Page 50 of The Devil You Don't Know

I followed closely behind Liam, keeping my fists at my side and my head forward.

We were almost away when Samuel’s voice boomed, “Not you, kid.”

I bit at my lips hard, trying to keep it under control as I spun on my heel to face the man of my nightmares. Samuel stood there, his crooked finger pointed my way. His green eyes narrowed, and his yellowed teeth were visible amidst his sneer.

“Sir?” I said, trying to keep my cool.Don’t show fear. It was a constant mantra with him. Samuel was akin to an animal—he smelt fear and weakness.

“You frequent the Dockside,” he said, his green stare piercing my metaphorical armor. This was it…the end.

I nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. Samuel would only give me enough rope to wrap around my throat. My death would be his honor, not mine.

“Did you see him there?” Samuel narrowed his stare. The scent of cigarette ash attacked my nostrils as he blew smoke into my face.

I shrugged, trying to keep a straight face. If he was still trying to find Nate, he didn’t know about Audry. I had to protect her. “It’s possible, I guess. The place has been packed recently.” I did my best to stick as close to the truth as possible. “Tourists, you know.”

Samuel studied me for longer than comfortable. My skin crawled under his investigation. As he took another drag and whispered into the ear of his right-hand man, dread overwhelmed me. I was done for.

“Very well,” he said, nodding to us. “This is Widow business, and seeing as you three still owe a debt, it would be best if you left.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

My lungs screamed in relief as I inhaled deeply and rushed out of there. Logan and Liam were at my side.

“He knew,” I yelled after we made it far enough away. The park nearby was deserted and pitch black, but we all were familiar. This was where we grew up.

“If he knew, we wouldn’t have left that building,” Liam said.

“Your father loves to torture. This is it. He’s playing with me. He wanted me to lie to him in front of everyone. Next thing you know, I’ll be yanked from my bed and my tongue cut out.” I breathed heavily, the weight of my actions crushing me. “You know he loves to find new ways. The word on the street is he is starting to experiment with rats. What if he has those creepy rodents eat my tongue? I can’t handle that.”

“Breathe.” Logan stepped forward, trying to calm me down.

“Breathe? That is your solution!” I yelled, thrusting my hands down to my side. “We’re fucked. You were right, Liam. We are so…beyond…fucked.”

Liam glanced around, concerned. His stare narrowed into the dark brush, his shoulders tensing.

“Let’s get to Carson’s,” Liam ordered.

We walked toward Carsons, abandoning the car and not saying another word.

But it wasn’t silent. My mind raced with thoughts and the urgency to check on Audry. I scrolled through the unanswered messages, which did nothing to placate the anxiety. She hadn’t responded—either she didn’t want to talk to me, or she was dead. I preferred heraliveand not speaking to me.

Carson’s wasn’t too far, but far enough that we were all tired when we got there. As we followed her up to the loft, the pale yellow walls were the same.

I threw myself onto the couch, my life ticking down by the second.

“The plan’s almost ready,” Liam muttered.

“Plan?” Logan and I said at the same time, glancing at one another.

“Carson has been helping me…gather what we needed,” he explained.

Logan stared at his sister, who twisted her fingers nervously in front of her. “Helping?” he said, betrayal prominent.

“Samuel isn’t going to let us off the hook when our payments are up,” Liam explained, stepping in front of Carson. “There have been…rumors.”

“Unsubstantiated rumors!” Carson added, rolling her shoulders back. “Some of the girls I know…they have heard things about the crew. We aren’t certain?—”

“He wants to kill us, huh?” Logan said, cutting straight to the point.

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