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“Wouldn’t want to embarrass the family.”
Adler sighs, frustration obvious in his voice. “Just figure it out.”
He hangs up. I stare at the phone for a moment before sipping my whiskey, thinking about Hellie back in that room, her thick, black hair spread out around her like a demon’s halo. Why did she have to run like that? She had to have known I was going to catch her. She knew me the second she saw me, which means the girl isn’t stupid.
But then again, she ran.
Ren comes into my office not long later and sits in one of the chairs. He stretches, cracks his knuckles and tilts his head from side to side. “It’s done,” he says.
“They know?”
“They know,” he confirms. “And they’re pissed.”
“Good.” I look over at the window.
“They’re gonna want her, you know. Frost especially. He’s not gonna make this easy. That old asshole stole their money, too.”
I close my eyes and sigh. It would’ve been so much easier if Danny the Con had taken just my money—but instead, he stole an entire armored truck full of cash from three of the largest casinos on the Strip worth over eight million dollars, the score of a lifetime.
“They can wait their turn. I have a plan for her.”
Ren’s eyebrows raise. “You gonna put it to her?”
“No,” I say. “She’s innocent.”
“She’s Danny the Con’s daughter. She’s not innocent.”
“I’m going to have her work off the debt.”
Ren doesn’t move. His eyebrows raise. Then he laughs. “There were nineteen million dollars in that truck. There’s no way in fuck she can earn that kind of money, even if you whored her out to every tourist in town.”
“She won’t be a whore.”
“Then what good is she?” Ren scratches his chin. “I bet Danny taught her some stuff, but—”
“She can paint.”
Ren takes that in. I let it linger in the room. I’ve found that saying less is always more. Let other people fill in the gaps with their own ideas and misconceptions; the way they respond can say a lot about who they are as a person and what they value most.
“Like that ugly crap at the store?”
“Better than that. She can really paint.”
“I don’t see how that can earn money.”
“You will.” I check my watch. “She’ll be up soon. Go check on the doc and tell him I want to be there when she comes to.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Your call.” Ren gets to his feet. He frowns at me, shaking his head. “Fucking painting? You lost me there, man.”
My best friend is a simple man. He cares about money, about sex, about loyalty. He’s strong, aggressive, ruthless, clever in some ways, but he thinks too small.
When Hellie wakes up, I’ll show my little devil girl how big I can think, and how she’s going to save her own life.
Chapter3
