Page 30 of Vicious Souls

“You’re free to walk out onto the balcony, you know.”

“There’s no need,” she retorts.

“Don’t worry,” my voice takes on a reassuring tone. “I know you won’t jump – there’s no way you could do so without breaking your neck on the blackberries below.”

Her eyes swing toward the balcony, her inquisitive mind hankering to know whether or not I’m bluffing. Which tells me she has at some point considered the possibility of jumping from the balcony. Before she realized she’d be leaping to her certain death…

“You really are evil, you know that?”

“Believe me, I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here, but I think it’s in your best interest that you remain here until it’s safe for you to leave.”

“So now you’re doing me a favor?” She scoffs, looking at me in disbelief.

“Ask yourself how the Savages knew where you were when they burst through my front door and seriously injured one of my best men. Think about how they found you, Moneybags. Andwhythey want you.”

My words have the desired effect. Her mind takes off and just keeps running, her brain working overtime to answer the questions that I’ve thrown her way.

“You’re lying,” she accuses.

“Why do they want you so bad?”

Moneybags gives me a defiant shrug. The confusion in her eyes isn’t the type that can be faked. She takes the side of her bottom lip between her teeth and proceeds to gnaw at her lip until it is raw and chafed.

“The night at the club was the first interaction I had with that man. Nothing remarkable about the meeting. His following me to the service station was unexpected, but I can’t imagine that’s what he’s still sore about.”

“Some men can really hold a grudge,” I remind her.

“You speaking from experience?”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Give me something I can work with.”

“Why do you care so much? Wouldn’t you be better off if you let me loose and the Savages rid you of this problem? You’d be rid of me. Unless… what is it that you want from me? You never did say.”

She cocks a curious glance my way that tells me she has fallen back into unknown territory – where she is weary of me and my motivations towards her.

“That’s inconsequential. My father, out of respect for the friendship he once shared with your father, has asked me to look out for you until the Savages forget about you and move on to greener pastures.”

“There’s no need. I am certainly capable of looking after myself.”

“Yes. As demonstrated in the club the night we met and then at the service station. As obviously as you would have been able to take care of yourself when we were under fire in my home.”

“I managed to get away from you once before,” she points out.

“Oh yes. The cabin. About that. What was Tate’s reaction when you turned up at home that night?”

“What’s this obsession with Tate?”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t relevant. Tell me what happened.”

Moneybags shakes her head and lets her arms hang loose at her sides. She flings her head up to the ceiling, as though to gather her thoughts, then tells me Tate had gone ballistic the night she came home in the early hours of the morning.

“Does he have that leeway to get mad and scream at you? Does he do that often?”

“He’s always considered me the bane of his existence. Supposedly, I’m reckless and selfish and a real threat to my father’s empire.”

“What happened then?”

“He had a go at me, I screamed back and reminded him to know his place, then I went to bed.”

---