When you ask for trust from someone, you damn well better give them the same, or you sure as hell aren’t gonna get far. And I don’t want just far, either. I want forever.
I see him shuffle in, dressed in orange, his head shaved. Then he turns and sits, so I can only see the back of him.
“He a white supremacist?”
“No, why?” She looks up at me.
“Swastika tattoo on the back of his skull isn’t gonna make him any friends in prison. He’s a bigger piece of shit than I thought.”
She gasps as she turns around. “Oh, my God. I’ve never seen that. His head has never been shaved before. He has friends who are black. I don’t understand.”
“Hailey, maybe you should reconsider facing him.”
“No, I can do this.”
“I know you can, but you don’t have to.”
“I can do this. Trust me.”
Chapter 22
Hailey
The door to the small interrogation room shuts loudly behind me, making me want to jump. Somehow, though, I stand firm.
“I should say I’m surprised to see you here, but I’m not,” Monte says sardonically. “Too easy to read, Hailey. You always have been far too easy to read.”
Without thinking, I blurt out, “What’s with the tattoo? I’ve never seen you like this before, Monte.”
Evil dances in his dark eyes, sending a chill up my spine. I’d always feared the effects of Monte’s games and revenge scenarios on Marisa, but in this moment, I fear the man himself, and all he is capable of.
His voice is low and stern, and his stare doesn’t waver. “Know this, Hard Knocks: My past is none of your fucking concern—never has been and never will be. You don’t know my history, because you don’t need to.”
Feeling an unknown threat and a sense of things spinning out of control, I can’t stop myself as the words tumble out.
“I need to know anything that can harm Marisa.”
He laughs sadistically. “Oh, the things you can’t seem to see. I did all of this for you and for her.”
My stomach churns, the room spins, and I have no choice but to take the seat across from him.
“Stop playing games with me,” I choke out in a whisper.
Monte leans forward. “Don’t you see? Big Daddy Pimp wanted to put you on the corner, precious. He had bragged to the streets since you were fourteen about the price of your virginity. Your momma hustled you into the game, not to save herself, but to save you from the streets. Word got around, and Marshall got through to the dealer to give me my phone as an emergency and a little cash for Marshall on the side. The information was slipped to me that I was indeed playing against the virgin bride. I had two choices: win and leave you to the fate that was certain to crush the light in your eyes, or bargain on the outside for you, because in the end, I never lose, and I wasn’t going to that day.”
I have no words. I sit silently for what feels like forever, but in reality, it’s only two minutes before the DA pops his head in.
“Hailey, finish up. Time is almost over.” His presence reminds me I’m here on borrowed time and a favor from the DA. It is quite possibly illegal for me to even be having this moment with Monte.
“You bought me to save me?”
“In a way, yes. The night of the game, I could read the fear behind the fa?ade. If a game shook you up, there was no way you could work the corner. A girl like you has no business on the streets. I could tell that the instant you walked in the room.” He leans across the table toward me. “Prime fucking *, too. Best there is to have, even when you didn’t know what to do, even when you weren’t enjoying it. You’ve got prime fucking *, Hailey.” He leans back and grins, knowing he got to me again.
“Enough.”
“There she is. There’s the girl who has always had the fight to take on the world.”
“You get off on this.”
“I get off on you, but more than that, I never wanted to kill the fight inside you. I just wanted to keep you safe, which I did until you made the decision to walk away. For months, Hailey, I’d seen you battling to find an escape.”
“Then why not let me go?”
“If only it were that easy.” He looks down, then looks back up at me. “I have a past, and I have enemies, more than I care to count. It wasn’t safe unless you owed me. No one would touch you if you were working a marker for me; they would fear my wrath in not getting repaid. As long as you worked, went home, and took care of Marisa, all was fine.”
“Okay, and I did that until you threatened to get to Marisa.”
“You fucked Aces. I needed you out of the game, Hailey. You had no business in this world, yet there you were. Aces may be good at the table, but he’s not here full-time, which would leave you unprotected.”