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Eda merely waves me off. “I don’t need you to. In fact, you’re probably more use to me hog-tied and shoved in the trunk of a car. But alas, Padraic has requested you intact.”
I close my eyes. Of course, it would come down to this. The eternal feud between the Duffys and the Maguires. A feud I will forever be cursed to uphold.
The reason we should have stayed the hell away from New York.
“You really love working with garbage, huh?” I mutter. Internally cursing my own stupidity for not seeing it before.
“I work with the highest bidder. Right now, Padraic and I have a very profitable agreement.” She smirks. “You’ll miss this place when I hand you over, you know? He’s got all sorts of plans for you when you enter the Duffy mansion.”
“Padraic Duffy doesn’t scare me,” I snap back.
“You’ll regret saying that.”
“You already said he doesn’t want you to hurt me,” I point out in exasperation.
Eda cackles long and loud. “My darling, that’s because Padraic is an artist. It’s reasonable for an artist to request a blank canvas.”
I suddenly feel quite sick. “What?”
“Rethinking a few things, hmm?” Eda smiles cruelly. “Bet it makes you think twice about treating me with such disrespect.”
“You deserve nothing from me,” I growl back.
“Now, now. I wouldn’t want to have to send you to Padraic sooner, would I?”
I clench my fists, fighting to keep my composure. “So you’re betraying me for the sake of some twisted alliance with the Duffys?”
Eda’s gaze grows predatory. “It’s not betrayal, my dear. It’s survival. You’d do well to remember that in this world, alliances shift, and loyalties are bought and sold.”
“And what do you get? What’s your stake in all of this?”
She leans in close, her face practically presses through the bars. “Power, Roisin. With Padraic in my debt, there’s no limit to what I can achieve.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to see through the gleeful glimmer in her eye. “Why now? Why not before?”
Eda snatches herself away with a flourish. “Oh, you do love your questions, don’t you,mi hija?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s such a shame you never ask the right ones.” Eda sneers down at me. “That’s why you’re only ever going to be a pawn, completely incapable of seeing the entire board.”
A defiant fire flares up within me. “You think I’m going to go down without a fight?”
She chuckles, her laughter cold and cruel. “Oh, I don’t doubt your spirit, Roisin. But in this game, sometimes even the strongest pieces fall.”
Before I can respond, Eda reaches into her pocket and brings out a small plastic bag.
My eye twitches.
“What is that?” I demand, unable to keep the urgency from my tone.
Eda holds up the baggie for me to see. “What, this?” She shakes it a little for emphasis. “Let’s call it a little farewell present, for old time’s sake.”
Despite the cold, I can feel sweat beginning to trickle down the back of my neck.
“Don’t say I never do anything for you,” Eda sings as the bag lands just a few feet away from me.
I hate the way my brain automatically takes in the quantity, breaking it up into doses and coming up with a schedule to maximize the high.
