Page 88 of Pay the Price

I wanted Hammond gone.Gonegone. Wiped-off-the-face-of-the-earth gone. The world would be better without him in it.

But Daisy couldn’t live with it. I already knew that, knew it would eat her alive, that she’d never have a moment’s peace again, and that was if Ruth didn’t find out Daisy had sanctioned a death squad — us — to kill him. If Ruth did find out, Daisy would lose Ruth too, just like she’d lost every other member of her family.

I waited for Jace to come around to it, hoping we wouldn’t have to come to blows over the issue.

“Fine,” Jace said, punching the air like a fucking maniac. “Fine. Hammond lives. For now.” He looked at Daisy. “But we get to give him a warning after we off Calvin.”

“What kind of warning?” Daisy asked.

They were negotiating now, and I sat back on the couch, my arm behind Daisy, and watched in fascination. Because Jace? Jace didn’t negotiate.

With anyone.

But he was negotiating with Daisy, and that meant Daisy had power over him, even if she didn’t know it.

“Just a not-so-friendly verbal warning,” Jace said. “If he keeps sending people after you — after us — he’ll end up like Calvin, who’ll be buried in a hundred pieces around Blackwell Falls by then.”

Daisy’s face was pale. It was hitting her that this was real, we were going to murder Calvin Conlan.

But she nodded. “Fine.”

Jace stared at her. “Fine.”

“Is that all?” Otis said. “Because I’m fucking exhausted.”

“There’s one more thing,” Daisy said. “At the compound tonight, some guy named Doc mentioned that my mom used to hang around there.”

It might have been the only time in my life I’d seen Jace surprised.

“At the compound?” he asked.

She nodded. “He said that my mom and Mac were always together and that she was always at the compound. Do you know anything about that?”

Jace shook his head. “When was this?”

“I’m not sure, but he mentioned that it was before I was born, so maybe twenty-five years-ish ago?”

My mind spun, trying to make sense of the fact that Eleanor Hammond, first daughter of Blackwell Falls, had been tight with Mac, now president of the Blackwell Blades.

Jace shook his head. “It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Daisy nodded, chewing her lower lip.

“Now are we done?” Otis looked at Daisy. “You’re welcome to join me if you’re not too tired from fucking Jace.”

Shock washed over her face, followed by the creep of a blush to her cheeks. “How do you know I fucked Jace?”

Otis shrugged. “I mean, it’s kind of obvious. But you’re still welcome to join me.”

“I think I want my own bed,” Daisy said.

I stood. “We can do your bed.”

“Same,” Jace said.

Otis shrugged. “That works. You have a King in there, right?”

Daisy looked from one to the other of us. “You’re all going to sleep in my bed?”

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