Page 150 of Fallen Omega

I don’t like them.

I don’t like her.

And Ghost is enough like me for me to know he won’t like her, either.

Business?

Blackmail?

An arrangement of convenience where two goals converge?

Something like that.

But one thing’s for certain—he’s not going to turn up any time soon.

He’d do it after dark, or drop in out of nowhere, but he has a style.

And I’m not going to get anything by standing here.

I take a drag and shake my head, moving off. I’ve got other things to do and I don’t think we’re getting to Candice this way. Short of getting arrested or kidnapping her, I’m not sure how to get information from her.

I don’t like her extreme routine. It speaks of someone withOCD or similar, something that takes routine to another dimension. She isn’t that. Her time to work does vary. She goes out. But it’s all…planned. And when she goes out, it’s never one on one.

Maybe her extreme routine’s a cover.

If Ghost shows, I’m not getting in. I’ll just have a visual on what I know.

Because Ghost is Ghost.

He’s involved.

I feel that, down to my sinew. But if he was going to work for someone, it would be at the top. And he’d go through her, not an underling.

They’re meeting but I don’t know how or where.

She wouldn’t tell me if I took her, and I don’t think she’d tell me even if I tortured her. As to leading me places? I’d have to follow her nonstop and have a small army doing the same.

Him? He’s the smarter bet. I find him, bring him the fuck in, and then we can get somewhere.

My project isn’t Candice Helmont.

It’s Ghost.

I walk back to the car and drive to Pandora’s.

And I smell Liz before I see her. She’s somewhere she shouldn’t be. Outside, a pissed off Julien standing at a distance, staring at her as she tilts her face to the evening sky like it’s the sun.

“Knight told me to watch her while he’s downstairs with Dante. Should I drag her in?” He crosses mighty, tattooed arms. “It’s not safe out here. Not when it gets busy.”

It’s not safe for her at all.

She knows I’m here. Her language changes, going from relaxed to vibrating.

I wave Julien back to work and I motion to Liz to go inside.

For a moment I think she’s going to complain but instead she just sighs and goes in. I follow, keeping at just the right distance to make her uncomfortable and to keep her moving.

On the club floor she turns. “I’m…I’m not sorry I went outside. I’m…trapped.”

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