Page 108 of Aurelian Prisoner

Torelli goes cold, and I instantly realize that Daccia has made a mistake.

He pushed Torelli too far, too quickly.

The club owner pauses for a moment – and then motions with his hand, as if to signal for someone to stand down.

I suddenly realize that this whole time, there have probably been soldiers and rifle turrets trained on us.

They probably still are.

Torelli holds up a warning finger to Daccia.

"I’ve considered your proposal,” he says coldly, “and I'd like you to leave."

Daccia narrows his eyes. "We go through all this? And you just want to kick us out?"

"I don't do business with strangers,” Torelli warns. “You want to buy a girl? Buy her. You want to sell a girl? Bring her to me. Until then, though – get the helloffmy property. Understood?"

Daccia is silent for a second – and I wonder if he’s suddenly going to launch himself forward – turning this negotiation into a bloodbath instead...

...but, no. After carefully considering Torelli’s words, Daccia nods.

"Understood."

We leave, heading to the elevator, retrieving our Orb-Weapons, and getting into our waiting shuttle.

As soon as we’re out of the earshot of Torelli and his men, Allie bursts out: "Heknewsomething! The moment you mentioned the word ‘ransom’ heknewyou were onto him."

Daccia pilots us back to the hotel.

"Maybe,” he nods, “or maybe he's just paranoid – and he realized he couldn't trust us. Either way, we're in trouble now. There's actually video footage of us fucking you now – footage that's going to be passed all around this planet. We can't stay. We're going to have to take that Reaver from those Aurelians and just get thefuckoff this planet before they find out what we’ve done.”

Daccia’s eyes narrow.

“We'll come back for Torelli later."

Allie's anger flares through the Bond. "We can't come back later! We have to investigatenow! Or tomorrow, at least! We need to take him down!"

Daccia looks away from the controls as he touches down at our hotel.

"This isn't up for discussion, Allie. We'releavingtomorrow. When the hunt dies down – when it’s safe to – we'll return."

For a moment she’s silent – angrily crossing her arms.

Then, finally, Allie snarls: "Fine."

But she's clearly bitter about it – and if we’ve learned nothing else, it’s that a bitter woman is one of the most dangerous creatures in this universe.

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