Page 21 of His Puppet

“No.” Blade’s tone is hard, and his eyes match it.

I believe him when he says he doesn’t handle this sort of thing. He’s no better than someone who does, and he has absolutely zero give-a-shit. I have a feeling this guy isn’t prone to manipulation.

But thereisone tactic I bet no one has ever tried on him.

He squeezes my hand and slowly stands up, watching to see if I’ll get up with him. I use him as leverage and lift myself up on unstable legs.

“Thank you,” he says, nodding like I’ve just agreed to a business transaction. He turns and guides me toward the stairs. “It won’t be as bad as you’re imagining it,” he lies. “Just do what you’re told.”

I halt, and he jerks to a stop, still holding my hand. He turns around.

“You said Victor is going to come to that house… You mean to see me?”

“Yes.”

I swallow. “What is he going to do?”

Blade doesn’t miss a beat. “I don’t know.”

“I do.”

Blade tilts his head, not understanding.

“He’s going to inject me with heroin, and then he’ll probably ‘break me in’, so to speak. A girl like me is going to need to be broken before I can be … sold.”

“Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the workings of my coworkers. Now let’s go.”

He tugs me toward the stairs, and I try to stop him, but he doesn’t let me this time. He practically drags me, and he makes it onto the first step before something I say stops him.

“What if you broke me in instead?”

He turns around and has a look on his face that tells me he thinks I’m insane. “What?”

I can’t tell if I’ve intrigued him or if he’s once again pretending to humor what I have to say.

“I don’t want Victor to be the one to do it. He… He looked at me like he wanted to…”

“I know,” Blade says before I have to articulate the depravity of the psychopath.

“It can’t be him.”

“They're going to do what they want, Emily. Regardless.”

“No.” I shake my head. “You can tell him I’ve already been handled. You can inject me with heroin yourself if you want to. I’ve already told you their plan, you just have to do it before they have a chance. I’ll show up high, raped, and complacent. You’re a capo, right? Wouldn’t it be, like, disrespectful not to listen to you?”

That last part I add on purpose. I watched the fury in Blade’s eyes when he and Victor had their pissing match.

Disrespect me one more time, I fucking dare you.Blade looked like he hoped Victor would do it. The two men obviously don’t like each other.

Blade’s face slowly softens into something I can’t quite make out. It isn’t even close to empathy but isn’t quite amusement either.

I’ve got him.

Take the bait, motherfucker.

“Hmm. It’s tempting.”

“Please,” I say, getting close to him, close enough that my chest grazes his suit jacket. I slip my hand from his and press my palms to his chest. “I’ll be good for you. I promise.”

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