Page 108 of Cruel Debts
When she reached out to tuck a stray hair behind my ear, I flinched away with a snort of disgust. "No, not me, huh? I'm special. But what about all these other girls in here? What about all the girls from the club that went missing and never came back? What about what's going on in your club right now?" Because it was clear now that the whole reason things were so hard for me at that club tonight was because it was being operated differently, probably with some very illegal things going on in the back hall of private performance rooms.
I didn't like what was going on here. Someone had to stop this from going any further?—
"Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that our auction tonight will end early. Please proceed in an orderly fashion to the emergency exits, and your purchases will beprocessed and your products shipped to you within twenty-four hours. We appreciate your patronage?—"
The announcer was cut off, and someone wrestled the mic from wherever it had fallen to make an announcement of their own.
"Dear fuckwads with too much money and too little sense, we're here to break up your little party. You might as well stay where you are, because not a single one of you honestly deserves to be breathing anymore."
Hawke.
What? How?
Gunshots rang out in the direction security headed just minutes ago. I realized belatedly that Minnie had undone my shackles, and I was essentially standing here with my freedom in hand. All I had to do was seize it and run.
I wasn't fast enough.
The second my feet started to move in the direction of a door, Minnie's calloused hands snapped out and gripped my bicep, yanking me against her body. I tripped on the heels they'd put me in and struggled to right myself, but that was when I spotted what Minnie had in her hands.
It was a pistol. And I'd bet anything it was loaded.
Shit.
"Listen, girl, it's nothing personal, okay? I made a mistake when I was younger, and I never thought I'd ever run into you in real life. When I did, I figured I could do one nice thing for the guy my boyfriend hurt, make sure I'd never see you in here with these shackles on." She was rambling now as the gun inched toward my temple, and I wasn't confident enough to try and wrestle it from her. "But you just had to go and walk away from safety, huh? It's out of my hands now. They know who you are. I can't get you out of here anymore." She leaned over my shoulder, her eyes wild, and I knew then that whatever had happenedwhile I was gone had changed her. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry about all this."
"Put the gun down, Minnie, and nobody has to get hurt."
FORTY-FIVE
LIAM
Never in my life,save for once, had my hand ever shook when I lifted a gun and pointed it at a human with the intention of killing them. The first time it happened was the first time I was forced to kill a woman who'd been involved with a target of ours. My superiors ordered us to take the shot no matter what, and the woman he had in his arms counted in that 'no matter what.' It made no difference to them if she was innocent, if she had any idea at all what kind of man she danced with, if she was there of her own free will or forced. To them, she was expendable, just another thin piece of flesh to shoot through to get to him.
I had a gun put tomyhead, was forced to take the long distance shot through her back as she danced him in front of a window.
I became disillusioned that day. After finding out that the woman I'd shot through was an accomplice to the murder of a whole school of children of the regime's enemies, I realized that women could be just as bad as men. That there was no fine line between good and evil. That even those who looked like they'd never be a part of something vile like that could still have their finger on the trigger and their hand in the pile.
Minnie had never struck me as the type, but I shouldn't have been surprised. And considering she had her hands around Trinity's arm and the barrel of her gun up against her temple, I didn't have time to deliberate the
It didn't make sense, though.
"Put the gun down, Minnie, and nobody has to get hurt."
Her eyes darted up to meet mine, and in that second, I could see her for what she really was: a monster. Someone along the line destroyed her, helped her into this world, and somewhere along the way, she lost herself trying to survive in a world of the vilest specimens humanity had to offer.
She was past pity, though.
Her gun barrel caressed the side of Trinity's head, and I read the pure terror in Trin's eyes as she met my gaze. "Oh look, it's one of the cretin the Guild sent to look after you and bust up this trafficking ring. Too bad they're terrible at their jobs."
We were only bad at our job because Minnie handed us something to distract us. They likely planned to move operations outside of Port Wylde, outside of our reach. If they succeeded, we'd be screwed, and Trinity would be long gone by now.
I wasn't about to let that happen.
"Trinity—"
"Don't you talk to her!" Minnie snapped, shoving the barrel roughly against her cheek, leering like a loon. "You say one more word to her, or she talks back to you, and I'll blast her brains all over this fucking place." Her finger pulled back the hammer on her out-of-date revolver, and she took a deep breath, her personality nothing like the Minnie that had hired us on to protect her girl. Nothing like the Minnie who'd extracted a favor from The Lilly St. Clair.
She wasn't anything like she'd been two weeks ago. Or a day ago. This was a desperate woman.
