Page 87 of Colton

I give her hand a small squeeze. “I’m always here if you need anything. I may not be wealthy enough to marry you myself and whisk you away, but if you need a getaway car ready, I’m your gal.”

“You drive worse than Sophia,” she deadpans, and I snort. “But thank you. I mean it. I appreciate you being there for me more than you know.”

33

Artemis offers a lighter, and I take it, the tip of my cigar lighting on fire. The dark, damp room is anything but appropriate for us, but for the man sitting across from us? It’s more than enough to scare him.

Clyde’s leaning against the wall, his expression blank. He’s staring at Maxwell, and this entire scene brings back memories from the time in the bedroom at the venue. This time, however, his face is barely recognizable, courtesy of Clyde’s fists.

I inhale the smoke, watching Maxwell while he squirms in the chair. Artemis tied him up, she always wants to be involved in the violent side of this unsavory business. His eyes are closing slowly from the bruising and swelling; his lip is split, blood dry on his chin.

“What,” he starts speaking, “is the meaning of this?”

“Don’t act clueless,” I say, tapping the cigar and allowing the ash to fall to the floor. “If you do, this will only prolong the inevitable, and I have a school board meeting in the morning. I’d rather not spend more time than necessary with you.”

“How dare you treat me this way?” He hisses. “You seem to forget who I am, mayor,” he says the title with disdain, spitting it out. He’s angry, his body shaking, and whether it’s from fury or pain, I can’t tell.

“No, you seem to forget who we are,” I drawl. “The only reason you were allowed to roam freely after the whole room incident was purely because I lacked evidence. Now? You won’t be as lucky.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

This is Artemis’ time to shine. With a nod from me, she steps forward, a wicked grin on her face. She pulls a spare chair that’s as old as this room itself, barely holding together. She sits down, her legs spread, elbows resting on each knee. She’s staring at him with such an intense, insane look that I’m grateful she’s on our side.

“Ah, you see,” she starts talking, her voice surprisingly sweet. “I broke into your house.”

“Impossible,” Maxwell stammers, glancing between the three of us. “My house is password-protected.”

“The password is your birthday,” Artemis deadpans. “I got it on the first try. Which isn’t surprising; only an arrogant bastard like you would use his own birthday as a password and be conceited enough to think no one would guess it. Unfortunately for you, I eat arrogant little shits for breakfast.”

“You bitch.”

Artemis nods. “That, I am. But that’s not why we’re here. You see, as good as it is to keep a paper trail of your transactions when you hire people to do robbery for you, and to kill in your stead, you really shouldn’t keep that in your house. Or, at least, not somewhere easily accessible.”

Maxwell pales under the dim light, and if possible, Artemis’ smile widens. He swallows, and this is when the fear truly sets in. I can see the gears turning in his head, and I can tell just how anxious he’s becoming with each passing second.

Clyde’s still silent for now, but his gun is glimmering under the poor lighting, only adding more to the fear Maxwell’s feeling. His breathing is becoming shallow, and he’s desperately trying to figure out a way out of this.

“I don’t think you can prove shit,” he says through gritted teeth.

Artemis leans back in the chair, completely unbothered. “Thankfully, you don’t get paid for thinking. Through your transactions, I was able to find the men that you paid,” she’s cut off by Clyde’s obnoxious, fake cough, and she rolls her eyes. “Fine — we — were able to find those men, and they broke under pressure. They’re professional when it comes to robberies, but even they can’t keep their mouth shut when they’re threatened with guns and knives.”

“That means nothing,” he says. “I’m being framed.”

“Sure you are,” Artemis nods. “Then, they were able to lead us back to the man you hired to kill, and well… here we are. We have more than enough proof to send you behind bars where you’d rot for the rest of your life.”

“You wouldn’t,” he says. “Even if you think you have something on me, I have a great team of attorneys.”

“Correct,” Artemis beams. “Which brings me to my next point — dead men tell no tales.”

Now, he looks at me. He’s almost pleading with his eyes, and the silence stretches. At this rate, he’ll get a heart attack and die on his own accord from sheer fear of what could possibly happen to him.

“You’re the mayor!” He screams, throwing the word like an accusation. “You’re supposed to protect the people of this town!”

“Which I’ll do by getting rid of you,” I drawl, taking another inhale of the cigar.

I’ve never killed a person before. But I’m not innocent, either. I’ve gotten rid of pests bigger than Maxwell in my time, with fewer worries on my mind. “You were given a chance after we let you go. And tell me, why is it that Artemis found a file in your safe, full of my sister’s pictures, and her detailed background check?”

“Is it a crime to know the enemy?”