“I’ll... I’ll pay for the wall,” I muttered, tonguing the inside of my cheek, eyes fixed anywhere but on his.
“Yeah, you will,” Van said smoothly. Then, just as he passed me, he murmured, “But if you fix it fast, she doesn’t need to know about it.”
I blinked, watched the back of his head as he kept walking, not once looking back.
He still annoyed the hell out of me, but for the first time, I felt something else, too, just a flicker of it. Respect.
Pulling out my phone, I called in a favor, someone who owed me, someone I knew wouldn’t ask questions. They said they’d be here right away. I let out a slow breath, grounding myself. Nova hadn’t fired me or pulled me off the assignment. In fact, she’d told me to keep my eyes open. That had to mean something.
The ice in my chest began to crack, just a little, as quiet resolve settled in its place. I didn’t need to have Aniyah. I didn’t need her eyes to find mine with softness or want. I could bear the ache, this impossible longing, until the end of time, as long as I was allowed to stay near her. Protect her. Watch over her.
That would be enough. Ithadto be.
12
MASO
"I'm going to need to call in that favor you owe me."
Nova Rossey was the last person on Earth I wanted to hear from.
"What are you talking about?" I tossed my oil rag onto the tool chest and rolled out from under my '66 GT Mustang. Sitting up, I squinted at the sun and wiped my hands on my jeans. "I did that job for you down in Virginia. That made us even."
She cackled so loudly through the phone I had to hold it away from my ear. "Are you kidding? I saved five lives. That’s five favors—no matter how hard or time-consuming they are."
"That wasn't the deal, Rossey," I growled.
"Damn straight it was the fucking deal." A pause, then she added, smug as hell, "And even if it wasn’t, it is now."
The plastic phone creaked under my grip. Why was this woman so infuriating?
Didn’t matter. She had me on the ropes, and we both knew it.
But it was worth it.
Even with the bloody jobs she handed me, the sins stacking up on my back like dead weight, it was all worth it. For my sister’s smile as she picked wildflowers. For my brother playing in the creek. For my mother humming while she stirred Sunday gravy and my father tending his tomato plants in the backyard.
I’d make deals with devils, be their dog and answer when they called, all of it, if it meant my family stayed safe and comfortable.
"I don’t know what you’re complaining about," she said, voice slick with mockery. "You had blood on your hands long before we ever got involved."
"That was for my family!" I snapped.
That impish little voice came back, sweet on the surface, but I knew what slithered underneath. The depths of ruthlessness to which the Syndicate’s head family would go. "You're still doing it for your family. That’s the only reason Ezra spared you when we absorbed your little group. You understand what it means to protect your own. That’s rare in our world."
She was right. If the Syndicate knew one thing, it was loyalty to blood. Everyone else be damned.
And I couldn’t say I didn’t understand the sentiment.
I let out a rough breath, the kind that scraped its way up my throat. "What do you want me to do?"
Laughter exploded through the receiver. I could practically see her slapping her knee like she’d won a bet. "Oh, Maso. You act like I’m sending you to your death, but this one's easy. You might even enjoy it. Everyone does at the Winged Palace."
My body stiffened.The Winged Palace. I’d heard of that place.
"Isn’t that?—"
"Yep! My sister’s glorious little empire where sin is celebrated, depravity encouraged, and every soul that walks in leaves satisfied. You’re going to love it. Guaranteed. It says it in the fine print."
