“I’ve notified your father of your condition, Jade,” Magnus’s pop continued, his voice smarmy. “I gave him one week to sign the paperwork that grants me half of his real estate empire.”
“He won’t do it.”
At last, I glanced over at Arnaud, Magnus standing behind him, almost like a soldier under inspection. Unlike Magnus, Arnaud had long lost the fitness that he maybe once had. Pudgy, soft, with beady, evil eyes and a balding head, Arnaud looked like a walking advertisement for contraceptives.
“Of course, he will,” Arnaud snapped. “You’re his kin.”
“He doesn’t like me much.” I grinned without humor. “If you killed me, he’d be ever so grateful.”
Magnus’s expression didn’t change, but Arnaud’s did. His skin darkened to a shade of red I suspected might be the first symptom of an active stroke.Yeah, stroke out mother fucker, bleed into your puny little brain and die.
“That’s not what my sources tell me,” Arnaud snapped. “I’m told you’re very close to him.”
“Your sources are wrong. He can make another daughter if he wants. Much harder to rebuild all his wealth.”
Arnaud slammed his closed fist against the wall of my prison. “For your sake, he’d better decide he wants you alive and intact. I promise you, your death will be quite messy.”
Upon the heels of that statement, Arnaud stormed away, past his son, and up a long set of stairs. That I was in a basement or cellar, far enough underground that a pissed off dragon couldn’t be seen or heard, had become clear. Still, I’d spent some time walking around my cell, searching for potential weaknesses, and found none.
That wouldn’t stop me from trying. What else did I have to do to pass the time?
Magnus gestured toward my uneaten meal. “You should eat.”
“You should let me go.”
He didn’t reply to that, nor did I really expect him to. Too cowardly to stand up to Arnaud, too willing to enter into a federal crime, Magnus hadn’t the guts to step on his daddy’s toes. Not even to spare a non-combatant. He knew what he did was wrong, he did it anyway.
“Your father will pay to have you released,” he said, yet his voice lacked conviction.
“I’ll be missed,” I mused, staring up at the ceiling. “My friend will report me missing, she knows you were watching me that night. She’ll give the cops your description, they’ll be looking for you. And me.”
“They won’t find you here.”
“You underestimated me, GQ,” I went on. “You both did. I’ll escape this thing. Then the cops, and the feds, will land on you with the force of an avalanche.”
“Do you really think a human jail can withstand a dragon?”
I chuckled. “Nope. But in tearing the jail down, you, and daddy dearest, will reveal to humans that dragon shifters exist. How many of our kind languish in prison for their crimes, but won’t shift and reveal to the world they’re dragons?”
“I don’t know.”
“You won’t either. I suspect, deep down, you do have a loyalty to our kind. You won’t rip the jail apart to free yourself.”
Magnus said nothing. I studied the steel beams beyond the bright light, speculating as to their strength. Though I couldn’t know for certain, I suspected Arnaud placed me in a large warehouse-type structure, probably away from busy, nosy humans. I felt sure no humans worked up there. Bringing those beams down might cause the floor above to cave in.
On top of me.
Still, by taking down several beams, I’d easily cling to others, albeit upside down, but my talons would hold me. Once the floor collapsed, I’d crawl through the opening, spread my wings and fly, baby, fly.
So absorbed in my escape plans, I hadn’t noticed Magnus had left me. Great. I didn’t need the distraction. I continued to play out the plan in my mind, which beams to yank out, which to keep.
After that, I’d focus on getting out of this prison.
And I hoped I’d meet up with Magnus on my way out.
Chapter Four
Magnus
