“Fuck, let me have him, please, Doll,” Zan, the crazy one who chased him earlier, all but begs, making Jade roll her eyes.
“No, he’s theirs. We did our job, Zander. Besides, we have other scum to clean up in the city while we're here.” She shoves Carter down, and without his arms, he ends up sprawled on the ground, where he stays.
Smartest thing he’s ever done, if you ask me.
Zander pouts but doesn’t argue.
“Daddy, call Elio and see if he can meet with us. Maybe he has something for you to do, Zan.” I see the shock on the rest of our faces at the use of her nickname, but I’m more interested in the name she just dropped.
I know Elio; he’s also a very successful businessman here in New York.
“Yes!” Zander jumps around like a child who's been told he can have a Christmas gift early. I’m somehow not shocked when the big-ass guy is the one who pulls his phone from his pocket to do as she asked.
“I can wire over the funds if you have the information on hand,” Vince says, and I snap my head in his direction to glare at him.
I was unsure of what he was doing to get this help. I’d hoped it was an old friend, but knowing who Mr. Kane is connected to, I can only imagine the price tag attached to this job.
“It’s on the house.”
I look back at her to find her waving him off.
“Wait, no, we can pay.” I move to reassure her.
She’d been able to do what we failed to, if not for them. Who knows how long we would have been chasing this asshole around with nothing to show for it while he continued to torment Kat.
They deserve something.
Jade turns her gaze to me and cocks a brow. I’m not used to the lack of respect that she’s showing me right now.
No, that’s not exactly what this is.
She’s not disrespecting me; she’s just not intimidated by me.
“I have no doubt you can afford it.” She makes a point of looking around the room before she looks at Kat. “But we’re not exactly tight on funds, and it’s Vengeance’s job to keep thestreets clean. So we’ll call this fair and square, just throwing the trash away.”
“There’s nothing we can do?” Kat asks, and Jade smiles at her. It’s warm and reassuring in a way that almost seems at odds with the rest of her personality.
“How about this? If you really want to pay us back, you turn around and head back upstairs, and I’ll take a souvenir from the piece of shit, just a little something to remember our meeting.”
It sounds easy enough, at least for us. I get the feeling Carter won’t be getting by as easily.
“Okay, I can do that,” Kat says with a nod before she squeezes my hand and turns away to head back up the stairs.
I look around, my eyes settling on Oliver and then Des. Without having to say a word, they both head up the stairs after her.
I’m almost jealous.
When they disappear, I turn back to find Jade staring at me. “It’s good to see she has the love she clearly was missing before.”
“She’s our queen. She’ll never question her worth again, never want for anything, or worry about whether or not she owns our hearts.” Jade’s eyes narrow on Alex as if trying to see the lie, but there isn’t one.
I haven’t told her how I feel, unwilling to scare her, but if she’d agree, I’d marry her tomorrow and shred that stupid-ass contract.
“Good.” She nods with a smile, clapping her hands together before turning to Zander, who stands like a giddy puppy waiting for a scrap of her attention.
“Why don’t you collect our souvenir so we can let them get back to their queen and we can—”
“Get back to ours?” One of the guys who had yet to speak says, arching a brow at her when she scowls at him.
