Page 59 of The Magic of Betrayal
Larson informed me that he was going to be in Kingstown within a few hours and he wanted to meet Saige to ask her himself about her mother. After some hesitation on my end when he asked me to come alone with her, he'd assured me he didn't intend to harm her. I trusted him. He'd brought me into his training academy and turned me into something worthwhile. And I had never seen him harm anyone who wasn't scum. Red was sweet, almost sickeningly so. And I was a soldier. A hired gun. Larson gave the orders, and I followed them. We all did. That was our fucking job.
Why doesit sound like I’m trying to convince myself I’m doing the right thing?
We drove around a little longer than necessary, I'd been hoping that some extra time on the bike would bring her anger down from a boil to a simmer at least.
The wind was picking up and thunder rolled in the distance. Saige and I both flinched at the sound, knowing what it meant and who was causing it. I could only imagine how many texts and missed calls I'd have by the time we arrived at the warehouse.
It looked exactly the same as it had when Fischer and I came here weeks ago. Nobody had bothered to pull the weeds or clean it up whatsoever. Pulling the bike up alongside the aluminum siding, I killed the engine and Red's arms fell away from my body, taking her heat with her. Sometimes she ran almost as hot as I did and that wasn't really natural for someone that didn't have some kind of fire magic.
"Where are we?" Her voice was absent of all emotion as she got off the bike.
"This is the building we've been scouting for our boss. Thought you might like to see it?" I questioned, putting the kickstand down and swinging my leg over the seat on the opposite side of her.
Wrong thing to say. Her eyes narrowed on me.
"Sure, Sloane. Show me this building that you came to Emerald Lakes to buy. The one that you haven't bought yet," she sneered, turning on her heel and speed walking to the entrance.
Choosing to ignore her, I followed and when I got to the door, I entered the code that the realtor had given Fischer the first time we were here. She didn't even comment on that. Holding the door open, I gestured for her to enter and she flipped me off as she brushed past me.
Well, at least there's that.
I wasn't sure where Larson would be, but it was safe to assume he'd make himself known at some point.
"So, this is the elusive real estate?" she mocked, her eyes flitting over the lobby area, arms crossed over her chest.
"Yep. This is it."
"And what a wonderful piece of real estate it is," Larson's deep voice came from a hallway just off the front desk and we both turned to look. He stepped into the space, commanding it. That was just the kind of man he was, when he was in the room, everyone noticed. Everyone shut the fuck up and listened.
"Who the hell is this?"
Well, almost everyone.
"This, Red, is Mr. Larson, our boss. Head of Radical Inc." I told her, the title a warning. Watch your smart mouth.
"You must be Saige. It's nice to meet you," Larson addressed her, approaching her with his hand out in invitation.
"I'm sure it is, Mr. Larson. Sloane, I want to go home. I'll call Miranda to come pick me up," Red told me, digging her phone out of her pocket.
"Saige, I was wondering if you'd answer some questions?" Larson asked, looking pretty calm given the situation. Too calm. Everyone knows a predator goes still before the kill.
"What kind of questions would the head of Radical Inc. possibly have for a green witch from a small country town?" Saige questioned, slowly making her way toward the door, ready to make her escape.
"I found a conference room just down the hall here, we can sit and get more comfortable." Larson told her, avoiding answering her question about what the hell was going on.
My eyes darted to Red's face and she was getting redder by the second.Probably should step in and calm her down a little before she goes back there and everything goes to shit.Because I had a feeling that's exactly where this was headed.
"Follow me," Larson commanded, turning his back to us and disappearing down the hallway.
"Red, come on. Just talk to him and then I'll take you home," I offered.
She spun around, her eyes glassy with more tears, but she didn't meet my gaze.
"I don't have the answers he wants," she stated softly, but her accusing eyes finally pinned me down. She knew me bringing her here wasn’t a coincidence. When I opened my mouth to respond, she slashed her hand through the air, silencing me. "Don't talk to me if you're just going to lie some more. I can take a lot, but fuck, Sloane. This really, really..." her voice cracked as she looked to the ceiling, trying to wrangle her emotions. "It hurts," she whispered and pushed past me to follow the direction Larson had gone.
My throat tightened as I watched her get further and further away from me. Some part of me wanted to apologize, but she didn't know everything yet. She'd seen the pictures of her mother, and suspected that we'd been lying to her about why we were there, but I couldn't open my mouth and give away any other information. My fucking scary as sin boss was down the hall and whatever information came to light today would be at his discretion, not mine. I'd worked too damn hard the past ten years to have it go to shit in a matter of minutes over guilt of doing my job.
I followed her, her vanilla scent surrounding me. Vanilla and salty sadness.
