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I blew out a breath. “Do me a favor, would you? Put the goddamn knife away.”
She looked at the switchblade like she’d forgotten it was in her hand. “Sorry. Habit.” She put it in her pocket.
“Gabriel and Rafe will be all right as long as you do your part,” she said.
“And if I don’t?”
“They’ll die,” was the flat response.
Alarm sent a jarring spike into my chest. Prickles went up my arms, across the backs of my shoulders. Not the good kind of prickles. They were I-have-to-fucking-do-something-NOW prickles.
“I’ve got to let Gabriel know. I’ve got to let them both know.” I went for my phone, then remembered I didn’t have one. I stuck out a hand. “Give me your phone.”
“No. You can’t warn him. That’s not part of the deal. What if they tell your father?”
“Fuck the deal. Give me the damn phone, or I’ll buy one myself.”
“With what?”
I set my jaw. Because of course I had no money. I switched gears.
“The deal was that if I helped you, you people wouldn’t hurt Gabriel and Rafe. Now I find SI has already broken their part of the bargain. So why the hell should I honor my part?”
She came onto her knees. “Listen, you ass. This is your only chance. You think they wanted to let you go? I had to talk them into it.”
I came onto my knees too and leaned forward, matching her determination with mine. “Then you tell them to lay off my fucking brothers. Or the deal’s off.”
Her eyes flickered. “I can’t. My boss doesn’t know that you know about Gabriel. Trust me, it’s better that way.”
“Fuck.” I sank back to the ground, dragged a hand down my face. “Okay, here’s the deal. You’re going to keep tabs on Gabriel and Rafe, tell me how they’re doing. And Reaper?” I subconsciously imitated my dad’s voice at his most dangerous, soft and cold. “If I find out you’re lying to me, I’ll rip your goddamn head off.”
“Fuck you.”
The air crackled with anger and distrust. We glared at each other like two fighters in the ring.
She exhaled and sat back. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. If you honor your part of the bargain, your brothers will be okay. That’s a promise.”
My mouth pulled into a nasty smile. “Then we don’t have a problem.”
She gave a curt nod of acknowledgment. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll get us tickets. Passports have already been handled. We’ll both be traveling under assumed names.”
“What if my father’s not in New York?”
“Then you find him. But you don’t have much time. Drag this out too long and the people above me will get impatient.”
I stared at her. “This is my father. Let them get impatient. I’m not going to do anything until I’m sure he’s the one behind this.”
She matched me stare for stare. “Then your brothers will die.”
“My brothers will die.” I repeated her statement through clenched teeth. “Because of some trumped-up reason that your bosses came up with. And you say we’re monsters?”
Suddenly, I couldn’t bear to be near her any longer. I rose to my feet.
“I’m going for a walk,” I told her without looking at her. “And don’t worry, I won’t try to escape. Like you said, I have no money, and I’m in a strange city with an enforcer who wants to make me his personal blood slave. Where the fuck would I go?”
19
RIDLEY
