Page 152 of Possession

Rocco pushes to his feet and stuffs his hands in his front pockets. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Appreciate you,” I tell him the truth, but I also have to lie to him. “When you get back, we’re going out. Late dinner. Landyn wants to celebrate you passing the test. I made reservations, and you can’t wear your cut.”

His brows pinch. “I don’t need to celebrate anything.”

“Try to explain that to my wife.” I’ve thought this over for days. I have a feeling the way to turn Rocco will be Landyn. I’ve forced him to be here, but she’s the one who’s made the real connection.

He shakes his head. “I live here and eat here for free. You forced me to take that test. It’s not something I would’ve done on my own. Why would anyone celebrate that?”

I haven’t had an ounce of guilt in this job until I met Landyn.

And, now, Rocco.

I have a feeling he’s going to be a harder sell. My conscience has eaten at me. No matter what I’ve done to make sure he has choices when we get out of here, he’s used to being on his own. He might not come around easily.

“You worked hard and accomplished something.” I pause for a moment and choose my words carefully. Who knows, maybe he’ll remember this moment when he’s sitting in an interrogation room, and he learns Boz Torres is a complete lie. “You’ll always be rewarded when you work with me. Don’t ever forget that.”

He fidgets and looks like he’s listening to nails on a chalkboard rather than someone praising him. “Whatever.”

“Go find Landyn and help her with breakfast,” I order. I can’t risk saying more.

“Do you know how fucked it is that I’ve never had anyone tell me what to do until I moved in with the cartel?”

I wave him off and turn back to my computer, but not before I make one last point. “You’re a prospect for the Jackals, and you’re pissed about me telling you what to do? Think about how fucked that is, Roc.”

He has no smartass response for that, so I know I made my point. I need him to remember this in twelve hours when he’ll be given a choice to save his own ass.

“Check in before you leave,” I call to him as he makes his way out the door.

“Yeah, boss.”

I watch him leave and look around the office that’s become ground zero for everything I’ve done since I got here.

It’s been a long time. In less than twelve hours, I’m done.

Boz Torres will be no more.

I’m ready to bury him along with every other asshole who’ll rot away in prison. Every minute that passes is a ticking time bomb.

I need to get Landyn out safely, but the uphill battle of getting Rocco to flip is a thorn in my side.

The thought of leaving here not knowing who killed Brian makes me feel like a failure.

If I didn’t have Landyn, it would all be for nothing. I try to focus on that, because if I haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t see it happening before we leave for dinner tonight.

35

REALITY

Landyn

After being here all this time, I actually found a book in this house.

Shocker, it’s horror fiction.

Not that I’m actually reading it. I’m doing everything I can to pretend to read it.

Today is tedious. After everything I’ve been through to get to this point, time has never crawled this slow. I have a feeling the next few hours will only get worse.

---