Page 195 of When a Soul Cries

“You can learn.”

“Why me?”

“Because I’ve seen how you work.”

“You saw me at Cash Market twice.”

“And both times you were handling your shit.”

I looked away.

“I’m not taking a pity job.”

His expression immediately hardened.

“I don’t do pity payroll.”

That made me look back at him.

“If you work for me, you work. You show up on time. You learn the system. You deal with tenants. You do the paperwork. If you fuck up, somebody tells you that you fucked up.”

I blinked.

“Well damn.”

“You wanted a job.”

A reluctant smile tugged at my mouth.

He caught it.

“Come see the property.”

“Rome—”

“That’s it. Look at it. If you don’t want the job afterward, I’ll leave it alone.”

I studied his face.

“You promise?”

“Yeah.”

“…Fine.”

His smile told me he already thought he had won.

He hadn’t.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

About forty minutes later, I walked outside carrying Halo.

Rome was already headed toward his SUV when I suddenly stopped.

My stomach dropped.

“Shit.”