Page 108 of Corrupted Kingdom

Several of the bikers greeted Juliette. Most of them had known the girl all her life, saw her as one of their own. But she was coming up to fifteen, and she was a beautiful girl. I’d seen girls who looked younger than her around this clubhouse. I wasn’t stupid. I closed the space between the girl and myself. ‘Come on,’ I said to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Two young Gypsy Brothers appeared in front of me, blocking our path to the door. I looked between the young men with thinly veiled disgust. Dornan’s two oldest sons, Chad and Donny, seemed to find Juliette the way . . . well, the way Murphy seemed to find me.

‘Move,’ I said. Saying ‘excuse me’ didn’t do any good in a place like this.

Chad, the older and burlier asshole of the two, folded his arms across his chest and leered at me.

‘What’s the hurry?’ he said, reaching out and dusting imaginary lint from my shoulder. Chad’s eyes slid down to my chest. And stayed there. He licked his lips, making a suggestive sound in the back of his throat.

‘The accountant,’ he said, chuckling. I noticed Donny, the younger, weedier brother, edging closer to Juliette. ‘Seems like we need to get you to more parties, sweetheart.’

Parties were when they all got their dicks wet with whoever they pleased. Probably in this very room. I wrinkled my nose up in distaste.

‘What are you, twenty? I think I’m a little old for you, kiddo,’ I said, taking Juliette’s arm firmly in my grip as I spotted Murphy enter the room to my left.

Fuck. I was surrounded by idiots. Horny, moronic idiots.

At least I knew I could handle Murphy. I pulled Juliette in the opposite direction, making a beeline for the DEA agent who I despised with a passion. I didn’t even look back at Chad and Donny as we made our way out of the room and into the hallway.

‘Need a ride?’ Murphy asked, falling into step beside me so I was flanked on one side by him, and Juliette on the other. The girl didn’t speak, and I had to wonder if she was doing okay. Something struck me as odd. How did they get here? I looked down at Juliette’s balled fist to see a set of keys peeking out from her grip.

‘Did your mom drive here?’ I asked her, knowing I wasn’t going to like the answer.

‘No,’ Juliette said. She didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t press her. I already knew. She was fourteen, and she drove her fucking mother here, through busy LA traffic, because Caroline had taken too much heroin. Again.

I stopped short in the hallway, deciding I didn’t need Murphy to drive us, after all. Sweet baby Jesus, that was a relief. The price of a favour from that motherfucker was always way too high.

I wondered, briefly, where Guillermo had gotten to. He’d probably hightailed it to the strip club to get a piece of ass on his one afternoon off, since Dornan and I usually spent Sunday afternoons alone at the apartment.

‘Emilio was looking for you,’ I addressed Murphy, a blatant lie. ‘We’ll wait out front.’

Murphy stopped beside me, his mouth curled up into an unimpressed smirk.

‘Liar,’ he murmured, his eyes flicking from me to Juliette, and then back again.

I smiled sweetly. ‘Wouldn’t want to be wrong, and keep him waiting, would you?’

Murphy muttered a stream of expletives as he left us, and I started walking briskly towards the front doors of the compound-esque building, Juliette right beside me.

‘Which car?’ I asked her, once we were past the guys on the door. She pointed to a silver Caprice that had seen better days. I held out my hand for the keys. ‘Come on,’ I said, aiming for upbeat and probably failing miserably. ‘Let’s blow this joint.’

Juliette smiled at me, dropping the keys into my hand.

CHAPTER SIX

MARIANA

John and Dornan arrived at my apartment a couple of hours later. Both had bloodshot eyes, which I suspected were for very different reasons. As soon as John walked in, his daughter ran to him, her blonde hair streaming behind her as she rushed to the front door and hugged her father tightly.

I retreated into the kitchen, still in earshot, but I busied myself making coffee. I didn’t want to interrupt their moment. Juliette had sat on my couch for the past two hours, mute, resisting all of my attempts to coax something out of her until I gave up and let her be.

I heard steps approaching and poured steamed milk into two espressofilled cups, setting the jug down and turning when I felt a hand on my elbow. I was expecting Dornan. My smile was a secret just for him, but as I turned, I saw John instead.

My smile dropped. All of a sudden I didn’t know what to say. So I went for the first thing off the top of my head.

‘Is Caroline okay?’ I asked.

John threw me a sceptical look. ‘Do you care?’

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