Page 120 of Price of Angels

He took a breath and, staring at the table before them, said, “How long have you been banging Jessup’s daughter?”

It was more direct than Michael had expected. The question was vulgar in his ears; his brain recoiled from it.

“She’s been working at Bell Bar since August. She always sits and talks to me.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Michael frowned. “Since before Christmas.”

Ghost slanted him a quick, narrow glance. “Did you know who she was?”

“Not at first. But then she told me.”

“When?”

“Right around the time you let them start selling for you.”

“Christ. You didn’t think you ought to mention it?”

“It wasn’t anybody’s business.”

“It’s theclub’sbusiness,” Ghost said, voice undercut with a violent anger. “We’ve got fifteen of Jasmine’s friends walking around here with their tits out, but no, you had to go after that bastard’s daughter. Do you understand the difficult position this puts me in?”

“No,” Michael said, and meant it. He met Ghost’s glare with a level one of his own. “Tell them to fuck off.”

Ghost twitched a non-smile. “They’ve already called their boss. Now Shaman wants a meeting, and I wasn’t ready for that yet.”

When Michael didn’t respond, Ghost continued: “I need more time to put together some intel on this guy. I don’t want to walk into a sitdown blind. And the Jessups are saying they can put the pin back in the grenade, and things can go back to normal. For a price.”

Michael stiffened. “What price?”

“I hand over the girl, and they keep on quietly selling.”

“You can’t do that,” Michael said, without missing a beat.

Ghost sighed. “I don’t want to do it. But I don’t see what choice I’ve got.”

“Have the meeting with Shaman. I’ll be with you. Walsh will come with us. The whole club can come.”

“And what do the Jessups do in the meantime? Throw more bricks through my daughter’s window?” His eyes flashed, murderous like Mercy’s had been earlier.

“Holly won’t go near Ava again. It won’t happen–”

“The safety of my family isn’t up for discussion.”

“What about the safety of mine?” Michael growled before he could catch himself. “If Holly goes back to them, they’ll kill her. And after what they’ll do to her before that, she’ll be glad for it.”

Ghost frowned. “I know these guys are assholes–”

“You don’t know anything about them. There’s not a word for what they are. What they’ve done to Holly…No. No. I won’t let her go back with them. I would never do that to her.”

Ghost studied him a long, unreadable moment. “What sort of story did that girl spin for you?” he asked.

“What?”

“She cried on your shoulder, didn’t she? Fed you a sob story. What did she want from you?”

Michael ground his molars together.

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