Page 10 of Bound to the Crime Lord

“How is your brother doing?”

I stopped short, my back still turned to him. The room fell eerily silent, and the remnants of his words hung in the air like a pungent smell.

I pivoted on my feet slowly, bringing myself to face him again. “What do you mean, ‘how is my brother doing’?”

“I make it a habit of knowing everyone,amor. Don’t be too shocked. I had to do my due diligence.”

“Yourdue diligence?” I snapped. “Listen, you can mess with me all you want, but you will leave my brother out of it. Do you hear me?”

He held his hands up in mock surrender. “I would never think of harming the sick. Contrary to what you may think of me, I am not all monster. There are parts of me that are good.”

“The devil has no redeeming qualities.”

“The devil? Is that who you’re likening me to?”

“Are you not him in human form?”

“Touché.” He narrowed his eyes playfully at me.

I needed to keep reminding myself that this was not just a random man. This was the criminal of all criminals. I was sure that his rap sheet was longer than the Hudson River, which meant that I needed to tread carefully. I needed to teeter on the invisible fine line that had been drawn.

“Come work for me.”

I blinked, and his question sunk in only a few seconds later. Then I tilted my head back and let out the most boisterous laugh. When I finally calmed and looked at him, I saw the serious expression on his face.

He ran a hand through his raven-black hair and stared at me in waiting.

“You’re serious?”

“I’m not a man known for joking,amor.”

This man had lost his damn mind.

“Why me?” I didn’t understand why he would even want me to be a part of his dirty organization. “Surely, there are other doctors you can approach.”

“None of them are you.”

I glared at him. “I think we’re done here.”

I turned to leave, but he caught my arm. His touch was as hot as fire. I ripped my wrist from his hold.

“Don't touch me,” I spat.

He held up his hands in surrender. “Forgive me,amor. I got ahead of myself.”

I bit down on my tongue to keep myself from saying something that would likely get me shot.

“What would this job even entail?”

“Simple. All you need to do is join my organization. You become our on-call doctor, and your brother gets the treatmenthe requires to save his life. Not to mention, you will be getting twice as much as you are making right now.”

“I don't do this work for the money.”

“Clearly,” he drawled. “I admire how… noble you are at heart, but what I’m offering you here is the chance to save your brother.”

He was right. He was not only offering me the treatment money, but I would have enough to give him comfortable accommodation and get him care, too.

This was the deal with the devil that I had been willing to make only a few short days ago. But now that I stood here, faced with the option of taking the money or not, I hesitated.

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