Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Don’t tell her any more.”
“Why would I?”
“She’s gonna pressure you. And I know I told ya that your little escape didn’t change much in the bigger picture, Irina, but you need to understand what will happen to these people if they start asking the wrong questions.”
“What do you mean? What will happen to them?”
“Nosey people get taken care of. And maybe I’ve read them wrong, but tell me that those women back there won’t want to knock the ever-loving shit out of someone once they find out where we came from and what they did to us.”
Irina doesn’t say anything for a few moments, just looks off into the distance again. But then she directs her attention back to me. “Maybe, if enough people knew—”
“No, Irina. No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t work that way, darlin’. You know this. Weren’t ya listening to me earlier? The people don’t have the power. No matter how many of them there are. They make pacts with these fuckers. Remember that part of the story? Trust me on this. Pretty much everyone in high positions—in any town, any county, any country—pretty much all of them are on the take. And if they’re not, they don’t stay at the top for long.”
“So you want me to lie to her?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m not tellin’ ya what to do. I’m just saying, these people don’t seem like the type to learn about a whole underground child-trafficking ring and just let it ride. They seem to care about you. So you tell me—will they listen to your story and let it go? Or will they start thinkin’ they can change things?”
Irina knows the answer. We both know the answer. I don’t have to tell her friend anything. I’m not Irina’s boyfriend. I don’t have to like these people and I couldn’t give two fucks if they approve of me. But Irina’s not gonna get away that easy. She will have to lie to her friend to smooth this over.
Irina’s eyes dart over my shoulder as someone approaches, and then there she is. Nandy is setting down two bowls of rice and meat in front of us.
“Do you want to join us?” Irina is just being polite.
“Nope.” Nandy’s smile is fake. “I just popped in because everyone was texting me about him.” She hates me. She’s not even trying to hide it.
And this kinda pisses me off. Because just twenty minutes ago Irina was laughing and giggling about bringing me here. Having fun with her little joke. It was the first time I’ve seen her act like that and Nandy is the one who soured her mood. She ruined it.
I stand up and extend my hand again. “It was very nice to meet you, Nandy. You should come over to my place for dinner this week. I’ll cook us something good.”
She tilts her hip to one side and raises an eyebrow. “You cook?”
“I do. I’m sure it’s nothing compared to this.” I pan my hand at the rice bowl, which I’m going to scarf down in a matter of minutes once she leaves, it smells so good. “But I’m not bad. Ask Irina. I cook for her.”
Nandy doesn’t know what to do with this revelation. She looks at Irina, bewildered, wondering how her friend got tangled up with a man like me, a man who has cooked for her, and she didn’t know about it until now.
“Maybe I will.” Nandy says this to me, making it sound like a threat.
“Great. It’s a date.”
CHAPTER 16
Nandy leaves after that and Eason puts the whole thing out of his mind as he redirects his attention to his rice bowl.
But I’m still catching up. “Why would you invite her to dinner? That’s gonna make everything worse.”
Eason looks over at me with half-interested eyes. “She hates me. She has no reason to hate me. I’m a good catch as far as boyfriends go. Who the hell is she to look down her nose at me?”
“Wait. You’re mad because she doesn’t approve of you?” I cannot stop the laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Eason. Look at you. You’ve got a neck tattoo. The only thing worse than a neck tattoo is a face tattoo.”
“Who told you that? And what do you know about tattoos anyway?”
“It’s just a fact. And I know a lot about tattoos.”
“You don’t even have any.”
“How would you know?”
“Because you wear nothing but those tight-ass gym shorts and tank tops. Plus, I saw your whole naked backside that one day at your house after you took a shower.”
I’d forgotten about that.
“She has no right to judge me. So I’m gonna show off and make her regret it.” Then he redirects his attention back to his food.
“Well, you’re the one who said we can’t make her suspicious. And now you’re just gonna make her suspicious. She’ll want to know how you made all your money.”