Page 136 of Keeping Kasey
“I’ll take the bonus, and now that I think about it, I paid my rent in full for the year. You can throw in the compensation for that, too.”
I could argue with her—after all, my car collection was worth a hell of a lot more than her shabby apartment—but at this point, I don’t care about the money. I care about getting this job done once and for all.
“Done.”
“Not quite.” She lifts her chin, and I already know I won’t like whatever she’s about to say. “You’ll cover Mark’s hospital stay and compensate himtwicewhat you’d give a soldier’s family who was killed in the line of duty.”
Heat floods my chest.
I’d almost forgotten about that bastard.
Once James secures the bandage, I hop off the counter and match her combative stance, shaking my head. “I’m not paying yourboyfriend. Not my fault he got in my way.”
“You shot himafterI agreed to go with you.”
I’m burning from the inside out.
One breath. Two. Three.
“I’ll compensate him on two conditions.”
She looks utterly exasperated as she gestures for me to go on.
“Ryan stays to ensure he doesn’t do something stupid like go to the police.” Kasey opens her mouth, but I lift a hand to cut her off. “He won’t lay a hand on him, but that’s not my territory, and if Lover Boy makes a nuisance of himself, Moreno won’t hesitate to take him out.”
Kasey lets out a resigned breath. “And?”
“You won’t contact him again.”
Her expression doesn’t change, and I wonder if she saw that condition coming.
“Why do you care what I do when I leave here?”
“I don’t like loose ends, especially ones that know too much, likemy name—thanks to you. I’ll arrange for the payments to be distributed to him monthly, but if I find out you’ve contacted him, the payments stop, and so does my generosity.”
Kasey studies me closely. I know exactly what she’s looking for, but she won’t find it.
I’ve got a mask of steel, and she isn’t getting past it today.
“You’ve got a funny definition ofgenerous.”
I gesture to my arm. “You’ve got a funny definition ofwhite flag.”
It’s a stifling drive to the hotel.
I didn’t expect things to go back to how they used to be, but when Kasey stares out the window with the same dejected look she wore the entire trip back to Chicago, it bothers me.
The weight crushing me is unrelenting.
It was easier to ignore when James was picking glass out of my arm and I was negotiating new terms with Kasey, but it’s harder now that we’re alone.
She didn’t delete the list.
She didn’t delete the list.
Every time I think about it, more weight crushes me.
She still lied about the attack and the program. She’s still a traitor. She has to be.
