Page 12 of Bells
“I mean, it’s off.”
“No.” Vee cocked her head to the side, and I added, “You heard me. I refuse to accept that. You can’t just call it off because you?—”
“BecauseIwhat, Bellatrix? And I suggest you choose your next words very, very carefully.”
Yeah, that was never gonna happen.I had no filter. “Because you’ve gone soft, Veera. Because you care more aboutthe dick that came out of you than you do the asshole who shoulda put it inyour asshole.”
Gabby gasped. Vee didn’t. She just leaned back in her chair, steepled her fingers, and gave that look. The one all mothers seemed to know how to do as soon as we exited the womb. My own mother had given it to me a lot over the years. But none of hers were nearly as effective as the one staring me down right now.
It didn’t matter though. I was in too deep. “You heard me. He may be your son but that doesn’t mean?—”
“Aren’t you even going to ask about the girl?” Vee cut me off a second time.
“Girl?” I parroted before I could stop myself.
A disappointedtskof a tongue, and Miss Veera Vaughn was reaching into her desk drawer and plopping a stack of files between us. “The girl you were so concerned about a few hours ago.”
I dropped my grin, swallowed, and nodded. “Right. Of course. We need to help her.”
“And if she doesn’t want to be helped?” Vee flipped the top file to the first page until the picture of a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties stared back at me.
“Who is she?”
“Emily Michaels.” Vee opened another file and flipped to another picture. “His wife.”
I jumped back as soon as she shifted her finger to the side so I could see the guy’s face—or what was left of it. I scrunched my nose up. I know it wasn’t polite to judge a book by its cover. But that was one jacked-up cover.
“Willingly?” I asked.
Vee shrugged. “Seems so.”
“Let me see…” Gabby leaned forward in her seat before jumping back herself. “Pass.”
“I don’t believe it.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I think we should dig into this more. Make sure she isn’t being held against her will or something. No way a pretty girl likethatwillingly stays with a guy like…that.” I gestured between the two photos.
“It’s not up for debate.” Vee snapped the files closed and shoved them to the other side of her desk. “Unless there’s another reason you’re so adamant we take this job on?”
I rolled my eyes. “Like what?”
“You tell me, Tr?—”
I held up a hand before she used that ridiculous nickname that made me sound like something out of a cereal commercial. Vee smirked, and I huffed. “Fine. We can’t call it off… because it’s too late.”
“Too late?”
I clenched my teeth into a mix between a grin and a grimace. “The thing is, heh, Imayhave already killed one of them.”
Vee’s expression immediately stiffened, which was hard to do, seeing as it was already stiff to begin with. She pulled the files back over and spread them all out in front of me. “Which one?”
I pointed to the only fucker smiling in what were meant to be candid photos. Like he was mocking me from the grave. “Him.”
Vee plucked the photo up, lowering her glasses to the brim of her nose, and then passed it back to me. “No, you didn’t. I just saw him.”
“When?”
“Not even thirty minutes ago.”
I shook my head. “Impossible. Unless he was dead when you saw him?”
