Page 64 of Realm of the Wicked

Was he seriously suggesting figuring out how to get rid of Stella and Grace for more money? He was human – of course he was.

I didn’t need my ledger to weigh up my decision. Rent in the city had increased. Not that I’d really been paying attention. Stella would never be able to afford an increase in rent without taking on another job, and she’d work herself to collapse.

Protecting someone who’d given up everything? Or let someone else destroy their life for the sake of Vegas, baby?

Easy decision.

Not even Agatha could find fault in my reasoning, I was sure. I turned away from the newspapers, keeping a close eye on the landlord as he walked into town, bragging about ruining two young girls’ lives the entire time. Bragging.

I wasn’t a great person. I wasn’t even good. Yet, I’d never experienced a time when I’d made a decision based solely on money. And I’d never weigh Stella against anything.

Luckily for me, the landlord was slow, stopping on the way to town to light a cigarette. The drizzle didn’t help his lighter, and he tried and failed multiple times before cursing. See? Even fate was helping me along.

I forced myself to plaster the fakest smile on my face. ‘Hey, man, let me help you with that.’ I reached into my pocket, materializing a lighter.

Stella’s landlord spun to face me, a grateful look on his pasty face. ‘You’re a lifesaver, man. These damn things never work when you need them to.’

‘Don’t I know it.’

I held out my hand, he reached for the lighter, and the moment his skin brushed against mine, I snapped my fingers. When I opened my eyes, we were back in my study.

‘What the fuck?’ The landlord spun around, cigarette forgotten, now leaving a mark on my carpet. ‘Where am I? What the fuck did you do?’

‘I’ll give you one guess.’ I smiled, a true one this time. ‘And it’s not Vegas, baby.’

‘Is this some kind of joke? Did Sam put you up to this? I swear to God, I’ll have his fucking ass.’ He was still spinning, trying to make sense of what had just transpired. They all did. They were all fucking idiots, and not one, not one single person, could work out where they were before I told them.

‘You’re in Hell,’ I intoned, tired of the spiel already. ‘Your soul will be taken from you now, and held in stasis while you work wherever you are placed for the rest of eternity.’

‘Hell?’

I knew what came next. It always came next. I leaned against my desk, waiting.

‘I don’t belong here, man. I don’t belong in Hell. I never did anything wrong.’ Tears were bubbling behind his eyes. Even the toughest ones cried. Funny, that. ‘I swear. Anything I’ve done, everyone else has done, too. Sure, I’ve stolen. Maybe had too much fun with that girl back in college, but she said yes, I swear she did.’

I rolled my eyes. Not guilty, but a track record a mile long. He hadn’t even gotten to the reason I’d pulled him here yet.

‘I was just trying to get through life, I swear!’ he begged, full-on sobbing now. ‘Please, don’t do this.’

I sighed. ‘Does the name Stella Whittier mean anything to you?’

‘Stella – oh, that bitch in 2C? Man, if that’s all you want, you can have her. I’ve never touched her. She and her sister are stuck-up brats; they’re all yours. I can get you a set of her keys, whatever, man.’ His eyes widened, and he held his hands out to me in offering.

‘Are you… are you really offering me your tenant, just like that?’ I blinked. Did he really think I would be pleased to hear him handing over Stella like a piece of meat?

‘Isn’t that what you want? I’ve done it before with my other tenants. Made a little extra cash on the side, no one was ever the wiser, and everyone got what they wanted.’

I held up my hand, sick of his babbling. ‘Are you telling me in that entire spiel you gave me of your supposed sins, you didn’t think that selling access to your tenants was something to mention?’

‘I gave them a cut of it!’ he pleaded.

I couldn’t believe this fucker. I took a deep breath, clenching my hands into fists. ‘I brought you here because you were going to raise the rent on Stella and her sister. Good tenants, no? And you offered her to me like she was nothing but a fucking cash transaction to you.’

‘I thought that was what you wanted!’ His voice cracked.

I was over this asshole. I couldn’t believe this. Reaching for his soul, I held it in my grasp. He screamed, and I huffed. ‘Let’s get one thing straight here, little man. I will never pay for access to Stella. She is the best thing on your fucked-up planet, the best thing to ever happen to it, and if she were to grant me even a moment of her time, it would be because she fucking chose to. Not because I paid some jackass.’

He was still pleading, even as I removed his soul from his body with a roar. Fucking jackass. Stella was better off without him. I’d go back to the human realm and make sure things were in place for someone to take over the apartment complex who cared. Someone Stella could be safe with, even when I wasn’t able to watch.