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“Do you wanna tell me why your first option is to play games with your life?”
“Bait isn’t dying,” I correct.
He scratches at his temple, as if I’m giving him a headache. I probably am. I have the feeling I’ve given my president so many restless, sleepless nights over the past fifteen months. “I’m gonna kill you myself.”
I clamp my teeth together to keep the smart remark on my tongue.
“I know it isn’t what you want to do, Prez, but it makes the most sense. Richardson won’t be able to resist having me in his fucking hands.”
“And that’s exactly why it ain’t happenin’. What if something goes wrong, Trick, and he tortures you to death?”
It’s not outside the realms of possibility, so he’s right to be concerned. “That won’t happen.”
His eyes are granite as he watches me. “I need your word that you ain’t gonna go off and do this without my permission.”
Like I did last time…
He doesn’t say it. He doesn’t have to.
“Prez—”
“Give me the fuckin’ words right now, Trick, or I’ll pull that kutte off your back myself.”
Fuck me. “I’m not gonna do anything without asking,” I promise.
“You fuckin’ scare me,” he admits. “Every time I think you’re gettin’ into a good place, you pull something like this.”
I scare myself, so that’s hardly surprising. “I’m good, Prez. I’m not trying to die here, I promise. I just see a way to end this without anyone else dying.”
He leans back in his chair as if the weight of the world is carried on his shoulders. “I want that prick and his men dead as well. You ain’t the only one with someone you care about at risk. Pia’s doin’ good, and I don’t want a single thing to unsettle the progress she’s made. So, yeah, I get why you’d wanna do this, but you’re not expendable.”
These words remind me of what I’d told Heidi that day in the nursery when she’d given me that crap about just being my live-in nanny.
“I know.”
“Get out of my sight,” he mutters.
I stand and head for the door, knowing I may not be able to keep the promise I just gave to Howler, because if the chance arises to take that fucker out, I will take it and I won’t feel so much as an ounce of guilt for doing it.
CHAPTER 16
HEIDI
I’m still groggy when Trick takes me back to the house. The pills the doc left for me aren’t as good as the morphine he’d injected me with, but they’re still strong enough to make me drowsy. I can barely keep my eyes open during the car ride back. Neither can Sophia, who is slumped in her car seat, snoring softly. It’s been an exhausting time for her as well.
When the car stops, Trick climbs out. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a second.”
He unhooks the car seat and takes it inside while I wait with Bobby. The prospect glances in the rearview mirror at me before averting his attention to the windscreen.
“Bobby?”
“Yeah?”
“Keep your wits about you,” I say. “Prospects have a habit of…” Dying horribly. I wince. “Just… be careful, yeah?”
He meets my gaze in the mirror. “I will.”
Trick steps back out of the house empty-handed and comes to the back door of the car. He leans down and tries to lift me out.
