Page 59 of Dangerous Silence

I wanted her to have the life that she believed in. A life where the police helped victims, when bad people were locked away for the things they did, and the good prospered. But I had forced her to become a part of our world, in hopes that it would make her stronger.

But it only reinforced that she didn’t belong here. And she never would.

Demi wasn’t like Margot. A girl like her shouldn’t have had to endure any of this.

I clenched my fists, looking at Margot and Derek, then turned to Zaid. The rest of our combined men were moving the deceased to the vans. We had won, for now.

But anger flowed through me. How did my father have time to fuck our rival’s wife, and yet growing up, he let me and my brothers wander? He never had time for any of us. Not even when I was almost beat to death. As if proving that being an enforcer was the only purpose for the second-born son.

Zaid came to my side, his eyes distant. “How many?” I asked.

“Three of mine. Yours, six.”

“Ron?” I asked.

Zaid nodded. “That woman, too.”

Billy. Ellie wasn’t going to be happy about that. But her pain wasn’t my problem. I was glad, so damn glad, that I had made Demi stay back.

My throat went dry. That wasmyproblem. I cared about Demi. She should have been as disposable as Billy or Margot.

“Where do you think Muro is?” Zaid asked.

I looked up at the tall building, the cloudy sky reflected in what was left of the jagged gray windows.

“Not here,” I said.

“Margot says she can put a tracking device on him,” Derek said, interrupting us.

We turned to Margot. She started, “In exchange for—”

“Protection,” Derek said.

I didn’t trust her. How could she go from one side to the other without a fight? Derek read my mind, straightening up.

“She’s fleeing for her life,” he explained.

“Then how does she expect to put a tracking device on Muro?” I asked.

We both turned to Margot.

“I’ll do it,” she murmured, “Just please don’t let him kill me or my—”

But she couldn’t finish and fell into a sobbing fit.

I shook my head. That’s what caring did to you.

CHAPTER 19

Demi

Maddie leaned on the counter as she took a bite, the crunch of her panini loud between the two of us in that empty apartment. Once she finished, she gestured at my bowl resting on the empty counter space.

“Are you going to eat?” she asked.

“I’m not hungry,” I said.

My stomach grumbled in protest, but I stared out the windows. Axe’s apartment was on the first floor, which meant we were underneath an awning, so I couldn’t see much. But I could tell that the sky was dark and gray, the kind of sky that Dad would have called ‘a storm from the other side.’ The weather didn’t help my stomach. Something was wrong. Axe wasn’t okay.