Except I disagreed.
I tensed, deliberately slowing down. My grip on the baton tightened, readying myself to whip it from my pocket, snapping it open in the same motion. I saw myself spin, lift the extended titanium rod, and crack it across his cheekbone. Another down low, striking the side of his knee. Then a hard blow to his torso, removing his ability to breathe properly.
Unable to walk, breathe, and probably unable to see straight, I suspected GQ would be disinclined to stalk me further.
I spun, snapping the baton from my pocket, out, extended. I crouched, ready for battle, prepared for the first strike.
He wasn’t there.
Chapter Two
Magnus
“What do you mean you let her go?”
I faced my father’s anger without flinching. Or, rather, worked so that my feelings didn’t show on my expression. Not a patient or nice man, my father demanded perfection, loyalty, and obedience, not necessarily in that order. I once vowed to never be like him, but each and every day he molded me into becoming his mini me.
Sometimes I hated him.
“Just why the fuck didn’t you grab her?” Arnaud, my esteemed sire, yelled into my face. “Youdowhat thefuckI tell you to do, boy.”
“It’s not right to kidnap her because you don’t like her, Dad,” I replied evenly. “It’s a crime if you hadn’t noticed.”
Arnaud snorted. “Just who can put us in jail, eh? I have more power and influence in this city than you’ll ever imagine. I pay cops, prosecutors, and judges to do what I want. Why is it so hard for you?”
“Maybe because I have a conscience?”
“Fuck your conscience,” he sneered. “I didn’t raise you to have one. Get rid of it. Now. You work for me. And that means if I say you kidnap a girl, you kidnap a girl.”
I fought to control my anger, my hate, my genes that ordered me to obey him. He wasn’t just my father, he was myclan leader, my liege lord in many respects. One didn’t tell one’s lord to fuck off. Not if one wanted to live another day.
Especially in my clan.
“She’s innocent.”
Arnaud laughed. “I should care why? Her father owes me. If he wants her back, he’ll jump through my hoops, all right.”
“Just where do you plan to keep her?” I kept my tone level with an effort. “She’s as dangerous as her dad.”
“In one of my warehouses,” he answered, walking away from me to pour himself a scotch. “I’ve built a cage that’ll hold her, down in the cellar. Way down. Fireproof, soundproof. She can’t escape, no will hear her if she bellows.”
We stood in his opulent study deep in the heart of his mansion. I didn’t grow up here. Arnaud accumulated his wealth by fair means and foul, bought it, as well as much real estate in this city as he could. Even as he sat back and waited for the market to rise, he dabbled in buying and selling illegal drugs, running guns to Mexico and their mobs, trafficking in humans from other countries.
I think I hated him for that most of all.
“What is it her father owes you?” I asked, expecting a violentnone of your businessor no answer at all.
Arnaud flopped his heavy body onto a luxurious sofa, almost spilling his scotch, and sighed. “Many years ago, he and I were partners. Close as brothers, almost. He bought a tract of land outside of our partnership, never told me, then built condominiums on it. They sold like hotcakes. He made millions off that one deal.”
I sat gingerly on the edge of a chair, gingerly in case I had to move fast. “Why would that bother you?’
Arnaud glowered, his full jowls jiggling. “We werepartners, dammit. We had an agreement. He went behind myback. When I confronted him, he just laughed. Said I was too emotional, that business was business.”
“And then?”
“I broke off our friendship.” Arnaud sipped his whiskey. “Ended our partnership. Watched as he flourished, making friends with the governors of the surrounding states, growing his empire, while I lagged behind, needed to run drugs and guns to stay in business.”
Let’s not forget people, dear old Dad.
