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But this was for Mattie. And these two were clearly mentally disturbed and greedy; I wasn’t leaving Mattie alone with them for even a second. “How much?” I asked.
Pinch point. How much was this worth to them? They hooked each other’s gazes, but it was Alicia who offered, “Four million. Two million for bringing her in. Another two for keeping her here until Halloween. And,” she added with a slight hesitation, “a promise to… handle… any outbursts on her part.”
My blood ran ice cold. I could play coy with them all night long, but with this, I refused to sugarcoat my words. “You mean,” I clarified with an even tone, “you’d like me to appropriately punish Mattie for infractions?”
Alicia’s features pinched uncomfortably. “Well, punish is such a gauche term.”
“Yes,” Augustus filled in, his stare devoid of any emotion. “That is what we mean.”
Mattie’s knuckles turned white, her fists shaking. I should just kill them, I thought with a ruthlessness that surprised even me. Any parent who asks a bodyguard to punish their kid—adult or not—should probably just be put out of their misery. Instead, I shrugged, yawning. “Sure, whatever you want. Mattie and I have our arrangement sorted out.” I waited until she looked up at me. I raised my eyebrows at her. “Don’t we?”
“We do,” Mattie bit out.
Alicia beamed, and I resisted the urge to gag. “I’ll have my operative send you the paperwork,” I added.
Augustus and Alicia looked sickeningly relieved. “Amazing,” Augustus smiled widely. Although he looked like a computer nerd in desperate need of a haircut, he sent his daughter a look that made my icy veins heat back to boiling rage. It was full of nothing but ire, like she was the inconvenient pebble in his shoe, and he’d finally found a way to remove it.
I wanted to punch his throat with my taser gun.
But I went to Mattie instead, bending my arm around her without touching her body. She took the hint and allowed me to herd her out of the study. Alicia followed behind us. “I’ll show you to Mattie’s suite. It has quarters for her bodyguards. She’s had several.”
Mattie looked like a bottle of champagne that had been shaken to its bursting point. The cork was going to fly off the top any second if I didn’t get her somewhere behind a soundproof, closed door.
Alicia led us across the sanitized ground floor, her heels clacking against the floors that had been polished so stringently, I caught my reflection in them as we walked. We went up a set of spiral floating stairs made with lacquered black wood, and on the second floor, Alicia took us left toward a hallway with doors on opposite ends before we reached what looked like an exterior door with a digital keypad and deadbolt. It locked from the outside.
Mattie’s frame went pin straight like a piece of rebar had been shoved down her spinal column, and she halted several steps before the door. I put a hand to the small of her back, bending down to sigh a whisper in her ear as her mother punched in a code on the door. “Four. I’m here, Mattie. It’s alright.”
She let out another steadying breath. Was this what she had endured before escaping? Imprisonment with not a single ally to turn to? This entire situation was even more bizarre than I had first imagined. Like we were in another century, and human rights didn’t exist. This was what true wealth afforded the corrupt, amnesty in the face of heinous crimes like keeping a woman captive under armed guard. I swallowed bile and forced myself to keep my stoic facade.
Mrs. Thorne opened the door and gestured inside. “Everything is just the way you left it, Mattie.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Was Mattie even their real daughter? I’d never seen a mother less feeling with her child. Mattie seemed to have gathered her composure, and she strode past her mother without so much as a glance. I paused at the threshold, meeting Mrs. Thorne’s aged face that had that oddly smooth sheen that revealed a skilled aesthetician with a ready Botox needle. “I’ll need keypad codes, and my operative will send an updated contract in the morning.”
“Of course,” she nodded, her demeanor about as yielding as her stretched skin. “We’ll ensure everything is in proper order. There is a room for you in her apartments.” She glanced at the rooms beyond the door, and then at her gold watch, like the capture of her own daughter was taking too long.
I barely managed to stop my eyes from rolling. “I can take things from here, Mrs. Thorne. Feel free to return to your night.”
“We knew you came highly recommended,” she replied with brisk relief. “We are happy to leave things in your capable hands.”
As far as they knew, I was abusing their daughter, not to mention what else a man could be capable of when left alone and in a position of power with a defenseless woman. And this bitch was waving me through. Green light. Go for it, Ghost.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
I nodded, my neck aching from the strain of holding back my honest reactions, and I walked through the door before it slammed shut behind me. The lock beeped, loud and long, and reminded me of prison security systems.
The “apartments,” as Mrs. Thorne had put it, led immediately into a small living area with well-stuffed, linen couches, a cream, quilted ottoman, and a framed flatscreen above a white brick fireplace. There were touches of Mattie there—a bright, yellow throw over the couch, weird pop art decor on the walls, and video game systems from every maker in the world. Then, the space continued straight back to a tiny kitchen that wrapped around to a bar facing the living space.
Mattie stood between the ottoman and the couch, her eyes huge and glassy. “You carried through.”
I pulled down one incredulous eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why would you?” she challenged dryly. “I’d have taken one look at this nightmare and marched right back out if I could.”
“Your parents are absolutely off their rocker,” I agreed, advancing on her slowly. “But as much as I consider you one of the top three pains in my ass—”
“You have three things up your ass?” she cut in.
“—I’m not going to leave you at the mercy of those maniacs.” I reached her and tweaked her nose. “But the faster you find that shit you need, the better. This place gives me the creeps.”
