Page 64 of Collide

There was no hysteria, she was stoic as she made her demand. Shewanted to return to Mexico, and she wanted Kai to pay for her and her family to move out of the village her family lived in otherwise she was at risk of being sent back to America to work.She held her nerve as she told me to make it happen or she wouldfind a way to report the illegal activity in the factory. She was very brave for a young girl, and in a way, reminded me of, well,me.

Behind the bullshit bravado though, she was terrified. When I walkedcloser to her, she flinched as if half expecting me to pull out a gun from the stupid skin-tight dress I was wearing, and fire a bullet into her. I’d sat next to her and put my hand on her arm, in what I’d hoped was a reassuring gesture, and sure enough, the dam broke.Tears streaked down her eyes as she begged for her mom and to gohome. And fucking hell, didn’t that break my heart.

Before I knew it, I’d wrapped my arms around her and held her as myown tears fell. She was someone’s daughter, maybe even someone’s sister.

I didn’t know how anyone would be able to get over something astraumatic as what she’d experienced, and despite her pleas of just wanting to go home, she deserved more. So I told her not only would Kai agree to her returning to Mexico and moving her family to a different village, he’d pay for her to be educated in the best goddamn college in Mexico. She’d been stunned, and that’s when she gave me her promise that she would never tell on Kai, managing a small smile when I said goodbye to her, but her eyes were still void of any emotion.

I was sure they would haunt me until my dying days.

It had been a week since the incident with Luis and the girl and whilerelatively uneventful,thankfully, several things had happened.

The first being I'd got to spend not one, but two days with Angel.The day after I'd learned about Joe, Kai permitted me to spend theday with her. It still fucked me off hegaveme permission to spend time with my sister, but a deal was a deal after all, and I was grateful for any time I had with her.

Angel looked like a different kid, the transformation was amazing injust a few short days.The time spent sleeping in a cozy bed, three meals a day and brandnew clothes gave me confidence I'd made the right decision by agreeing to this crazy deal.Gone were the heavy bags from under her eyes, her skin glowed,and for the first time in five years, she didn't look malnourished. She had given me a bright smile when I walked into her room, and it was the first genuine smile I had seen on her cute face in such a long time.

I met her tutor, Jane, who was not only kind and sincere but haddeveloped a strong bond with Angel. Admittedly, it did stir up some jealousy in me but I did my best to ignore it because Jane was just helping Angel when I couldn't.

Besides, it wasn’t going to be forever.

Jane was pretty, in an understated way. She was in her mid-30s andslightly taller than me. She wore baggy clothes that hid her figure, but at one point she’d taken off a jumper revealing she was hiding killer curves underneath. I’d commented that she should show her figure off a bit more and she blushed deeply at the compliment.She wore her mousy brown hair tied on top of her head in a tight bun,and her green eyes were hidden behind black thick-rimmed glasses. She was one of those women who, with a bit of makeup and styling would be drop dead gorgeous.Jane had a friendly feeling about her and I instantly warmed to thewoman, especially as I could see with my own eyes that she was taking good care of Angel.

I'd spent the day helping Angel with her school work and then we'dplayed some games on her console. Kai had fulfilled his promise to get it from our old apartment and Angel was over the moon with the three new games that had arrived with the damn thing. She took great delight in kicking my ass on every game we playedand taking the piss out of my inability to coordinate my controller with the on-screen character. It was a rare moment, normally I was so focused on making sure money was coming in and making ends meet that somewhere along the line, I'd forgotten to have fun with her.

Kai let me spend some more time with her a few days later. I learnedshe'd been allowed out of the apartment with the escort of Danny and some other security guards, and she and Jane had spent a day at the city's history museum, followed by a picnic in the park, and while I had been pleased to know Angel wasn't being kept locked away with no fresh air, the pang of jealousy had only settled deeper into my bones. I wanted to be the one to experience those things with her.

The second thing to change was that I spent time getting to knowboth Danny and Miles, almost to the point I would have considered them friends.

Danny really was a gentle giant, and while I was sure he was nothingbut brutal when doing his job, I never saw that side of him. He would spend time with me whenever he could, he taught me how to play snooker, and I taught him how to make cocktails in the bar that was in the snooker room. It was almost as though he had become an older brother figure to me and spending time with him left a sense of contentment settled within me, it had been a long time since I had something that resembled a family.

He informed me Kai had given him the role of protecting Angelwhenever they went out and it became apparent heabsolutelydoted on her. If he wasn’t working or spending time with me, he would be with Angel, thrashing her at her computer games or trying to teach her some self-defense moves, much to my annoyance. He was even trying to learn some basic sign language which she found hilarious.

It didn’t escape my notice he was somewhat fond of Jane, and theshy tutor blushed whenever he walked into the room so I suspected the feeling was mutual.

As for Miles, once he came out of his shell, he wasn’t so nervous. Hewas a complete geek though, always talking about new software he had designed, or about another hacking breach the government had only just discovered. Miles was a genius and I could totally see why he had saidhewasthe brains of the operation. Kai might have been the King of the court but the King never got far without his faithful servants, and it was clear to me as the sky was blue that Miles and Danny were loyal to Kai.

Hendrix was too, but he was a whole other story.

I tried to avoid that man as much as possible. No matter what I waswearing, his eyes would roam over my body every time like he was mentally undressing me, and it freaked me the hell out.But he was careful when Kai was around, he’d either ignore mecompletely or communicate by grunting at me. His attitude toward me didn’t phase me, but the letchy looks he gave did.

Still, I didn’t say anything to the others though, I was sure I was beingparanoid. Besides, the four of them had a close relationship, and I didn’t want to be the thing that ruined it.

The final thing to happen was that my feelings towards Kai changed.

Dramatically.

I tried my damned hardest to hold on to the hate I felt when he firstkidnapped me off the street, because let’s face it, that isexactlywhat he had done, kidnapped me. But over time, hate turned into something else. Something I tried hard not to think about, but it was damn impossible when he consumed my thoughts pretty much every single minute of every single day.

He'd been nothing but thoughtful and considerate, even if it wasmixed in with him being a controlling asshole. For example, he insisted I ate every meal with him, there was no choice in the matter, and he maintained it was because he wanted to make sure I was eating enough. But then he'd spend the entire meal asking me questions about my life and making sure I was okay and had everything I needed.

There was a little part of me that told me to keep my guard up, that hewas lulling me into a false sense of security, but I couldn't help but ignore it. Even when I replayed scenes in my mind of when he had scared the living shit out of me, like when I thought he was going to kill Blaze, I just couldn’t stop the feelings of wanting him creeping in.

I was sure it'd come back to bite me on the ass one day, but I'd worryabout that if and when it happened.

Kai spent some of the days showing me around Hollows Bay andtaking me to meetings for his legitimate businesses. Aside from the weapons warehouse, he’d kept me away from any other shady shit, which I was glad for.I hadn’t yet discovered how the Wolfe family came to believe theyowned Hollows Bay, but it was evident from the way people reacted when Kai made an appearance at meetings that no one would ever challenge his authority.

I’d also learned bits about Kai’s life. I figured if he got to knoweverything about me, then surely I got to know everything about him too, right?

Kai wasn’t always willing to answer my questions, especially when itcame to his father or Theo. From the information he had shared, it sounded like his father, Christopher Wolfe, was a complete asshole. He was manipulative and a bully to Kai and Theo, not to mention a womanizer, and it sounded like not many people were sad when he eventually died and the control of Hollows Bay passed to Kai and Theo.

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