Page 10 of Vengeance

"I figured you'd say that,” Vengeance said.

"I'm not sending my daughter anywhere with you,” Bowie said.

"I didn't say that you should send her with me,” he almost whispered.

"You implied it,” Bowie insisted.

"I implied that she leave Huntsville,” Vengeance said.

Chloe finally spoke. "I'm standing right here." Neither man acknowledged her.

"I can disappear," Vengeance continued. "I've spent years learning how."

Bowie laughed again. "Why would I trust you?"

"You shouldn't,” Vengeance admitted.

"Then this conversation's over,” Bowie said.

"You should trust one thing,” Vengeance said.

"And what's that?" Bowie asked.

"I hate Dante more than you do,” Vengeance insisted. That was the most honest thing that he had said all day, and it seemed to catch everyone's attention.

Bowie narrowed his eyes. "I don’t believe you.”

Vengeance looked down at the floor and shrugged. “Believe what you want to believe about me. But the Black Veil Syndicate won’t stop coming for her now. She’s on their radar, and that means that she’s not safe." The words slipped out before he could stop them. Damn it.

Chloe seemed to catch his slip-up immediately. "What does that mean?"

He ignored her. Instead, he looked back at Bowie. "I know how he thinks."

"That’s convenient,” Bowie said.

"I know how he'd hunt her,” Vengeance said.

"You seem to know a hell of a lot about the monster who took me,” Chloe said.

"I do." Silence stretched before she asked the question Vengeance had been waiting for.

"How?"

He hesitated just long enough to make it believable. "I grew up around men like him." It wasn’t technically a lie. "They taught me things I wish I'd never learned." Chloe studied him for nearly a full minute, as though looking for cracks. She was hunting for any hint of deception.

"If I agreed to your plan, where would you take her?” Bowie asked, quickly changing the subject. Vengeance tried not to look relieved, but he was.

"I wouldn't choose where we go,” he insisted.

"What?" Bowie asked.

"You've got allies."

Bowie nodded slowly. "Several,” he said.

"Use one of them,” Vengeance said. "Just no one in Alabama."

"No,” Bowie agreed.