Page 110 of Heartless Heathens

“That’s gonna cost you,” she said like she probably already had the box on her.

“Doesn’t everything?”

“Meet me at the shop in an hour.” She clicked the phone off.

“We’re good. Dera’s shop in an hour.” I pocketed my phone and grabbed the keys off the counter.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Sonny said with a chuckle of disbelief.

“Um. To the—What do you mean?” I didn’t try to hide my confusion.

“You’re fucking insane if you think I’m gonna let you handle this. You’ve done enough. Eat some food Romina, I’ll be back for you in an hour.” He looked her up and down before grabbing the keys from my hands.

Fuck it.

Maybe I deserved it.

But I definitely didn’t regret it.

Ididmybestto be in and out of the Court but Dera had a mouth on her and once she started, it was damn near impossible for her to stop. Arlan called me, asking me to stop by the Palace to pick up the safe he kept there. An odd ask, but nothing too out of the ordinary for the old fucker. He was so accustomed to everyone serving his every demand.

The Palace of Justice was a strip club his daughter Korina had owned, and when she disappeared and was eventually declared dead, all the rights passed to him. But Arlan Black distanced himself from it, doing nothing but funneling whatever the club needed to keep going without making any effort to be involved in its operations at all.

So when he called me, asking me to head over there to grab the safe from the club, I knew that we were dealing with some old secrets he wanted to out before he croaked. Now I was finally back from his little errand, we could focus on what actually mattered.

“Take this.” I put the pill in front of her with a glass of water.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s what’s going to keep you from becoming the mother of the next Escura kid. Are you ready to be a mom?” I asked her and she wrinkled her nose at the idea.

She picked up the pill and swallowed it, chasing it with the water.

“Why did Dera text me saying she saw you coming out of the Palace?” Corvin asked, with a shit starting smirk on his face.

He wanted to eat my fist again, and he wanted it bad.

“The Palace?” Romina asked me, before looking over to Corvin.

“It’s a strip club.” Felix added from the couch, and she pulled her phone out to google it.

Her face did a quirky little twist like she wasn’t sure what to think about whatever she was discovering at that moment.

“This is normal? Places where people go for naked dancing?” she asked, putting her phone down.

“Hmm, what’s normal? What are you thinking?” I asked her, narrowing my eyes like if I brought my eyelids any further together I’d be able to fucking see through her and actually read her mind like I so desperately desired to.

“I-I’m not sure,” she said, wringing the fabric of her little goth skirt into her hands.

A skirt no doubt picked out directly by Corvin, specifically to draw my attention.

“Don’t lie to me.” I reminded her which one of us she was talking to and she fixed her posture.

“There’s a part of me that feels… sad. I think?” she said like she wasn’t sure. “Sad that you keep me here and in your bed but would still decide to go do whatever it is you would want to do around other naked women. But not with me.” She takes a breath for much longer than I want to wait before she finishes. “But there’s also a part of me that wonders if I’d very much like to look at other naked men.” She finishes unexpectedly.

“What the hell?” Corvin shouted like this had steered into territory he wasn’t prepared for, closing in on her from the opposite direction. “Look here little lamb, I’m only going to say this once.” He fixed her chin in his grip and turned her gaze to him. “If you so much as look at another man, you can consider it his death warrant. If another man looks at you, I’ll rip his head off with my bare hands and make you watch. If you let someone who isn’t the three of us touch you? I’ll split them open from throat to dick so slow they’ll die three times before their heart finally stops beating. Do you understand?” he asked her and she bit her bottom lip like she was fighting back a smile.

“Say you understand, little lamb.” He waited for her. “Say you’re ours.”