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I try to push the thought away, try to convince myself it isn’t as simple as that. I’m saving her, too.

Does that make it better?

“I understand you were involved in some arson today,” I say.

The kid shivers, making a squeaking noise of fear that has me feeling like a bully.

“Let’s start with your name.”

Nothing.

“Your boss and I had a deal, kid. He’s three days early. Why did he jump the gun?”

He bites down, tears springing to his eyes and sliding over his cheeks, shaking his head as he trembles.

I sigh, then return to Rafe, leaning in and lowering my voice. “Scare him, but don’t physically hurt him.”

“I might have to if scaring him doesn’t work.”

“I’m not my father,” I growl.

“Your father would already have the answers he wants.”

“Don’t push me, Rafe. I brought you in to do things my way.”

“Your way, while it might help you sleep at night, isn’t what I’d call optimal, Dom.”

“Who said I sleep at night? Just do it.”

I lean against the wall, and Rafe sighs, lighting another cigarette. He kneels beside the young man – thinking of him as akidis messing with my head; he looks at least eighteen, not that itmakes it any better – and slowly brings the lit cigarette toward his face.

The man squirms away. Rafe holds the cigarette an inch away, looking at me with his eyebrow raised, as if waiting for me to give the order.

“Bobby,” the kid whimpers. “My name is Bobby.”

“That’s a start,” I say.

“Now, tell me why your boss couldn’t wait.”

“We–uh, not me, some of the guys… please.”

“Rafe,” I say, and Rafe pulls away but only slightly.

“He might stop singing without the proper motivation.”

“Rafe.”

Rafe stands, taking a drag from his cigarette.

I approach Bobby. “I will not ask anything twice now, you understand?”

“Yuh-yes.”

“Go on…”

“Some of the guys were getting restless. We’re shitting in buckets. Mason says we’re ‘doing it like the Army’, but we don’t want to live like that. Some higher-ups decided to rush things along. They thought they could scare you into coughing up the cash.”

“Are they aware of who I am?”