Page 44 of Edge of Secrets

“Wrong,” I said.

She stared at me, and slowly shook her head. “That will never fly,” she said. “You would have to genuinely sequester me, like a criminal. I’m talking, with rope, duct tape, and a gag. I really don’t think so. That’s not who you are.”

“Goddamn it, Nell! If I hadn’t been there last night, you’d be dead! I changed the course of the way things went for you last night, and that gives me some responsibility. That gives me a say. So deal with me. You don’t have any choice.”

“Let go of my arm, Duncan,” she said quietly. “You’re scaring me.”

“Fine! It’s about fucking time you were scared!”

I let go of her wrist, and she rubbed it, avoiding my eyes. “You don’t seem to understand my situation,” she said. “I am broke, Duncan. The Snake Eyes situation ate up all my savings. I spent so much on that damned alarm system, and so much on taxis and cars, and I’m already a month behind on my rent. I don’t even have money for cab fare today, if I don’t get out there and go to work. And Norma depends on me. I won’t just bag on my employer with no warning, unless I have a broken limb or a contagious disease! It’s irresponsible. I was raised better than that.”

“I’ll give you money,” I said. “As much as you need.”

Her mouth tightened. “That’s not a solution, Duncan.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “You, waltzing out into the street, into your stalker’s arms? You call that a solution? Those assholes picked you up off a main thoroughfare, Nell. In downtown Manhattan, in front of multiple witnesses! By now, they know who I am and where I live. They’ll watch this place, too. They will nail you down eventually. They will find a way, when your guard is down. You can count on it. You have to change your mindset if you want to survive. So does your little sister, incidentally.”

She blew out a sigh, looking exhausted and lost. “Duncan, that may be true, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t have any choice but to work. I have to pay my rent, and I?—”

“Oh, you mean that place with the bugged phone, the compromised alarm, and the hostile video cameras?”

“I still have to pay for it!” she said. “Unless I find some other place to?—”

“Here,” I cut in. “Stay right here. With me.”

Her face was blank, her mouth open. “I … ah …”

“It’s the best solution,” I said. “There’s plenty of room. The security’s excellent.”

Nell threw up her hands. “Duncan, no!” she wailed. “No! I can’t! That’s very sweet, but it’s premature, and in any case, I still have to work!”

“No, you don’t. Norma will manage. She doesn’t want you to get killed, either. And it’s not premature. Not after last night. Work on game texts, if you have to work on something.” I gave her a hard, direct stare. “I don’t need help with rent or the groceries.”

“I noticed that.” Her voice was acid. “So what does this mean?”

I shrugged. “What does it sound like?”

She fixed me with a piercing gaze. “It sounds to me like I’d be kept.”

“It sounds to me like you’d be safe,” I countered.

“Safe, yes. And sexually available to you, twenty-four-seven?”

Anger uncoiled inside me, hot and red. “Would that be so terrible?”

She flicked that away with a sharp wave of her hand. “That’s not what I mean,” she said. “The sex is not the problem. On the contrary. The sex is great. It’s not that.”

“Well, thank God for that,” I said. “So what is your fucking problem, Nell? Is it that I have a lot of money? Big fucking deal. I worked for it. I have highly remunerative skills. You want to punish me for that?”

“No,” she snapped. “It’s not that.”

“Then why are you so uptight about accepting help from me? Because it is starting to mortally piss me off!”

She cleared her throat. “My mother was a prostitute,” she said.

Of all the things she could have told me, that was the last one I expected. “Huh?” I floundered. “Who? You don’t mean … the lady who got ...”

“No. Not her. That was Lucia, my adoptive mother.” Nell’s voice was colorless. “I’m talking about my birth mother. Elena Pisani. She wasn’t a streetwalking kind of prostitute. She was always kept in style by rich lovers. Nice apartments, beautiful clothes, jewels, spas, spending money. But in the end, that part’s just window dressing.”

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