Page 16 of Fear the Reapers

“Good luck with that,” he said, as if he knew exactly where I was headed.

I walked over to the office, my knuckles grazing the cold, wooden door, and knocked.

“Come in,” he called.

When I opened the door, I saw Erik hunched over his desk, flipping through papers. He looked as if he had aged since he left the room. “What do you need?”

“Did she tell you anything about what happened?” I asked.

“Let’s just say she didn’t look like that when I found her,” Erik responded.

“Fuck.”

“Look, I don’t know exactly what went on. They held her in a basement, along with several other girls who were moved just before her escape. She was drugged and unconscious for most of it, so she doesn’t know if anything happened while she was under. Juan said he had his eye on her at all times, but I doubt that was the case.”

“Who the fuck is Juan?”

“One of Moreno’s men.”

“And you trust Moreno?”

“Not at all, but he wants something from us,” Erik responded.

“Okay, so if this Juan guy says he looked after her, then we just have to trust he did?”

“As much as we can.”

“What does he want?”

“His sister is missing, so he wanted to trade a sister for a sister.”

“Do we know where his sister is?”

“We have an idea, but we have to tread lightly.”

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” I asked him.

His eyes narrowed. “What’s with the sudden interest in my sister?”

“I need to know what we’re working with so that I can trust her out on jobs with me,” I lied.

“None of us know how this will affect her, but in the past she’s proven she will deal with things head on, rather than sitting back,” he told me. “She also chooses who she spends her time with, regardless of what her brothers want. So tread carefully with whatever plans you have with my sister.”

“Noted.”

I didn't bother to ask him what he was doing, I just left and joined the other guys.

“What did you need to talk to my brother about?” Kujo asked.

“I wanted to know what happened with Hellcat.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Just enough to make my head concoct what went on while they had her.”

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Dimitri asked.

“Only time will tell.”

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