Page 16 of Falcon's Prey

“Are you telling me where we’re going?” I asked her.

“Does it fucking matter? You do as I say,” she told me as we stepped into the elevator.

I smirked at her. “It matters in the way that if I see someone trying to kill you, I’ll stop them or not. Then again, a little spilled blood never hurt anyone.”

Ember stared at me, and I took the cigarette from her lips and took a drag from it just as the elevator opened again.

I got in the Maybach, waiting for her to come in. Since I didn’t open the door for her, she glared at me.

“This is the part where you tell me where I’m taking you.”

She didn’t answer me. Instead she typed an address on the GPS. I drove around the city, trying not to stare at her; she looked so different than she did on my screen when I’d researched her. Still, she was dumb and naïve.

“Are you fucking serious right now?” I said when the GPS took us to McDonald’s.

Ember ignored me. “Park right there.”

I did as she said, surprised the diamond princess was going to get out and not use the drive-through. Not even a minute later, workers started to come out, holding Happy Meals in boxes.

“Thank you.” She waved goodbye.

She then put in another address, and I followed the directions until we were in the underground parking for the biggest children’s hospital in the state.

Once out, Ember grabbed her purse, and she gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll be on the twentieth floor.”

Then the bitch walked away, leaving me with all the fucking food. I stood there watching her go when I pulled my burner phone out.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me,” I said.

“Took you long enough, asshole,” Pam said.

“I know. Things are going to be harder than I thought.”

When Pam didn’t answer immediately, I knew that wasn’t a good sign.

“It better not be because you have a hard-on for that little bitch, because I swear to God—”

“You swear what, Pam?” I growled. “Don’t forget where we stand. Just because I have a soft spot for you, it doesn’t mean—”

“I’m sorry. Yeah, look, be careful okay, asshole? There’s a reason why everything is so shady, and I’m worried.”

“I got to go. I don’t have time for your sentimental bullshit.”

I hung up, then took all the boxes to the twentieth floor.

When I finally made it to the correct floor, the staff helped me. I had one box when they led down the hall. The room was big with a bunch of kids, all of them sick, but they were smiling. In the center of them all was Ember, and she was smiling at them. The light hit her, and the choker at her neck seemed like it glowed.

I’d done more than my fair share of research on Ember, and not once did I come across her visits to sickly kids. Fund-raisers to raise money for bullshit events for other rich people, yes, I’d seen her plastered all over, but this I didn’t have a clue about, which made me curious, and I wondered if I should pull in a favor.

I walked toward Ember, and I got to listen to the conversation she was having with a little boy.

“Tell you what—you don’t give up, you keep strong, and I’ll get you a dog as a gift.” When Ember smiled, the little kid got twinkles in his eyes.

“Do you have dogs?”

Ember cast me a side glance. “I have one. It’s not all that great, Dion, but nothing I can do about it.”

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