Page 62 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

“What else?”

“People were obsessing about Bloody Lazarus for the rest of the night. Also, Orton likes to poke at a dead body to make sure it’s dead. He made a phone call, but it was in another language.”

“You know who he called?”

“No. Also, people are wondering if Aleksio’s out for vengeance. Like there could be blood on the streets.”

“What did Luka think about that?”

I think of the way he seemed to relish it. The vision he provided for the men—that they would skewer their enemies on their razor-sharp hound’s teeth. The darkly exciting way he dared the world to come after what’s his.

“He didn’t seem that worried. His attitude was kind of like, ‘Bring it on.’”

“Really?” Bender seems surprised.

“That seemed to be the gist.”

Bender presses me for more specifics. I supply some of them, and then Bender stares glumly at the fountain. He seems unhappy about Luka being powerful and effective. Like it’s a personal affront or something.

I stare at the insignia on his shirt, a Norse-style Thor’s hammer design, thinking about the parts that felt private and specialbetween Luka and me.Let any man come after me or mine. I’ll rain hell on him like he’s never seen.And the way he looked right at me when he said that. Like he’d fight for me.

But Luka reaching out to Aleksio Dragusha? I won’t tell Bender those parts.

“After that, there was sports talk and food talk.”

“Nothing else?”

“We ate. I spilled wine all over my dress, and it was a complete mess. I went to the bathroom to try to clean it up. When I came out, he sent me home with Gianni, and I had him drop me at the Midtown pizza place?—”

“What? He simply sent you home?”

“Yeah. I walked in and then put on a hat and walked out with a group of people like you told me, and I took an Uber the rest of the way.”

“He fed you and sent you home? You didn’t go back to his place or back to the hotel?”

“I was covered with wine, and there was possibly some freakishly violent killer come back from the dead...”

“But you said Luka wasn’t worried.”

“I’m telling you the events. Freakish killer. Spilled wine. He sent me off and stayed to talk to Orton. This is literally what happened. We did not leave together.”

Bender stares at me for a long while. “I can see that you’re a careful girl who considers all the angles. You don’t want to get too deep into this, and I can appreciate that.”

“I’m telling you what happened.”

“I understand. But you should stop to consider that I might be careful, too. That I might consider all the angles. That I might even have somebody on the inside, and I’m evaluating your truthfulness right now. You might consider also”—he leans in close—”what effect your omissions might have on your sister.”

“My sister is why I’m doing all of this!” I burst out.

Bender stares at me, and my heart is pounding. Did Benderhave somebody watching? Did he know we were in the bathroom forever?

He says, “It’s awful what a depraved man could do to your sister...”

“What are you saying? Do you know where my sister is? Is she in trouble?”

“Not from what I can tell. But understand me when I say if you’re playing games with me? If you’re holding back with me? Not good. You want me in a mood to help you with your sister because wherever she is, she needs us to find her. She needs you to give a hundred and ten percent to me on this project of ours.”

My pulse whooshes so hard it’s deafening. “I’m doing my best. I was in the restaurant with him. I spilled wine on myself and was in the bathroom getting it out for a while. Then he sent me home.”

---