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Stacy nibbles on her bottom lip, and I take a second to look around the living room. It’s tidy and smells like someone has recently cleaned. It’s a nice newer home in a safe neighborhood.
“How did you do the nurse thing?” she asks.
“I went to college. It was before I was taken,” I reply, and she deflates a little. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s too late for you to go to school. You could definitely do it.”
“I’m almost thirty. I’m too damn old.”
“No, you’re not. Besides, what are you doing with your time now?”
She shrugs a shoulder.
“Exactly. Might as well take some classes to fill your time. You could do pretty much anything you want. This is a new start for you, Stacy.”
Her eyebrows climb. “Anything?”
“I think so. What interests you?”
“It’s dumb.”
“Trust me. It’s not dumb. What do you like to do?”
“I kind of want to learn how to do facials and stuff. Skin care.”
“You have beautiful skin.” It’s true, her face doesn’t have one blemish on it. “You should totally go to school for that. Do you know how many spas there are in this city?”
“Probably a lot,” she says quietly. “But I don’t have the money to go to school.”
I need to talk to Carson.
“We’ll figure this out,” I assure her as I hear footsteps behind me.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” Dr. Asgood says, and when I turn, I find her smiling at both of us.
She had me meet her here on purpose.
“It’s my pleasure. I made a new friend.”
Stacy’s smile is still apprehensive but a little wider.
“Let’s go outside and chat,” Dr. Asgood says. “There’s a lovely garden out back.”
Twenty-Two
CARSON
Istare at the dead man hanging in my cell and feel Spider shift next to me.
“He was dead when I got here,” Spider says.
Rina’s father’s body is bloated and mangled from days and days of torture, and I still didn’t get all the information I wanted out of him.
“He was a stubborn fuck,” Spider adds.
“He was a piece of shit,” I reply, shaking my head. “Arrange for him to go to the graveyard. My wife is on her way here, and I’m meeting her in the lobby.”
Spider nods as I leave the cell and walk to the elevator, ride it to the lobby level, and stride out across the gleaming entrance of my resort.
I put every dream that Rina and I had together into motion, and now I own one of the most luxurious hotels in the city.
