Page 28 of Redemption
And if they want him back alive, they’ll do what I say. After all, New Orleans is still my city.
Chapter Thirteen
Mount
“I need you to leave the room,” I tell my brother’s back. “Tape the clotting sponge on. I need a minute alone with the kid.”
He turns to look at me, and it makes me pause. It’s uncanny to stare at my own reflection, even with the hat and dark glasses blocking half of his face. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.
“He’s a child.”
I shake my head. “It’s not for the reason you think. Just … give me some space.”
Without questioning me further, he rises to his feet and nods. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
It’s not the same as working with V. He and I could work together without speaking. We were on the same wavelength in ways that defied explanation. Perhaps all those years together had us thinking much the same. Plus, he rarely questioned me. Only a few pivotal times do I remember him forcing me to pause and reconsider what I was doing. It was always well timed though.
Fuck, I miss my best friend.
But as my brother leaves the room, closing the heavy metal door behind him, I can’t help but realize that even though life took someone from me who I didn’t think I’d ever have to live without, it gave me something so precious in return that I still can’t believe it’s real.
Palming the cell phone I pulled from Remy’s front pocket, I thank the Almighty for the stupid advances in technology they’ve made that benefit men like me. Gotta love Face ID.
Crouching down in front of the kid, I grasp the corner of the duct tape. “Brace yourself.”
I don’t know why I bother to give him a warning. He didn’t give me a fucking warning before he started shooting—putting a priest in the line of fire, no less.
I yank on the end, and as the tape pulls away, it brings bits of hair and skin with it. Muffled cries come from beneath the strip over his lips.
“Actions have consequences, kid. Don’t fucking shoot at someone like me unless you’re damn sure you’re gonna kill the target. Life gets very uncomfortable if you don’t.”
Tears tip over the lids of his blue eyes and slide down his cheeks—more as an automatic reaction to the pain, I’m assuming. Or maybe he really is just a scared kid who’s in way over his head.
I think of myself at seventeen. He wouldn’t be the first to get too deep into things he didn’t truly understand. But somehow, I managed to survive, and there’s a decent chance Remy might live to see his eighteenth birthday. Decent, not guaranteed.
I grab the corner of the strip of tape covering his lips. “One more.”
He squeezes his eyes shut as I rip it free.
“Fuck, that hurts!”
“Shut up. That’s nothing compared to what I could do to you.” I toss the tape aside. “Kids these days. Fucking soft. You’d never survive on the streets.”
“You don’t know shit about me—” He starts to run his mouth, but instead of paying attention to his words, I hold the phone up in front of his face.
Instantly, it unlocks. I look down at the screen to see a picture of him with his arm around an equally young girl.
“You’re the worst fucking assassin I’ve ever seen. Who’s the girl? You care about her?”
He shuts his mouth.
“That’s what I thought. Do you have any idea how fucking easy it would be for me to have her picked up and brought here in less than an hour to watch you be tortured to death? What the fuck, kid? Why would you ever put someone you care about in danger? Thoughtless. Fucking thoughtless.”
Fear, the likes of which I haven’t yet seen on his face, causes his entire body to still.
Reality checks aren’t fun, but that’s what makes them real.
I tap a few spots on the screen, and it brings me directly to his favorite contacts. “I bet that’s Lily, isn’t it?”
