Page 61 of Paper Doll

“Bright and early,” Wes adds with a wink.

Ava only frowns in response, watching after the three of us as we start making our way toward the door. I’m the first to reach it, and I don’t bother glancing back as I pull it open to leave, satisfied that the lesson we came to deliver has sunk in. Stepping out into the hallway, I find Richelle waiting there, sitting on the floor against the wall opposite her shared room with Ava. She glances up at me as I exit, lowering her book in front of her.

I know the resentful look in her eyes all too well. I just give her a curt nod before turning to head down the hallway, smirking to myself. Richelle may hate us, but she’ll keep our secrets so long as we keep hers. She’s just another puppet like the rest of them, pissed off that the Kings are pulling their strings.

As the three of us re-enter our fifth-floor apartment, an odd sense of calm washes over me. The guys were right– torturing Ava has proven to be a satisfying outlet for my pent-up rage. I normally only get this kind of peace after a fight. The shadows are blissfully at bay.

Kicking off my boots, I lazily stride across the living room toward the bar, glancing back at my friends. “Drink?”

They both murmur in agreement, but then my phone vibrates in my pocket with an incoming call, prompting me to pause and pull it out. I’m shocked as shit when I find my dad’s name on the screen, immediately mashing the answer call button and bringing the phone up to my ear.

“About fuckin’ time you called me back,” I growl down the line, not bothering to fake pleasantries with the bastard.

“Don’t take that tone with me,” he snaps gruffly. “Is Ava safe?”

“That’swhy you’re calling?” I snarl, my grip around my phone tightening as darkness bleeds into the edges of my vision. “Where the fuck are you, Gideon?”

“I’ll be back soon.”

My heart stutters a beat. “Does that mean you recovered the shipment?” I ask, flickering a glance toward Wes and Ford.

Their eyes widen simultaneously, the two of them looking at each other, then back to me.

Impossible.

“Not yet, but I will,” he grumbles, the strain in his tone betraying his agitation. “In the meantime, I worked out a deal, but I need you to keep Ava close until I can get back there in a few weeks.”

“And why the fuck would I do that?” I scoff.

“Other than because I said to?” he sighs, the question obviously rhetorical. “Given your feelings about Daphne, I thought you might need a little incentive, so I had Daniel move some things around.”

My blood runs cold. “You didn’t…”

“Keep hersafe, Raf,” he reiterates sternly. “As soon as I get back and see that she is, I’ll take her off your hands and everything will go back to normal.”

“Like hell it will,” I spit. “What does–”

“Gotta run,” Gideon mumbles, cutting me off mid-sentence. “I’ll be in touch.”

The line abruptly goes dead and I lower my phone from my ear, glaring down at the screen.

“What’s going on?” Wes asks hesitantly, edging closer.

I ignore him, turning to Ford instead. “Have there been any changes to Gideon’s accounts?”

He makes a beeline for his bedroom, calling back to me over his shoulder. “I’ll check, but there hasn’t been anything in weeks.”

A sick feeling of foreboding curls in my gut as I follow him into his hellhole of a room, carefully stepping over the dirty laundry strewn across the floor. Ford sweeps an arm across his desk to clear the clutter from the surface– only adding to the mess on his floor– and drops into his desk chair, clicking the mouse to wake up his computer. Wes appears in the doorway, keeping his distance as I stand over Ford’s shoulder. I watch him enter some passwords and click around through a bunch of windows, then he hisses in a breath through his teeth.

“Shit,” Ford whispers. “Your old man’s been busy.”

“Tell me,” I demand, hands curling into fists at my sides.

He glances up at me over his shoulder, wincing. “I will, but… you’re not gonna like it.”

CHAPTER 27

WES