Page 33 of Condemned to You

“Watching the sheer panic on you is more fun,” Birdy said with a chuckle. “You should have seen yourself at the spa.”

So I wasn’t being paranoid, he was there watching. It sent a shiver up my spine. How did I let my guard down so easily?

“If you’re here for me, I’ll come willingly. Let the girl go.” I shot back as though I was engaging in conversation when all I wanted to do was rip his head off.

“Emilio!” Bethany managed to wiggle free, but the young man grabbed her once again.

“It’s okay,” I assured her.

Birdy nodded to the young man to take Bethany away. She was resistant at first, but when I shot her a look to comply, she knew I couldn’t get us out of this one. I watched as the young man took her to a nearby van, placed her inside, and drove off.

“We will keep her until we know you will fully cooperate. No funny business this time.”

“Who is we?” I asked.

A sinister smile crossed his face. “You’ve been hunting us down for a while now.”

The wheels in my brain were turning. The man at the spa, who left burned marks on Aria, he wasn’t working alone. He had a team. The blood began pumping through my veins, I could feel it flowing against my skin.

“What do you want?”

Birdy pulled out a cigarette and offered me one from the pack. “Do as we say and she lives.”

“I don’t smoke,” I replied. Since Bethany was with me, I hadn’t smoked a single day since she came to Iceland.

“You can take the man out of the game, but you can’t take the game out of the man.” Birdy lit up the cigarette in his mouth and let out a puff. “It’s only a matter of time before you dive back in. Might as well pick the stronger team.”

“Stronger team?” I cleared my throat to hide from laughing in his face. “If you think lurking in the shadow makes you a strong team, you’re all cowards – won’t even show your faces.”

Birdy pointed to the side of his face that was slightly burnt, “Do I look like a coward to you?”

I knew straight away he had no fears. There was a scar across his face and part of it looked burned. A million thoughts ran through my mind. Who, what, where, and why.

He went on, “Someone like me would get noticed easily amongst a crowd of people, but the one you should be afraid of most – the mastermind - has been lurking around you for years. Close enough to slit your throat.”

My blood started to boil. If this was true then that means there was a rat. We don’t take lightly to those. For it to happen under my watch meant it was someone I trusted.

“What do you want from me?”

“Come work for us.”

“I don’t know who us is.”

“MC. He wants you on the team.”

“MC?” I questioned hoping to get more information.

“Yeah. MC.”

“Why?”

“You’re good at what you do. Or do you not care for the girl? Banging your boss’s sister is ballsy of you. Maybe we should go for Cassie.”

The mention of my sister almost blinded me with rage. If I had a gun I’d shoot him in the face right now. “If you think I believe for a second that you know where my sister is, you are as dumb as you look.”

See, Father Joel didn’t even know where Cassie was hiding. Even if she was followed out of the Church, Cassie was good at losing someone on her tail. I made sure her place had a private escape. Our spot, a place neither one of us spoke about to anyone else, was truly a safe place. I was calling his bluff.

“I can call goldilocks and tell him to slit Bethany’s throat.”