Page 79 of Preying Heart
“I told you I have good news. Wanna hear it?”
Slade nods like a trained sea lion. “Yes, master. Please tell me.”
I reward him with another bite of the donut, which breaks apart and falls onto the dirt when he takes too big a bite.
“Oh my, that’s dirty.” I brush my fingers on my jeans jacket.
Slade stares disappointedly at the donut fragments but doesn’t ask me to feed it to him.
I motion him to walk with me a few yards and sit on a low wall.
“I spoke to your sister, Remi.” I watch his eyes widen with what I hope is horror but could be consternation.
“How is she?” his voice is raspy. “Is she safe?”
“I don’t know if she’s safe or not, but she’s very concerned about you. I do believe she’d like to see you.”
“No, no, not like this.” He shakes his head, frothing at the mouth. “Please, let me go or take me back to jail. But not here. Not living like an animal.”
“What price do you think she’ll pay to have you back? I’m betting you know.”
“You’re not going to kill her, are you?” He narrows his eyes. “I’d rather die than have you harm a hair on her head.”
“Your sentiment is so very touching,” I say. “But I’ve thought of a better idea. Much better. How would you like to be the brother of the future first lady?”
“You can’t marry her,” he says. “You’re already married, and you need Claudia’s father’s billions to fund your campaign.”
“Ah, but if Claudia were to have an accident and I became her devoted widower. Her father would not deny his widowed son-in-law a chance for happiness, would he?”
Slade doesn’t respond. I know my intelligence is way over his head. He sees only the immediate move in front of him while I analyze the entire playing field.
“How would Claudia have an accident?” he asks, as stupid and dull as a curious child.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” I pull an envelope from my backpack. “What I’m about to offer you is a onetime deal. You trip up Claudia, and I’ll wipe your entire record clean.”
“What I did isn’t a fraction as bad as murder.”
It’s incredible that this pig thinks he has room to negotiate.
“True, but what if your sister and the world saw these pictures?” I show him the photos I took, forcing him to pose with juvenile sex workers. It’s true he couldn’t get it up to do anything, but the camera angle is incriminating. “These can get you put in federal prison, and we all know what happens to men who mess with children inside the pen.”
His face is pale as a sheet and his red-rimmed eyes gape at me, even as he wags his head in horror. “I didn’t do anything. You know I didn’t.”
“Sorry, but pictures don’t lie. Remi will be so heartbroken and disgusted.”
“Remi’s not going to marry you, not even if Claudia’s gone.”
“Yes, she will. She’ll do it for you, her precious brother.” I flip through each disgusting photo and hold it in his face. “I don’t know where you had her stashed or which one of your buddies outsmarted my men, but you see? It actually didn’t matter at the end. I don’t have to lift a finger to capture her. She will come to me to do a deal for you.”
“She’s too smart.”
“She’s too smart not to.” I open the bag of potato chips and snap the tab on the top of the soda can. “She loves you, you worthless scum, and because of that, I’ll have her right where I want her.”
“What about her baby?”
“What about it?” I sneer in return. “You don’t get it, do you? Your sister will be putty in my hands. She always complies. She would have gone through with it had you not stolen her money and dumped her at a cheap motel.”
“You’d make her abort your baby?”
