Page 89 of Alpha Bait

"It took a lot of hard work. And a lot of money."

"That money was wasted. You either have to kill me or when you leave here, I will disappear and make sure that you never find me again."

"I did not come to hurt you, Indie," he said gently.

Before everything that had happened, I would've trusted my cousin implicitly. Now, I had no clue who to trust.

"What do you want?"

"Your hair..." He mumbled.

Of course, that was all he noticed.

"I don't want to talk about my hair. Why did you come here? Why the hell did you track me down?" I had started yelling now with a frenetic rage that I had never allowed myself to express.

I had every right to my anger. My own family had forced me into hiding after I'd sacrificed everything for them. They forced me to change my identity and to leave behind everything about who I once was. I feared more than anything that Donnie would take me back in one last act of defiance against my right to self-determination.

"Calm down, Indie," he pleaded, his soft voice growing higher pitched as if he were trying to sooth a bleeding animal.

"Where's my dog?" I blurted out, heart racing.

If Donnie hurt Athena to get in here, that would tell me everything I needed to know.

"Closed her in the bathroom," Donnie replied, "She's friendly."

Skeptically, I opened my bathroom door and Athena bounded out, rushing up to me and sniffing. I glowered at Donnie, but secretly I was relieved that he wasn't as cold as my brother. Jamal wouldn't have let the dog survive.

I relaxed and patted Athena on the head.

I inhaled slowly and then released before I spoke again.

"Does my brother know that you found me?"

"Your mother believes that you're dead."

"Answer my question," I snapped.

Giving Donnie some trust didn't mean I believed his intentions wholly pure.

"No, Jamal doesn't know."

I exhaled a sigh of relief. If Jamal didn't know where I was, there was a chance that I could go deeper underground and expend the remainder of my resources to find a new home outside of the United States entirely.

There was still hope for an escape.

Donnie had other plans for me. He told me why he'd come.

"Something terrible is happening in New York, Indie. You need to come back. You need to put an end to this."

I snorted, "what the hell could be so bad that you need me to put an end to it?"

"Your brother's life is in danger."

I snorted in response.

"You expect me to care? Jamal tried to sell me. He killed Ames Carmichael. He would sell me out if it would make him a richer man. If someone has decided to kill him, that's not my problem."

"Would that change if I told you that someone was Richard?"

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