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"Go ahead," Ace says with a low laugh. "Try to get out where you can be seen. We'd all love to see you put up a fight. Always more fun that way."
"What do you want from me?"
"Thought you might want your job back."
I go still. He'd…let me back into the Wild Seven? That wasn't what I expected at all.
Jack is still beaming at me. He could probably drown a small army with how much teeth bleach he must use yearly to keep his pearly whites so damnwhite.
"That's right. We'd hate to see a skilled beauty like you scrounging around for crumbs forever. It's pathetic. We can take pity on you. Ace seems to forgive you for blowing your shit last time."
It's always been weird to me how he speaks on Ace's behalf all the time. Such a brown-noser. And Roulette, as usual, is just a big, silent meathead with muscles literally meant for killing. I'm not surprised other members of the Wild Seven aren't here for this—they rarely show up in the same place at the same time. I'm even sort of surprised these three are here together at once.
But joining them again…I don't want to entertain the idea.
It's like a siren call back to my past, when things were less tough, and I was living big on wins and playing the casinos of Las Vegas like a violin day and night. It sated my need for revenge. If I think about it too long, I might forget the bad parts, including the ending.
Outright refusing them might offend their egos, so I carefully shake my head. "I'm working a boring-ass desk job—haven't hacked shit for months. I doubt I'm good enough these days to be part of the group, gentlemen. I'm out of practice."
Ace's eyes narrow. At least, I think they do. Hard to tell because I'm mostly looking at his nose, so I don't have to make direct eye contact because he scares the shit out of me.
"Speaking of the desk job," I say quickly. "I should really get going. Don't worry, I remember the rules and I'll forget I ever saw you. If someone asks questions about you, I'll shut them up myself. Excuse me."
Roulette cracks his knuckles, but just as I manage to sidestep the three of them and take the first few steps back to my car, Ace speaks again.
"You dare try to fucking lie to me?"
The sound of a gun clicking makes me go still, eyes on the road. People can see me from here since I'm fairly close to my car, but the members of the Wild Seven are still hidden by the semi-truck. Ace could shoot me and have Glitch wipe any security cameras from the restaurant's parking lot, and the Wild Seven would simply vanish. I've seen him do it before.
Fuck, I can't die in this Chinese restaurant's parking lot. Their kung pao chicken wasn't even that good.
"Once a hacker, always a hacker. It hasn't been months since your last play. You've been in the game ever since I kicked your sorry whore ass out three years ago. Lie to me again, and I'll put a bullet in the back of your pretty head."
I don't dare move. I can barely breathe. I can't see the gun pointed at me, but I know it's there, and I can hear Jack and Roulette laughing at my obvious terror.
I've witnessed Ace kill like this before and did nothing. Sure, most of the people he's killed have been skeevy, sickening individuals, but still. Maybe it's karma that I'll die in the same way.
Before I can speak, a sleek, hella expensive black car pulls up to the curb just in front of the parking lot I'm standing in.
My pulse skyrockets further when Domenic Caputo himself steps out, deep brown eyes on me and brow furrowed.
"Loren. Why are you just standing there?"
He can't see Ace and the others. I'm positive of that, and I'm also positive that Ace isn't going to shoot me with a witness—let alone a Caputo—watching. So I summon all of my acting skills and clear my throat, putting on the breeziest smile I can manage and walking past my car to where Domenic is standing.
No way am I about to get in my car and risk being alone again. The Wild Seven might track me, and so far, I bet they don'tknowwhich car is mine. If they know my license plate, they can track me. Find my mom—findEvelyn.
I can't let them know anything about me or where I live, and Glitch would be able to hack all of that info if I give them the faintest idea of which junky car belongs to me.
"As a matter of fact, I was just about to call you," I say quickly to Domenic, not quite meeting his eye. "My car isn't starting, and I could use a ride."
"Is that why you're so late getting back?"
Am I well over my break time? Is that why he's driving around out here—was he looking for me? I push away the idea and nod.
"Sorry about that."
"Get in," he says simply, opening the passenger door to his car for me.
