He sighs and just sits silently next to me as I fill in form after form. And after that, with knowing certainty, I use my phone to check the online portal where I’m supposed to deposit the rent each month. Usually it’s bright red, an angry reminder that I’m well behind.
When I log in this time, it’s a calm blue. The backlog has cleared and the rent has been paid up for the next six months. I show Adrian silently, who just sighs again.
Because there’s nothing left to say. Eva has made her move. The trap is already sprung. And there’s only one currency she’ll accept as payment.
Hours later, as dawn begins to creep around the window blinds, and long after Adrian left to check on Dane and Alicia, I’m sitting beside Maisie’s bed watching the first of many medications drip slowly into her IV line. We’re in a private room now, rather than the four-bed, curtained-off space from before. Another requirement from our “anonymous benefactor,” the nurses told me. The operation was simple, quick, but the change is almost immediate—color is returning to Maisie’s cheeks, her breathingis easier, the tight lines of pain around her eyes are smoothing away.
She’s going to be okay.
I have to bite my lip to keep from sobbing with relief. After years of watching her fade away, of feeling helpless and desperate and scared, she’s really going to be okay.
“Robin?” Maisie’s voice is soft but stronger than it’s been in days. Her blue eyes—so much like my own—flutter open to focus on my face.
“Hey, baby girl.” I stroke her hair back from her forehead, marveling at how much better she looks already. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” She manages a small smile.
“I bet you are. But you’re going to be fine, Maisie. You’re going to get better and come home and drive us all crazy with your terrible jokes.”
She giggles weakly at that, and the sound is like angels singing, better than anything I’ve ever heard. For the first time, the grip in my chest eases just slightly.
Some things are worth any price.
A faint sound from the doorway makes me glance up. Eva Novak stands there like a gathering storm in human form. She’s not smiling, exactly, but there’s something satisfied in her expression—like a cat that’s just caught a particularly clever mouse.
Of course she’s here. Of course she couldn’t just send a car to pick me up for what she knew would be an inevitable “yes”from me. She had to come and witness the moment when her “generosity” bought her what she really wanted.
Maisie follows my gaze and her eyes widen with curiosity rather than fear. “Who’s that?” she whispers. “She’s really pretty.”
I swallow hard, forcing my voice to stay level. “A friend. She’s the one paying for your treatments.”
Friend. As if Eva Novak is the kind of person who has friends instead of assets and enemies.
Maisie’s face lights up with pure joy. “Really? Thank you!” She tries to sit up and I fuss over her at once.
Behind me, I hear Eva takes a few steps closer. When I glance up, her amber eyes fix on Maisie with an intensity that should be frightening, but somehow isn’t.
“You’re very welcome,” Eva says, and her voice is gentler than I’ve ever heard it. “But your only job now is to get better. Can you do that?”
Maisie nods solemnly, taking the request with the seriousness that children bring to adult conversations. “I totally promise. I’m going to get strong so Robin doesn’t have to look after me anymore.”
“I’ll never stop looking after you,” I tell Maisie at once, grabbing her hand. “So don’t you dare even think that.”
Something flickers across Eva’s face—something that’s gone so quickly I might have imagined it. But for just a moment, she doesn’t look like the ice queen arms dealer who bought me at auction. She looks almost...human.
Don’t tell me she has a heart in there somewhere, I think bitterly. She’s not capable of genuine feeling.
She’s only capable of faking it when it suits her purposes.
“What’s your name?” Maisie asks.
“Eva.” She’s close enough now to reach out and take Maisie’s hand.
I rise abruptly just before her fingers contact, my chair scraping against the tile floor with a harsh sound that makes Maisie wince. “Eva and I need to discuss some details,” I say, my voice tight.
“Okay,” Maisie says, settling back against her pillows with a contented sigh. The pain medication is already making her drowsy, pulling her into a healing sleep. “Thank you, Eva. You’re…very…”
I wait a moment to make sure Maisie is asleep, and then I stalk toward the door without looking back. “Come on,” I toss sharply over my shoulder, not caring how I sound.
