Page 72 of Gorgeous Misery

Well. If I were in charge of defunding the Company PSYOPS program, I’d have taken this asshole out first.

Merc laughs. “You’re kinda fun, Wendy. It’s been a long time since I fucked with someone like this. Looooong time. But I’m in a serious mood at the moment. People are popping back up in my life and I’m quite pissed off about that. I had a deal when I left. Kinda. I mean, no one really knew about this deal except for me, but there was an understanding, you see. They leave me the fuck alone, I leave them the fuck alone. But then I’m just kicking back at the pool last week and all of a sudden, names start spillin’ out a friend’s mouth. I don’t know any of these names, but you do, right? You know who Adam is, right? So we’re gonna start with him, because I give no fucks about that guy. He wants to get a hold of me, fine. I’ve got nothing against introductions. Who is Adam, Wendy?”

I don’t wanna answer.

“I know you don’t, sweetie. But you’re already answering. And I’m not interested in hearing your complete internal monologue. We’ve been stuck on your relationship issues for two days now. Let’s get past that shall we? Focus, please. Who is Adam?”

“He runs the Company.”

“OK. But how did this happen? Last I heard, the Company fell almost a decade ago.”

I snort-laugh.

“That’s funny?”

“That’s very funny.”

“Explain.”

“Well, I don’t know you, but I’ve heard of you. So I know you were an ancillary part to that whole FBI black ops takedown in Kansas. I wasn’t in Kansas, I was part of the Florida operation with Johnny Boston.”

“OK. What’s this all about?”

“The Bostons? They handled the Company money-laundering.”

“Not the Bostons. I know who the Bostons are. What’s that got to do with Kansas, Wendy?”

“It all went down at the same time. When Sasha was killing…”

“You can say it. I already know he’s alive. We really are at his house right now.”

“What?”

“Focus. While Sasha was killing whoever the fuck that guy was out in Kansas, you were…?”

“I was hooking up hidden cameras inside an estate crawling with Company elite so we could keep an eye on the kids we had to leave behind.”

He pauses here, maybe thinking about that. What I just said isn’t a lot of information and if he has no context, it doesn’t make much sense to him.

“You’re right. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do I need to understand this part of the story?”

“Depends, I guess.”

“On what?”

“Whether or not those girls of yours need a cure.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - NICK

“You’ve got her at my house?”

I am a little bit impressed at this revelation. Also, Indie. That girl is either in on this—and I don’t think she is because there is no point in that—or she’s got a scary sense of intuition.

I need to keep her in mind should there be any backlash about what’s happening right now.

Merc raises his hand. “Back up a minute. You said Carter Couture and I need to have a conversation or one day I might wake up to something very unexpected. What the fuck does that mean?”

I scrub my hands down my face and think about shaving when I get home. Then I think about home and how Wendy is already there. I’m slightly concerned about her condition right now, but it’s no longer a nagging urgency like it was before Merc showed up. Also, I like that she’s at my house. It’s familiar. And it’s not just my house anymore, is it? It’s our house. Same way that her cabin is ours now too. This is kind of a best-case scenario in my opinion.