Page 18 of Stealing His Christmas Present

See the disdain. The lack of trust.

But they were too afraid of me to do anything about it.

It didn’t matter. They had to do as I ordered. It was how we’d always operated. If you didn’t want to obey your boss’ orders, the only thing you could do was kill him if you thought you were capable of it and that you could keep your spot once you got it.

Ricky and Miguel didn’t have it in them. They didn’t have what it took, and that was why they’d forever be where they were.

Always second.

Always loyal to whoever got in charge.

But it was working for them. They were somehow still alive.

“Yes, Boss,” Ricky said, inclining his head. “If you need anything...”

Fucking snakes.

They were willing to say anything they believed I wanted to hear, no matter what they really thought. If they got a chance to get rid of me, they’d take it. Of course, only if it wasn’t anything too complicated or required too much work or strength.

They’d never liked me, and I’d never liked them. That was never going to change. But if they thought I was the same person I’d been five years ago, they were very, very wrong.

“You may go,” I said.

They bowed their heads and headed out.

I opened my laptop and furrowed my brow.

Claudia was gone.

I ground my teeth together. She must’ve moved the cot to a different side of her cell, especially if she’d noticed the camera.

I got to my feet.

There was no way I was going to allow her to hide herself from me.

Ever.

As if it wasn’t enough that those two idiots had dared to come all the way here to pester me with nonsense they should know better than to ask about, now Claudia was testing my patience too.

But just like Ricky and Miguel, she was going to learn that obeying me was her only option.

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