Page 81 of Red Captive

“Think nothing of it. Stay as long as you need.”

“We won’t stay for more than a couple of days. Information about us being here might leak into the wrong hands. I’ll make another plan.”

“No!” Roscoe barks, shaking his head. “That won’t happen. Not on my watch. You should know by now that my staff are loyal to a fault, or they become worm fodder. Make sure that you are not seen by outsiders. Otherwise, you are quite safe.” He takes my hand and kisses it again. “It is lovely to meet you, mydear. I hope that you join us for dinner in the VIP box.” He looks over at Steel. “As you know, the box has one-way glass. I think your lady friend will enjoy an evening out after being trapped in an apartment for so long with your sorry ass.” He chuckles.

“Thank you for the invite, but I’m not sure I’ll be up to it.” I make a face because a night doing something other than watching Netflix sounds amazing.

“I’ll get you some painkillers, and you will be just fine. You have the rest of the day to recover.”

“We’ll see.” Steel is frowning hard.

“I will leave you to rest. It is an open offer. There are fights every night of the week and twice on Sundays, and tomorrow happens to be a Sunday.” He laughs as he leaves.

“Fights? The Pit? What is it that you do exactly?” I’m pretty sure I can guess.

He sighs. “I fight for money.” He shrugs. “That’s it.” He shakes his head. “Nothing special or fancy.”

“Except that your manager just put you up in this apartment instead of turning us away, which means you’re good, probably really good at it.” My head still hurts, but the throbbing has become somewhat bearable.

“I get by.”

I think he’s being modest, but I don’t push it. “Why didn’t you tell me? It isn’t such a big deal.” I give a one-shouldered shrug that makes my head feel worse. Note to self: No moving if I can help it.

“We weren’t going to have chitchats, remember? There are things I don’t know about you. Like why were you having those nightmares? What’s wrong with your mom? Your favorite color? I know you’re into shit movies, but what is your favorite song? There are loads of things I don’t know, but we aren’t doing that…unless you’ve changed your mind.”

“Everything has changed, but I haven’t changed my mind about the important stuff.” I start to semi-panic about the future. “What now, Steel?” I’m trying to hold it together. “What are we going to do? What am I going to do? I got you into this. This isn’t what you signed up for.” A single tear tracks down my cheek.

“No crying.” He uses his thumb to rub it away.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. This isn’t your fault.”

“You don’t deserve to be caught up in this,” I say in a rush, another tear falling, which I swipe away.

“It was my decision. I agreed to take this assignment.”

“Under false pretenses. The general lied to you. I’m not even sure what he said to you exactly, only that most of it was bullshit.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He shrugs his massive shoulders. “I agreed to the parts that matter, and now I feel responsible for you.”

“You’re not, though. You know that, right?”

“I am, Jen, and I will see this through. I insist.”

“What does seeing it through even mean anymore?” My voice is hitched, and my throat is clogged. “Arctic said that if anything more went wrong, I would need to be on the next flight home. This would constitute things going wrong and big time. This is a huge mess.” I chew my lip. “I want nothing more than to see my family again, but I’m not going to be able to look after them. I need for this to still happen. They need the money.”

“Slow down. We’ll take this one step at a time. I’m going to go and meet with Arctic to see if I can find out what is going on.”

“How? Do you have an appointment? You don’t, do you? You can’t exactly call and then waltz into his offices.”

“You let me worry about that. I was second-in-command to the general. Jakes took over from me when I…um…when I left.That means that I was in charge of the royal guard. I have inside knowledge. I know all the weak entry points to the palace. I’ll get in. More importantly, I know Arctic’s movements. His schedule. I doubt it would have changed too much in the last four years.” A flash of doubt clouds his eyes for a second. “I’ll figure it out. Only thing is, I will have to leave you for a while.” His eyes fill with concern.

My heart starts to race. My hands turn sweaty.

“You will be safe with Roscoe, I swear.”

“Okay, I trust you, so I will trust him if you say he is aboveboard.”

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