Page 78

“What is it?”
She bit her lip. “I’m not supposed to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Her eyes flicked to Vira. I spun, looking at my roommate. “What is it?”
“Just tell her,” Vira shrugged. “She has a right to know.”
Now I was really pissed.
“It’s Zavala’s money. When he was killed…well, his assets were just there until the government eventually went in to seize them. Well, what was left after the cartels took over. Mostly from financial institutions. At the time, you were still in the hospital, and Cash knew you would need money to start over, so he asked Rae to transfer funds from Zavala’s accounts to an account for you.”
My jaw dropped to the floor. “It’s blood money?”
“It’s yours,” Eva snapped. “Through your blood, sweat, and tears. That man tortured you for thirteen years. Besides, you were married. It’s not like you’re stealing it.”
“I don’t want it!” It was dirty money. All of it was tainted by drugs and whores and God knows what else. “No, I could never accept it. I don’t want it.”
“Too bad,” Eva retorted. “I’ve seen the crap that man put you through. Granted, it was only the tip of the iceberg, but it was enough to know that no one else deserves that money more than you. If the government gets it, where do you think it’s going to go? You won’t have any say in it. You won’t be able to make sure that it doesn’t go back into the hands of someone else who will be just as bad as Zavala.”
“It’s the government?—”
“And someone was pulling the strings to make sure The Syndicate was able to stay functioning for so long without repercussions,” Eva argued. “I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever backed The Syndicate already had the money wired to a new operation.” She sighed, brushing a hand over her face in exhaustion. “I know you don’t want to hear that or even talk about it. You’ve dealt with enough of this shit to last a lifetime, and I’m not asking you to get involved. I’m saying, take what you deserve. Cash wanted you to have this. He wanted to make sure you were taken care of. Rafe sure as hell would have given it to you, also.”
I quirked an eyebrow at her. “That’s a low blow.”
“Did it work?”
I didn’t want it to, but she had a point. I needed the money, and I did deserve it after all the crap I went through.
“You’re not accepting Zavala’s money,” Vira shrugged. “You’re taking what’s owed to you.”
There really wasn’t any point in arguing with either of them. I could tell Eva wasn’t going to back down, and Vira clearly wanted to go shopping. “Then I guess we’d better get to the store so I can get a bed.”
Eva’s grin was infectious, and for the first time in a long time, I actually felt a small hint of excitement. I was going to pick out a bed. It was going to be all mine.
“I’ve never picked out a bed before. I don’t know how to do this.”
“We’ll take you to all the different stores,” Vira grinned. “You can test them out and spend all day looking if you want.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It’ll be awesome. And then we’ll get lunch and?—”
“Nope.” I held up my hand, taking charge. This had to be done my way. I trembled slightly at the disappointed look on Vira’s face. Could I really tell her what I wanted to do? I had to. I would be strong enough.
“I want a haircut.”
My heart rattled in my chest as I waited for them to yell at me for disagreeing with them, but instead, Eva smiled at me and Vira grabbed her purse.
“I bet Jenna has time to get you in.”
“Jenna?”
“At All Curled Up,” Eva clarified. “She’s Duke’s ex-mother-in-law or something. Anyway, she’s fantastic.”
Suddenly, this was all moving so fast. I had expected them to put up a fight or something. Now I was walking out the door and getting into the car. There was no argument to talk me out of chopping off my hair. In fact, they were asking me about how I wanted to cut it and if I was going to color it. That was insanity, right? Was I really going to do this?