Page 25 of Beautifully Ruined
“So, what happens to me? Am I now your prisoner? For good?”
“No. You’re not. But we need to lay low.”
“I don’t need to do anything. I’m innocent.”
“Innocence isn’t a get out of jail free card, Violet. I need to make sure the threat is eliminated.”
“I see.”
“Violet—”
“Just drive.” She closes her eyes and leans back into her seat, making it clear she’s not about to say another word.
I swear under my breath and do as asked.
Usually,I spend time down in the basement of Enzo’s place. On the outside, it looks normal, inside, it’s modern, a smart house, and a fortress.
I lead Violet upstairs. She’ll be staying in one of the guest rooms, rooms that no one uses except for me when I need to stay during all-nighters that turn into all-weekers.
But I sit her in the living room, and get a soft throw, putting it around her, ignoring her narrowed eyes.
“Need any help?” Enzo asks as I go through the kitchen to where the bar is, the one we use when we need to unwind.
He’s got a bottle of rum in one hand and a glass in the other, but I can tell he’s contemplating drinking straight from the bottle.
I get the whiskey and open the wet bar fridge, pulling out a bottle of Coke. Then I fill a glass with ice.
He takes a swig from the bottle. “Fucking usually love shit like that… But a missing girl? There are a lot of missing girls out there. I keep going over which one it might be. Because one single girl is odd if he’s into trafficking. And didn’t we know about it?”
“One isn’t odd if he wanted a specific girl.” I pour a few of the cubes into the glass for me and then fill hers up with whiskey and Coke. More whiskey than Coke because I want Vi to pass the fuck out and sleep. Not drunk necessarily, but just enough of something to give her that extra nudge.
Then again, the state I think she’s in, it might not work.
“You think this is a custom job kind of thing?”
I pour a triple into my glass and swallow down half, loving the heat that burns away some of the pains and aches, at least until morning. “Instinct says no, but I’m not putting faith in that. Just cold hard facts and right now, we have none.”
“Yeah.” He takes another swallow of his rum from the bottle, and that, more than anything, tells me this affects Enzo, too.
“We find her, and we find what happened. Or we find what happened, the reasons why, and then we find her. This could be something we can use against him. He still doesn’t know who The Ghost is..”
It’d be easier to destroy Andronski if that was the case.
“Or…” Enzo says, “This is a trade for someone else. An incentive. Leverage.”
“And we can’t ask Isaac any questions to see if he knows about this.”
He steps up, pats my arm. “Go see to your girl. I’ll be in the basement, watching security footage around here while I do some work.”
I head off with the drinks, and she’s where I left her. Of course, she’s not asleep.
The throw is on the floor, and she sits, stiff, hands on her knees.
“I got you a drink.”
“I don’t need a drink.” But Violet takes it. She takes a sip and coughs. “You think getting me drunk is going to make me forget?”
“No. Not getting drunk. But I think a drink might help you sleep.”
