“Sweetheart, money talks. And when I want something, I get it.” His eyes gradually descend my body. “But the last thing I’m worried about right now is Vivian and you catching a charge forher. I’d like you all to myself whenever I wanted you, so I’ll have to come up with something more creative.”
“Doesn’t sound like your strong suit.”
“Don’t underestimate me.” He looks up at me. “You think I’m some prick who just waltzes around with a crown and doesn’t know how the world operates?”
“I think you’re too merciful.”
He lifts his shoulders. “Maybe. But I’ve got her quiet for now, and I got another woman running around taking photos of dead people. See where my priorities lie?”
I slowly pull my arm from his grasp, needing it to wrap around my gut. It’s not who I did it to, but why I had to do it.
And what lies around it.
It didn’t do shit-all in the grand scheme of things. It didn’t change the world. Hell, it didn’t even make me feel better. I still have to live a lifetime in a world where Levi doesn’t exist.
“I don’t regret shit,” I mumble, peering down at my crossed legs. “I’d do it again. Just slower this time.”
“I don’t trust what he’s going to do with your evidence.”
My attention darts up to him. “Do you think I fuckin’ care? Let that bitch come. Iwanthim to.”
“You’ve got to play the smarter game now, Little T. He’s banking on your temper and loyalty to Wallace. I don’t want you walking into a trap you can’t escape.”
“Isn’t that what I haveyoufor? Or is that one-sided?”
“You know damn well it’s not one-sided,” he replies calmly. “I said I would give you his head on a silver platter.”
“I want to be the one taking his headoff,” I grind out, fists tightening. “I don’t want quick and easy.”
“No,” he says, leaning back against my pillows. “You definitely like hard and rough.”
My lips part with a retort when his phone goes off. Cairo reaches for it somewhere on the other side of the bed, then he glowers at it. “Wanna take someone else’s head off?” He doesn’t wait for my answer when he brings the phone to his ear and gripes, “It’s three o’clock in the mornin’, motherfucker. What do you want?”
I hear a man on the other line but nothing being said. Cairo’s expression softens, going from pissed to annoyed.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Cairo rebukes sharply. “I told you earlier you’re not cleared yet. I don’t give a fuck if you think you’re fine… Did you not live through this shit?… Because Isaid, Torin.”
My stomach drops again—for the millionth time—and…I can’t deal with this right now.
With what feels like a drain of energy, I unsteadily try to escape my own bed when Cairo’s fingers wrap around my forearm.
“I’ve gotta let you go, brother,” he says into the phone. “You’re fuckin’ up the vibe.”
Then he hangs up and pulls me to lie down, tucking my body against his chest and my face in the crook of his shoulder.
“Relax, Little T. He got his karma for what he did to you and then some.”
I didn’t want him to be dealt a hand. I wished I would’ve done it myself. “How bad?”
“Two surgeries,” he emits lowly. “He got shot twice in the stomach, once in the shoulder, and another in the thigh. Then there’s?—”
“He’s alive,” I cut in because a wave of anxiety starts to creep through me. “That’s all that matters.”
“If you say so.”
I know he’s trying to make light of the conversation. I’m aware Torin attempted to even save Levi and failed. I don’t blame him for that. I just want his balls in a jar.
“Tell me about your dad,” Cairo croons softly. “I only met him once.”
