Page 101 of Carrick
He looked between us like he was hallucinating, like we’d materialized out of his past.
Bellamy surged past me before I could stop her. She didn’t raise her hands. Didn’t scream. But her voice sliced through the room like broken glass.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she demanded. “Are you—are you stealing from me?”
Rayden straightened slowly, guilt etched into every line of his face.
“I thought you were gone,” he said, voice cracking. “I didn’t think you were ever coming back. I needed—fuck, Bell, I didn’t know what else to do.”
Her voice was strained. “So you broke into my place and tore it apart like it meant nothing?”
Rayden opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at the dresser, at the money, at the mess. His shoulders slumped. “I was trying to find something. Anything. I needed cash. I needed leverage. I—I didn’t have a choice.”
I stepped forward, lowering my gun slightly but keeping it at the ready. I glanced down, noting the bandage on the man’s left hand, covering a stump that seemed to be all he had left of his pinkie finger. So this was definitely Rayden then, even without Bellamy obviously recognizing him. Every nerve in my body was pulled taut. If Rayden was here, then the Dom Krovi could be right on his heels. We didn’t have much time.
“Bellamy, we need to leave. Now.” I whispered, unable to keep my voice from being harsh.
Rayden looked from Bellamy to me, and back again, confusion painting his features as plain as day. “Who is this guy, Bel? What are you doing running around with a cop?” His voice suddenly sounded suspicious. Bellamy shook her head.
“He’s not a cop. He’s…” She paused, looking at me. I shook my head. She gave an almost imperceptible nod. She understood. “He is a friend who offered to help me get here safely. You can trust him.”
Rayden gave me a hard look up and down, and I could tell he was smart enough to recognize military gear when he saw it. He didn’t buy her story, but he didn’t push back. “Fine, whatever. I’m… look. I’m sorry about your apartment. Like I said, I thought you were long gone, and I didn’t know what else to do. I need money. I have… debts. Ones that I have to repay, or else… I just have to repay them, that’s all.”
I broke in. “Debts to the Dom Krovi, you mean.” He looked up at me sharply, eyes narrowing further.
“How the fuck do you know that?” His entire body tensed up, like he was preparing to bug out.
Bellamy stepped forward like she couldn’t hold the words in anymore. “We just do, Rayden. How… how could you do this, Ray? How could you let yourself get so caught up with these people? How could you be involved with beating up old men for money?”
Her voice wasn’t angry—it was betrayed. Like she was still trying to believe him, trying to rewrite the story in her head to make it less awful.
Rayden’s jaw tightened, and he looked at me again, suspicion and mistrust bubbling right under the surface. I silently groaned. Bellamy was saying too much, giving too much away about what we knew. He was going to figure out she was with the Police Department somehow.
“I am not even going to try and guess where you’re getting your information from, but whatever you think you know, you don’t understand the half of it. I tried, Bell. I swear to God, I tried.” He dragged a shaking hand through his hair. “But it’s never really over. You clear one debt, and another shows up behind it. Doesn’t matter if it’s yours or someone else’s. You think you’re buying your way out, and all you’re really doing is paying for the privilege of drowning slower.”
He laughed then—a dry, cracking sound that held nothing of humor. “They’ve got you by the throat before you even realize it.”
Bellamy’s eyes burned. “Then come with us. We can get you out, Rayden.”
He looked at her like she was asking for a fairy tale.
“Bell…” He shook his head, voice ragged. “You really think you, or I, or this guy you’re with, can outrun the Dom Krovi? You don’t understand. They’ve got layers. Companies inside companies. Shell corps in cities I’ve never even stepped foot in. They’ve got logistics outfits that double as brothels, banks that funnel cartel cash through fake green initiatives, fucking eco-charities that move dope inside food aid.”
He pointed a finger toward the shattered dresser behind him. “I came here looking for cash to try and clear my debt. Because when you can’t pay, they do shit like this.” He held up his bandaged hand. “You know why they did this, Bell? Because I tried to run. I busted out of the building they were holding me in and ran like hell. I was almost out of the city when they caught me and dragged me back. And then they did this. Said that if I couldn’t pay in cash, I would pay in flesh, instead. That’s the kind of people I’m dealing with. There’s no such thing as getting out.”
Bellamy’s breath hitched.
“I knew what they’d done to you, Ray. They… they sent me your finger. Someone broke into this apartment and left it here in a box, with a note saying that I was on the hook now.”
Rayden went pale, and for a moment, he was speechless. Good. Let him see how serious this truly was, and not just for himself.
Bellamy continued. “That’s why I had to leave. Had to go…” She paused, glancing at me for a moment before continuing carefully. “Had to find somewhere safe to stay.”
“Fuck, Bell… I… I didn’t know. Now I have to pay them back. I can’t let you get caught up in all of this. There’s no way out for me, but I can at least keep you safe.”
She was blinking too fast now, her hands curled into fists at her sides like her body was fighting to stay upright. “So that’s it?” she whispered. “You’re just… giving up?”
Rayden’s voice was soft, but there was steel in it. “I’m staying alive.”
