Leo and Spencer exchanged a glance, debating whether I could be trusted.
“Not like I can jump off a bullet train. Relax.” I shook my head at my two angels before moving toward the door. “Be back soon.”
I peeled open the cabin door and stepped into the vestibule. I expected the noise of the train to be more obvious there. When I was little and my parents would take me into the city, we’d stand between cars to get a good view out of the window.
It was too loud to talk, my mom, dad, and I forced to take it all in ourselves. I still remembered how magical the skyscrapers looked, shimmering in the evening sun.
But it was quiet here, that memory — and my father — far away now.
I made myself move forward, into the next cabin.
Full of velvet seats and entirely empty, the car only had a single conductor who smiled at me as I walked into the train. She was pretty, the conductor cap looking shockingly hot on her as a low bun peeked out of the back. Her feet were propped up on the opposite seat, her hands folded delicately in her lap as she greeted me.
“Good evening, Miss Tierney. Welcome aboard.”
“Oh, hi.” I swallowed hard, now completely unused to being seen in public, let alone identified.
The conductor nodded toward the next car. “Bar car is the next cabin.”
“Thanks.” I smiled as best I could and kept moving.
As I stepped through the vestibule, I could hear the low rumble of Dom’s voice. I looked through the glass window into the bar. Her back was broad and her muscles strained the white dress shirt.
Always running from me.
Throwing open the car door, I sauntered inside. My heels were starting to hurt my feet but I wasn’t going to let Dom know that.
“Understood, I need that report on my desk first thing in the morning.” Dom raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at me.
Just the thought of her conducting business for Zeus made me want to scream.
I sidled up to the bar, watching Dom through the glass behind the bottles of luxury liquor. The car was empty, whatever bartender had been here clearly forced out while Dom worked.Leaning against the wood, I licked my teeth as I watched her talk.
“This is between us, got it?” She waited for an answer. “Good. See you then.”
Hanging up, Dom set her phone on the clean bar as she twirled her glass of neat whiskey in her hands.
Her blue eyes met mine.
And it was enough to incise me.
“Did you kick that poor bartender out? Dick move.”
“A little privacy doesn’t hurt.” Dom let a deep breath hiss out of her nose as she looked straight forward. “Not that you’d ever notice.”
Despite myself, I dug deeper. “I don’t understand how you can stomach working for him. After everything.”
Nothing. She stared ahead, taking a sip of that bitter amber drink.
I was hankering for a punishment, clearly. Or I would have kept my mouth shut. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to get your soul back? Or is it gone for good?”
“Watch it, Viper.” Dom’s jaw tensed, her eyes watching my face in the mirror. But mine were peeled on her: the way her veins bulged from her hand as she gripped the glass; the way her temples pulsed as she tried to calm herself down.
But I wanted to fill her with rage. To make her feel what she’d done to me.
I drove a knife into her soul. “Probably for the best that your mother isn’t around to see you shilling yourself out for him. She’d be ashamed.”
That was all it took. In a blur of motion, Dom threw the whiskey glass into the mirror behind the bar. ACRACKof glittering glass bounced off the walls of the train car as Dom’s bar stool scratched against the parquet floors.
