Page 99 of While She Sleeps

“Can’t this wait?” Killian snaps, causing her to jolt, and his eyes flash with regret. “I’m sorry, Ember. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay,” she whispers. “Travis got us involved with Lucas when I was sixteen. We were in a really bad position, living on the streets, sometimes going days without food. Travis couldn’tget any steady work, and the money I made washing dishes at a diner a couple of nights a week didn’t even come close to being enough to feed us, let alone put a roof over our head.” She winces as she shifts slightly. I ache to help her, but anything I do right now is only going to bring her more pain. “One night, we were sleeping in an abandoned building with a bunch of other transients, and these men came in, raiding everyone’s belongings. They were looking for someone, I guess, but then they caught sight of me. Travis tried to hide me, but it was too late. They tried to take me, saying I could get them a pretty penny on the black market.”

“Let me guess, it was the Lounders?” Killian asks dryly.

She nods slightly. “Yeah. They said if we could gather the money to pay what I was worth, they would leave me be. They gave us twenty-four hours to get half a million in cash together. An impossible task.”

“But Lucas stepped in and helped?”

“He and Travis knew each other. I don’t know how. I never bothered to ask. I was just so relieved when he agreed to help us. But the provision was that we would each take half the debt plus interest and work it off over time. We’d both gotten good at stealing, and I guess Lucas saw us, particularly me, as a potential asset. A pretty girl who could manipulate and steal from the most powerful men in the city.

“I did a lot of big-money jobs early on. Turns out there are a lot of politicians who prefer their women underage. I never let them touch me. That was my line, and up until recently, Lucas was happy to abide by it. But after Travis died, Lucas tacked his debt on top of mine, and I was basically back to square one. All those years I spent hustling, never truly living, were for nothing, and on top of that, I was left with no one.”

I press my eyes closed to contain my anger. Part of me wants to tell her what Lucas and Travis had planned for her, how theywere planning to use her, to force her into all the things she swore she never wanted to do. But I don’t. I can’t bear to bring her more pain right now. Not when she looks so fragile.

“How much do you owe now, Ember?” I ask through clenched teeth, trying and failing to sound calm and collected.

“I’m not sure.” She sighs. “The numbers never really added up, but I didn’t have a leg to stand on. It’s not like the deal was legal or anything. But I think it’s at least two hundred grand, probably more.”

I run my hand over my face at the same time the elevator doors slide open, and Parker steps out. The ex-military doctor doesn’t hesitate to cross to us, his hand running through his dark salt and pepper hair as he looks over Ember’s injuries on his approach before flicking rage-filled eyes up at me. “Who the fuck did this to her?”

“Obviously it wasn’t me, you asshole,” I snap. “Her boss did it.” It’s more information than I likely need to give him, but Parker has never taken it well when women or children are hurt. He was always our first call when we helped take down shipments the Lounders were making, and he would drop everything to help out. It probably doesn’t hurt that I pay him a pretty penny to be on call for me anytime I need him.

“You gonna take care of that problem?” he asks as he drops his bag on the table.

“Well, he’s certainly not going to be allowed to breathe after putting hands on my woman.”

“Your woman?” he asks, his brows raised in surprise.

“You’re not here to question my relationship status,” I growl, and a smirk plays on his lips before he moves past me to Ember.

“I’m Parker. I was an army medic and should be able to get you patched up in no time.”

Ember watches him with wary eyes for a moment before she allows her body to relax slightly. “Thank you for coming. I’msure it’s just a few cuts and bruises. Probably a waste of your time.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

CHAPTER SIXTY

EMBER

Everything hurts.

Like, literally everything. There isn’t a single part of my body that doesn’t hurt when I move it, my eyes included.

Parker left earlier, leaving me with some painkillers and an antibiotic for the cuts I’m covered in. He assured Orion that nothing is broken and that I will be fine in a week or so once I’ve had a chance to rest and heal.

Killian also headed out, telling us he’d be back in the morning but to call if we needed anything.

“Are you hungry, Little Flame?” Orion asks. He just carried me into the bedroom and put me to bed wearing nothing but a black T-shirt I’m pretty sure belongs to him. The heat I’ve become accustomed to was missing from his eyes as he helped me change, and his gaze never strayed for a moment.

He probably doesn’t want you anymore now he knows how fucked up your life is.

I try to shake off the thought, but there’s a part of me that’s terrified it’s the truth.

If I were a billionaire with hundreds of supermodels chasing after me, I don’t think I’d choose me either. I bring nothing tothis arrangement apart from baggage so heavy it would sink the Titanic.

“Ember?”

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