Page 37 of Collateral Claim

“You can’t do that,” I tell him.

“Oh, but I can.”

“You won’t.” I couldn’t abandon Charlotte, and Endo has gone to all these lengths for Cass. He won’t stop looking for him if he thinks his brother is out there and in trouble.

“Help Marquis.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“Telling you.”

“What if I refuse?”

Endo’s jaw ticks. “Then I’ll ask.”

“What if you asked now?”

“You’d think I’m growing soft for you and try to take advantage of it.”

I shrug. “You’d find your way to asshole land again and self-correct the nice-Endo course.”

He smiles. “Fuck, I really like you.”

I smile in turn. “Ask me?”

“Would you please help Marquis?”

“I’ll try.”

Endo kisses the center of my mound. “Good girl.”

Chapter 16

I’m not doing this

Scarlett

We park in front of a charming two-story building in the town’s square. Potted pink petunias decorate the two balconies above a barber shop and a clinic. Endo exits the car and unlocks the clinic while Dec gets the door for me. He remains in the car while I walk into the clinic that Endo locks up after the pair of us.

The front office smells like lavender. The scent, along with the light beige linen furniture, creates a nature-friendly environment that will relax anxious patients. A small television hangs from the wall, and there’s a pediatric corner right near the desk with a laptop on it.

“This is nice.”

“Mmhm. Our old doc hated how all the clinics looked formal and scary. He wanted his patients to walk into a room where they’d be comfortable. He was a family medicine doctor, like you,” Endo says as he goes into the back. “This way.”

I follow him down the short hallway. “I thought you brought Marquis to the Keep. I imagined you would bring an entireteam of doctors, nurses, and staff into your dungeon, where the evil twin Connor would terrorize them while they worked on Marquis.”

Endo stops at the door. “Not a bad idea, but I don’t like strangers in my house.”

“Great. Then you can let me go.”

“Nice try.” Endo enters the room.

I follow him into a large space with a single overhead light above Marquis, who’s lying on his belly, arms hanging from the metal table they put him on. Slada is at his side, holding a pair of guns aimed at three very frightened people who are scrubbed in for surgery.

I spin on my heel. “I’m not doing this.”

“Slada, pick one,” Endo says.