something more substantial.
I made sure they had everything they needed, then sat on the opposite side of the room and checked my texts, so they could have some privacy.
After downing two glasses of water and the entire plate of cheese and crackers, Joey began to revive. Mila got up to show him to a spare bedroom where he could shower. They paused in the hall to mutter about me. They kept their voices low enough that I could’ve tuned them out, but fuck that. I needed to know what I was up against with Mila’s family.
“He hasn’t let you call Mom and Dad?” Joey growled.
“They took away my phone,” she admitted. “Not Gabriel—it was Andre Redbone.”
“Like Gabriel couldn’t have given you a new phone.”
“It’s complicated.”
“The hell it is,” Joey said in a furious whisper. “Sounds like you’re a prisoner, same as I was. Just because the man bought you some new clothes and lets you run tame in his fancy penthouse doesn’t mean he’s going to let you go.”
“It was Redbone who had me kidnapped,” she hissed back. “Remember?”
“Then you can leave whenever you want?”
A pause. “Well, no. But I don’t want to. I—"
He made a disgusted sound. “For Chrissake, Mila. Would you listen to yourself?”
She blew out a breath. “Go take a shower. You need to eat, rest. Then we can talk.”
