Page 260 of Chaos Kills

“Well…Reeve is open-minded.”

“Reeve is also bi,” I add to my mother’s commentary. Leave it to her fucking ass to accept it now that she can’t do anything about it anymore. “He likes to fuck everything.”

Mom waves a hand in my face, attempting to shut me the hell up. “Whatever, dear.”

She takes a step toward Bay, and I stop myself from draggingheraway.

I don’t even want Bay to breathe the same air as my mother because it’s toxic as shit. My mother’s prescence—her fucked up ideas to use Bay as her new fucking toy—I see it clear as day.

This isn’t a new friendship.

They’re not about to become homies.

This is a power move from my power-hungry, piece of shit, parent.

“Taking Emilio’s place is going to be difficult,” she says. “Especially when all the people he has enlisted in his inner circle are men. It’s going to be a problem.”

“I prefer men to women,” Bay states. “Less catty.”

“That may be so. However, we live in a man’s world. And they aren’t accepting. You’re dealing with prideful players who will be champing at the bit to take you out. I’d like to see us women stick together.”

“You want your Titan seat back,” Bay claims, not buying into her obvious bullshit. “However, I’m not particularly a fan of the business you may be in.”

Mom bows her head. “It wasn’t something I was proud of before. However, my girls are paid well.”

“How old are they?”

Here we go.

“Old enough,” my mother deadpans with a bit of bite to her tone. She doesn’t like being questioned and shedefinitatelydoesn’t enjoy believing someone might think she’s doing something fucked up.

Even, though, it is.

“I need a number.”

God, I used to love this woman.

Bay is smart as fuck, and it didn’t take my subtle hints for her to pick up on what my mother is all about.

Pimping out young teenage girls was never something I was going to take over. Especially after everything with my sister and the morality of it all. How fucked up it is. How my mother takes advantage of girls who are desperate to get out of bad circumstances.

“We’ll discuss it over a meal,” my mother concludes, shutting the conversation down. “Anything you want to negotiate, we can. I bring a lot of money to the table, Miss Astor. Think about it and your terms.”

I inwardly scoff because, even if Bay told her to change anything, my mother would never do it. Elaine is going to do what Elaine wants to do, and that’s the end of it.

No one is going to make her change her mind.

Not even her one and only child.

“Let’s go, McQueen,” I order, not giving a shit how my tone sounds—possessive and curt—because I’ve already had enough of these two, and it’s starting to give me a headache. “You two can chit-chat about underaged girls and how my mother brings old men in to fuck them later.”

She cranes her head over to give me the shittiest glower, but I don’t care. This woman is not going to sink her claws into Bay Astor.

Bay, thankfully, moves forward and I take her wrist and pull her with me back inside the house.

Her escape plan isn’t going to work, and she damn well knows it.

Besides, she’d never leave Levi Wallace.

---