Page 96 of Pay the Price

We kicked off our clothes and waded into the river, sighing with relief as the cold water cooled our bodies, settling back into the easy camaraderie that had marked our relationship before I went to prison.

It was an easy couple of hours, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said about Daisy’s mom.

She needed some space from her life and she came here to get it.

What the fuck did that mean?

Chapter 57

Daisy

“Ihave a bad feeling about this,” I said as the Beasts loaded Benji with a couple of duffel bags.

The sun was setting behind the trees, the heat of the July day giving way to the only slightly cooler evening air. It felt ominous, like an omen of things to come, which was dumb. The sun was just setting, like it did every day of the week.

“Don’t,” Wolf said, dropping a kiss on my forehead and slamming Benji’s hatch.

“Maybe we should wait— ”

“We’re not waiting.” Jace’s voice was firm. “Monday is the day he plays racquetball.”

Otis rubbed my arms. “It’s the only standing appointment on his schedule.”

“We’re not waiting another week, princess. We’re just not.”

I knew they were right. Another week meant seven more days for Calvin to come after us. Seven more chances for someone to snatch one of us or run us off the road.

Or worse.

My dad would find another lackey eventually, someone else to do his dirty work, but it would take time. Calvin had been his right-hand man since I’d been a kid. He trusted Calvin, as evidenced by the fact that he’d gotten Calvin to commit kidnapping and attempted murder for him.

“How will you do it?” I asked.

Jace stared at me. “You sure you want to know?”

“It’s not something you can un-know,” Wolf said.

He was right. Once I knew how they were going to kill Calvin, I’d know forever.

But I didn’t want to be like my dad, having someone else do all my dirty work. I wasn’t experienced enough at this… whatever this was, to grab and kill Calvin myself, but purposefully avoiding the details would be cowardly.

It would also give the Beasts another secret to keep, and they’d done enough of that. I didn’t want secrets between us anymore, and I didn’t want them to feel like they had to protect me from everything that wasn’t rainbows and unicorns.

“I want to know,” I said.

“First we’ll play with him a little,” Otis said. “Try to get him to tell us who Mr. X is, explain some of the shit we’ve found in his data. Wolf will probably do that with his knife.”

It was hard to imagine Wolf, gentle Wolf who touched me so tenderly, who always made sure I had what I needed, torturing somebody.

But I’d said I wanted to know. “And then?”

“Then we’ll kill him,” Wolf said. “It’ll be either fast or slow, depending on what he tells us.”

“After that, we’ll split him up,” Jace said.

My stomach turned. “What does that mean?”

“It’s not smart to bury a body whole,” Wolf said. “Too big, too many identifying markers in one place.”

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