The Ivory just keeps staring. Smirking.
“You’re lucky we didn’t take your rooms,” the dude on the left hums, shit-eating grin on his face.
Velle’s eyes pry away from The Ivory, and Rook and I are immediately stalking over because we can read every inch of that expression.
He’s, like, a breath away from feeding that dude his own teeth.
And yet the guy is still somehow stupid enough to get even closer to Velle’s face. “Something tells me you’ve got the nicest one. Es verdad, amigo?”
“Turn around,” Velle hisses, barely an inch from the dude’s face. “Or the next word outta your mouth will be your last.”
The prick isn’t backing down, but before Rook can step between them, The Ivory places his hand on the guy’s shoulder, humming by his ear, “Calmate, Hector. There’ll be plenty of time for all that later.”
The Ivory slides his dark gaze to Velle’s once more as he pats the dude on the back, which seems toactivatehim or something, because he backs up. Not without first winking at Velle.
He and his pal saunter off, calling us assholes in Spanish—either they assume we don’t speak it, or they don’t care.Probably the latter.
“What the fuck…” Velle snarls at the Warden, who could not possibly appear more unaffected. “The prison is one thing… But this is our home. You made it that way.”
“Yes, and now it’s theirs too,” he sighs blithely. “Buck up and deal with it, Jonathan. You chose this path—”
“I didn’t choose this…”
“Whining and bellyaching for months about being short-staffed…” The Ivory goes on, ignoring Velle’s seething. “I go out ofmy wayto give you what you want and you have the nerve to beungrateful—”
“I didn’t ask for this!” He roars in The Ivory’s face. My heart lurches up into my gut fast, limbs shaking with adrenaline. “Idon’twant them here! I sure as shit don’t want them in my home…”
“Yourhome??” Manuel Blanco scoffs, showing the first inkling of a human reaction. Black eyes hardened, sharpened, like daggers. But he covers it up quick, straightening. Lips quirking once more. “I thought you’d behappy, Jonathan. You’ve been overworked for so long. Now you can finally get some rest.” He pats Velle on the chest. “Put your feet up… Relax. My men are here now, inmyhome.” His sinister grin widens. “Like one big happy family.”
He shoots Rook and me a glance before sauntering away. “I’m off to the den for a nightcap.” He peeks at Velle one last time over his shoulder. “You’re welcome to join me. Oh, but I will require you on your knees.”
“I’m going to kill you—”
“Alright,” Rook breathes, grabbing Velle’s arm before he lunges. “Enough.”
The Warden chuckles, shaking his head. “Sleep tight, Officers.”
The three of us watch him go, vibrating wrath, and some fear. As strange as it sounds, I feared The Ivory a lot less when I first started working for him. But over the years, I’ve realized what he can do. I’ve learned who he is… And believe it or not, I think he’s gotten worse.
He’s not the kind of monster that growls and roars and thrashes. You won’t see the pain he inflicts coming. He’s unpredictable, and smart, with a legion of loyalty behind him.
He barely has to lift a finger to hurt us, but it’s damn nearimpossibleto get to him. You can’t kill what he loves, because he loves nothing, and that makes himsomuch more dangerous than I ever anticipated.
Money and power are his only true loves, but we can’t seem to make a dent in it.
“I hope you got enough rest the last three months,” Velle grunts, heading for our stairs. “Looks like we won’t be sleeping for a while.”
“Fuck everything about my life right now,” I sigh, nodding for Rook to follow me.
The three of us head upstairs to our bedroom, where we strip down and get ready to put the longest, shittiest day we’ve had in a while behind us. We get into the shower together, but Rook and I end up getting out and giving Velle some space.
He hasn’t said a word. Just standing beneath the flow of water, eyes closed, like he’s trying to let it wash him clean, but is already too deeply infected.
In bed, Rook and I lie down, leaving distance between us for our third piece. And it takes him a while, but eventually he shuffles over to the bed, in the dark, and climbs in.
Rook is on him in an instant.
“Baby, it’s gonna be alright,” he whispers, brushing tender fingers through Velle’s hair, kissing his shoulder. “We’ll figure this out.”
