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“Mayor Winston was finally able to identify we were the ones who took Blossom.” The normally fun-loving Wylde was tense. Angry. “He’s offered us a quarter mil to hand her over to him.”
“What? He thinks he can just buy her from us?” I wanted to disbelieve what I was hearing, but I knew that was exactly the kind of dick move a man who had a woman nearly beaten to death would do.
“Looks that way.” Wylde leveled a look on me.
I glanced at Sting. “We turned him down?”
“Not yet.” Sting had his arms crossed over his chest, looking at the monitor in front of Wylde. “What did you find on that Glen character, Wylde?”
“Glen Sullivan. Rich guy with a stick up his ass. Has his hands in some shady deals involving high-end prostitution. Nothing horrible. At least, not on the surface. All the girls are there willingly and make a lot of money. They also bring Sullivan back dirt on their clients so he has more than one influential person in his pocket. When he says he can get Winston in the governor’s office, he means it.”
“I’m assuming Blossom was right and her father was giving her to him in exchange for getting him elected?” Sting rubbed his chin absently.
Wylde shrugged. “Obviously there’s no concrete proof, but the day before the gala where Blossom met Glen there was a significant campaign contribution to Winston’s account. The day after, that money was withdrawn. Anonymous donor, but someone with a lot of pull to get that money back.”
“So, Mayor Winston’s wanting a meet with us to buy his stepdaughter back.” Sting looked up at Roman, who was sitting quietly in one corner of the room. The vice president shrugged.
“I mean, we’re not givin’ her back, obviously. What’re you thinking?”
“I’m thinkin’ the man’s got a serious beatin’ comin’ for what he did to Blossom.” Sting clenched his jaw. “But I want to get him and his fuckin’ muscle. That Bruce fucker dies.”
“Agreed.” Roman backed Sting without hesitation. “Want me to call church?”
“Yeah. We need to let everyone know what’s happening.”
“What do you need from me?” Much as I was grateful for him keeping me in the loop, I needed to know what my job was in this. And it better be fucking good.
“Your job,” Sting said, turning to me, “is to keep Blossom in the dark. Don’t let her know what’s about to go down, because the last thing I want is for that girl to know her father is trying to buy her back.”
“Yeah.” I scrubbed my hand through my beard a couple of times. “She’d probably be afraid we were going to sell her out. I think I’ve fixed my fuckups, but I’m sure I’m not completely out of the doghouse. It’s gonna take time to build her trust back. Hell, I doubt she even realizes how fragile she is with our relationship right now, not that I blame her.”
“Blame me for what?”
“Good one, bro,” Wylde said, his usual cocky grin firmly in place. “Thought she was asleep.”
Blossom looked from Wylde to me, the smile on her face fading into confusion. “What’s going on?”
I glanced at Sting before addressing Blossom directly. “Baby, I’m not ever going to lie to you. But I’m askin’ you to trust me on this.”
She looked at the men in the room each in turn before her attention returned to me. “This is about my father. Isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question.
“It is.” Sting stepped closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “He wants you back.”
She shook her head, fear crossing her face. Her gaze shifted to mine, and I wanted to fall to my knees in relief. She was looking to me for confirmation or a denial. “I ain’t givin’ you up, baby. Not to him or anyone else.”
When she looked back at Sting, the other man gave her a small smile. “You’re one of us, Blossom. We protect our own. We don’t sell ’em out.”
“I know that. What are you going to do?”
Sting glanced at me and nodded to Blossom.
“Baby,” I said, reaching for her and pulling her into my embrace. “You’re new to this life, so I’m gonna tell you straight. Don’t ask questions you can’t handle the answers to. I will never lie to you. You already know I’m not a nice man.”
“You are, you just hide it well.” She gave me a small smile. “I want to know, Walker. I need to know.”
“You already know, baby.”
She held my gaze for long moments before she nodded slightly. “Yeah. I do.” She lifted her chin, her face going hard. “I want to be there.”
I sucked in a breath, pulling her closer to me. I hugged her tighter, trying to shield her from everything happening. “No. Ask me anything else, but not that.”
