Page 236 of Things We Hide from the Light
“Me?” I asked innocently. My wrists were starting to ache from being restrained behind my back. I needed to get loose, but there was no way I’d make it to the door with three of them in the room.
“Not only did you follow my men, you got one of them arrested. We don’t need that kind of attention right now. Yet you failed to heed the warning.”
“Like I told your pal in the candy aisle, that arrest wasn’t my fault. Your guy was the one who tried to murder his own brother in broad daylight. Naked.”
“Good help is hard to find,” Hugo said with a careless shrug.
“Yeah, not sure what you’re paying this one over here, but you should demand a refund,” I said, nodding in Dilton’s direction.
I saw the backhand coming and braced. Dilton’s knuckles connected with my cheekbone, snapping my head back. My face felt like it was on fire, but I refused to make a sound.
I focused instead on adding concealer to my mental shopping list and imagining what Nash was going to do to Dilton’s face soon.
“Time you learned some manners,” he snarled in my face, his eyes wild and his lip curled under the mustache. An unpredictable madman with something to prove was worse than a calculating bad guy any day.
“Does that make you feel like a big man?” I hissed through clenched teeth.
“Enough,” Hugo snapped. He peeled open a piece of candy and popped it into his mouth. “We have work to do. Nikos, make sure we’re ready for our friend Chief Morgan’s arrival.”
With an ominous nod, Nikos left the room.
I was down to two bad guys, but I still didn’t like those odds.
“You’re on cleanup,” Hugo said to Dilton.
“I fuckin’ know.”
“Get your shit together. Once you’re in position, call me, then wait for my signal. You don’t get to fuck this one up.”
“Least I had the balls to pull the trigger,” Dilton spat.
“You fucked up is what you did. You’re lucky you’re getting another chance.”
“You might have to pull your own trigger someday,” Dilton warned him.
“And when I do, I’ll make sure I finish the fucking job,” Hugo said ominously.
They glared at each other for a long beat before Dilton backed down. He flashed me one last lecherous look before storming out of the room.
“Fruit Gem?” Hugo offered, tilting the open bag my way.
“It was Dilton, wasn’t it?” I said quietly.
“What was?”
“You hired Dilton to shoot Nash.” The dashcam footage was grainy and the shooter was wearing a hoodie and gloves. But Tate Dilton and Duncan Hugo had similar builds, came in at similar heights.
Hugo shrugged. “Leaders delegate. And that’s what I plan on being.”
“Good help is hard to find,” I said, repeating his words.
“I stole the car, gave him the gun, and told him when and where to do it. He was supposed to lure your cop boyfriend farther out of town, do the deed somewhere quiet.”
“Instead he shot him in cold blood on the highway,” I filled in.
“Can’t be helped now. He’s got one shot at redemption, and if he doesn’t get this right, he’ll be done,” Hugo said, unwrapping another candy.
Nervous eater.
