I knew the minute I admitted to the money, I was no longer going to be of use to him. “I
don’t have my brother’s money.”
His eyes were on fire. “That money was my money, not Bill’s. It should have been given back to
me when he died,” he said harshly. “I taught Bill the business, treated him like my own son.
Together, we were going to rule the underworld. Then that ungrateful bastard stole it all from
me and joined forces with those motherless street kids. Bill owed me a lot more than the dollars
he left behind.”
And then he half-smiled. “But none of that matters now. With you here, I will get all that
back, and more. We’ll do great things together.”
“I’m not doing anything with you,” I spat back.
This amused him. “I thought you had a penchant for drug dealers? No? Well, seems they like you
a lot.” He laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “I couldn’t have planned this better
myself. We can use this to our advantage. With the pull you have over that boy, we’ll control
the leaders, the distributors, the shipments, everything.” He added with a sickly smile,
“Though I wish I would have stuck around to see you blossom into your mother before that boy
ever got a chance to pull you in. We could have been much further along by now.”
He reached over to stroke my cheek.
The nausea was coming back, but it had nothing to do with the sedatives. I got up and, turning
my back to him, glanced around the room looking for a way out or a weapon. Apart from a plastic
tray and a juice box, I didn’t have much to work with. I walked to the wall and turned around,
sliding my back down the cold surface and sitting on the floor with my knees curled into my
chest. For the first time, I noticed that he had a gun tucked into the back of his pants. I felt
like an idiot for having missed that earlier—but there was no time for beating myself up.
Something that Victor had said had piqued my interest.
“So, he’s alive then.” My voice was steady and uninterested, like I had heard Cameron do so
often.
“Who? That Cameron boy? Yes, he’s fine.” He searched my face. I was a statue, though my
insides were churning at the sound of Cameron’s name being attached to the word fine.
Victor’s eyes were smoldering. I needed to keep him talking … and away from me.
“What do I need to do for our partnership to work?” I asked with a businesslike tone.
He was excited. “Well, by now I’m sure the kid has figured out that I won and that I have you.
We’ll let him think about that for a few days, then start the negotiations for sending you
back. It’ll take a while to convince the leaders to let me take control again, so I’ll control
the business behind Cameron until the change in management is made official.”
“What if the bosses don’t agree to you taking over?”
“You’ll make sure that Cameron does a good job at convincing them when I send you back to him.
”
My heart leapt at the thought of seeing Cameron again, but my face remained unchanged. “What’s
in it for me?”
He chuckled. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’m impressed, kiddo. I thought you’
d gone soft on me. But your parents taught you well, I see. People like us have to stick
together.”
The fact that he was putting me in the same basket as him and my parents made me want to scream.
Victor continued, “Once I gain full control again and get rid of the boy, you and I can live
happily ever after together.”
The partnership was starting to sound more like a one-sided business deal—he would get to lead
the underworld, and I got to live and become his Isabelle-look-alike concubine. I undetectably
shuddered and cheerfully responded, “Sounds great.”
Victor strolled over to me and, pulling me up by the shoulders, made me stand in front of him.
With his rough hands, he drew my face into his, whispered my mother’s name and forced his
leathery lips against mine. But I couldn’t kiss him back. My lips automatically squeezed
together, shutting him out. Victor pulled away and eyed me. He was slighted.
“Kiss me,” he ordered as he tried to kiss me again. No luck—my lips were uncontrollably
pursed again. I was quickly losing his trust and had to think of something before he caught on
to my game and my complete and utter revulsion of him.
“I need to use the washroom,” I said, and, leaning close to him, I whispered in his ear, “I
threw up earlier. I would really like to rinse my mouth out before I kiss you.”
He examined my face, and I gave him my sweetest smile, one that I had learned from my mother. I
was relieved to see him return it.
“Oh yes, of course,” he said. He elatedly walked to the door and knocked three times. The
latch clicked as it was unlocked and the door opened. Soldier-man guardedly peered in.
“Escort the young lady to the washroom,” Victor commanded.