He slams his drink on the table and droplets soak the old wood. “The alternative will be Mist or Hawk. He almost went insane in that withdrawal. If he goes through it again, the next thing we see of him is his corpse.”
“Then you’re all right with worrying Elle after she chose you?” I’m being an arsehole and I know it, but I’m ready to use any tactic to stop this nonsense. His guilt and his affection to Elle are the only weapons I currently have.
“You think I actively try to worry her?” His voice bubbles with undercurrent tension. “I’d do anything to protect her, but Team Zero is my family. If I can do something to prevent their torture, I will.”
“Fucked up loyalty for undeserving people, mate.” I drown half my drink until I feel the burn.
“An unconventional family is still a family.”
“You won't think the same when the other shoe drops.”
“That’s not how the saying goes.” Ghost tilts his head. “It’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Same thing.”
“Not quite.”
We continue drinking before he says, “Don’t say anything to Elle. I’ll tell her myself.”
“Tell her you momentarily lost your mind, but you’re all cool now and not going.” I raise my glass. “If Hades wants more money, wake the Sleeping Beauty Flame so he’d hack some.”
“He can’t hack in big amounts. We’ll trigger Hades’ already suspicious side and have the other mafias on our backs.”
“Then sell more shares to President Joe. He’s been drooling all over the new drug factory.”
“He already owns twenty-five per cent. Anything more and Hades will notice.”
“Ten more per cent won’t hurt, mate.”
He shakes his head. “President Joe wants twenty per cent aside from what he already has.”
“Negotiate with the greedy old man. You’re calm, and he listens to you better than to me.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Negotiating with President Joe is plan A. Surrendering to Hades is plan B.”
We fall into a comfortable silence as we drink the bottle away. All my attention drifts back to Zoe. I hope meeting Elle will calm her down a bit. There’s also their police friend, that Liam wanker, but there’s no way in fuck I’m inviting him over. I doubt he wants anything to do with us in the first place.
“One of Ink’s disciples came over the other day.”
My drink almost falls from my hand. “What did he want?”
He lifts a shoulder. “Just asking if we’ll help Ink out.”
“What did you tell him?”
“We’re working on it. Mist will handle it this time.” He rolls his neck as if to alleviate tension. “I offered him to stay with us if he liked.”
“Come the fuck on, mate. He could be Hades’ spy.”
“I doubt it. You know Ink’s disciples’ loyalty to him. They’re like a clan.” His eyes take on a sadistic gleam. “Even if he’s a spy, we can feed him false information. A spy we know about is a useful spy. ”
I take a swig of my drink and the burn does little to relax my tense muscles. I’m sure it’s a warning for me. Something like a ‘fuck you’ from Ink even when he’s behind bloody bars. He has his disciple next to me and if I don’t do as he asked, he’ll fuck everything up.
I continue drinking, but I’m not feeling it anymore. My attention is divided between wanting to stay here for Zoe, Ghost, and Nonna, and not putting them in danger.
After an hour of discussing the factory and the business with Ghost and Lachlan, I head to my room in the safe house.
Empty.
A strange feeling of unease settles in.
I search for Elle and find her meditating with Scar in her room. No trace of Zoe with them.
Both Scar and Elle sit cross-legged on the floor with their eyes closed. Scar’s vanilla-scented candles fill the air.
I tap Elle’s shoulder. She opens her eyes and searches behind me. “Where’s Zoe?”
“What do you mean where’s Zoe?” My words are slow, but tension rips in my tendons. “I left her with you.”
Scar peeks with one eye. Her shirt today reads ‘Docile before Midnight.’ “I asked her to join us, but she said you wanted to see her.”
“I didn’t.”
Fuck! Please tell me she didn’t use that lie to escape.
Elle springs to her feet and I’m already running out of the room.
“Did she say anything?” I glance at Elle over my shoulder.
“Nothing much.” Worry wrinkles her forehead as she keeps up with my running pace. She screeches to a halt, almost tumbling