Page 38 of Provocation
‘Why?’
‘Because the knowledge is worth a lot and it could put a target on your back.’
‘Who would target me?’ She rolls her eyes. ‘I mean besides the stalker, and the sorority girls, and Marcus, and Joe, and stuff? I don’t think any of them would care about Envy except maybe the stalker, depending on who he is.’
‘I don’t know,’ I lie and close my eyes for a second.
How can I be bothered by Daisy not telling us everything when I’m doing the same? How fucking hypocritical is that?
‘His name is Pierre Sauvage,’ I find myself saying. ‘We had to go into business with him because his son was one of the juniors who took the fall for us last year when…. Me, Shade, and Blake would have lost everything. It was the only way. Now we owe his family, and a couple others too. But Sauvage is the worst. He’s a bad guy, Daisy. A really bad guy.’
‘What happened last year?’ she asks.
I sigh. ‘We had an assistant. Angelo Giuliani. He figured out what we were trying to do. He made a batch of Envy using the first formula in the lab on campus and sold it to some of the guys in KIP.’
‘What happened?’ she asks.
‘He fucked up something when he was making it. Two guys in KIP died. Giuliani too. One was in a coma for four months.’
My hands rub at my eyes.
‘He didn’t come back to Richmond after that. Anyway, it was a huge thing, of course. Andre, Sauvage’s son, came to us and said he’d take the fall along with Chris Spencer and Vice Bond. His dad kept them out of jail, sent them somewhere where all the shit that happened wouldn't follow them, and we got to keep ourlives. But we have to make sure they’re taken care of. That was the deal.’
Daisy is silent for a moment before she speaks. When she does, she seems more curious than upset about my revelations. ‘So Sauvage is the reason you were in a rush. With Envy.’
I nod. ‘He can’t know the truth, okay?’
‘What will he do?’ she asks, probably wondering what she’sreallygotten herself into.
‘I don’t know, Tulip. I don’t want to and, trust me, neither do you. Shade’s going to be pissed that I told you all this, but you need to know that, now that you’re being seen with us, you might be in danger.’
‘But he just wants the drug made, right?’
‘That’s what hesays, but who knows? I’ve heard he’s into a lot and he’s an impatient guy. We’re going to need to roll Envy out at the club next weekend even if it’s not quite ready. An actual launch. It needs to be a success, and we need to make the first shipment for him a couple of days after that.’
‘Let’s get the samples out then,’ she says.
She shuts everything down and turns off the lights. I make sure the lab entrance isn’t visible in case anyone comes down while we aren’t here.
It’s almost ten in the morning, and when we get upstairs, I’m surprised to find Dom waiting for us.
‘I thought you’d be long gone by now.’
My brother stares at Daisy like he’s trying to work her out and I chuckle. ‘You won’t be able to read her, bro. Her tells are very subtle.’
But he keeps watching her and I frown at him. We don’t argue much, but if he’s going to be looking at her like she’s untrustworthy, even after we’ve vouched for her, he and I are going to have a problem. We haven’t had a physical altercationin a long time, and we share the same physique, but I will take him down if I have to.
He seems to realize that I’m getting annoyed because he eases off, his hard eyes leaving her. Daisy, as usual, is oblivious to the animosity, which I’m glad about.
She looks at me blankly and then stifles a yawn as she looks toward the side door. She’s dead on her feet from yesterday, I realize. The few hours I made sure she got clearly weren’t enough. I want to get her home so she can sleep properly.
‘Here.’ I thrust the Ziplock at my brother. ‘Shade said you know where to take these.’
He nods. ‘Yeah, I know where to take them. We’ll have info within two hours.’
‘We need as much information as they can provide,’ Daisy pipes up, speaking to my brother for the first time. ‘Oh! Actually, I made a questionnaire.’
She takes out her phone and shows him the screen. He just looks at her and my eyes narrow at him. If he’s going to be an asshole to her, all bets are off.
