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Chapter Fifteen

Berlin

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The folded paper bouncedoff my forearm as I blocked my face, falling to the ground with a gentle thud. Staring at my written cry for help, my lungs were aching as my heart began to jump around my chest like a caged bird.

A cold sweat beaded up across the back of my neck, trickling down between my shoulder blades like searing hot fire. It was so cold it actually hurt.

“Did you read it?” I asked, knowing that he obviously had. But my brain was trying to catch up with everything that was happening.

Is this some kind of fucking trick?

Virgo had never let me leave with anyone before, he would have killed any motherfucker who even dared to ask. But, he gifted me to this man tonight. . .

Why?

Salt nodded, taking a long step back and pacing in a small circle. “Yeah, I fucking read it.”

“And?”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Scratching at the stubble on his chin, he rested a hand on his hip as he stopped moving and glared at me. “What the fuck, why did you have to ask me? Of all the men that have come in and out of there, why me?”

He breathed the words, as if he meant to keep them for himself, but wanted me to hear them anyway. There was tension in his voice, his tone almost begging me to take the note and pretend like I never wrote it.

My eyes searched his desperately, trying to see if there were any hidden agendas or messages. I couldn't read him for shit. I didn't know if he was pissed, upset, anxious. His face was flat except for this look in his eyes that made my skin bristle.

There has to be more to this. Something isn't right.

Glancing at the door, I nervously waited in anticipation for it to fly open, and one of Virgo's men to come crashing through.

“Don't worry,” he said, noticing my anxiety rising and where my eyes had gone. “No one is coming for you.”

“Why should I believe you?” Cautiously, I stepped so I was facing the door straight on, bending down to pick up the note and clutching it in my palm. “How do I know this isn't some type of sick game? Virgo likes games, you must know that.”

“It's not a game, Berlin. He doesn't even know you gave me that note. I didn't tell him.”

Crinkling my brows, I refused to let down my guard. Just because he said it, didn't mean it was true. “But he let you take me here. Why would he do that if he wasn't fucking with me?”

“Because he needs me, because without me he'd have to rely on those sorry excuses he calls security.” Pressing in closer, Salt reached his hand out and softly touched my arm. “Without me, all of the power he has would vanish.”

“I don't understand, what the hell does that mean?”

“Let me ask you a question. Why do people fear him?” he asked, softly rubbing my skin with his thumb.

“Because he'll kill you if you cross him, it's not a fucking secret.”

“And who do you think does his dirty work?”

Tilting my head, I was trying to put the pieces of his puzzle together. Virgo was in charge, he had money, he had people who worked for him on all different levels. But I couldn't figure out how Salt fit into that equation.

I had met or heard the names of most of Virgo's muscle at one point or another, but not once had he ever mentioned a man named Salt or Bentley.

Then it hit me like a fucking kick to the stomach. Instantly, my gut was in knots as the bile rose to the back of my throat, threatening to cover him and the expensive Persian carpet we were standing on.

“You. . . You do that for him?”

“You didn't think he'd send one of his dumb-ass guys or risk getting picked by doing it himself, did you?” His lips twisted into a playful smile as he chuckled. “How do you think he got away with everything he's ever done? He doesn't get close to the problem, he just hires me to remove it.”