Page 77 of Pretty Broken Wings

“Sorry, princess. Banks don’t just have that much money on hand.” If I didn’t know better, I’d say Gage’s tone is soft. Kind, even.

No. This isn’t how it was supposed to work. I was supposed to get my cash and go.

“If I tried for more, they’d flag me for fraud, and it would take even longer. This is the best I can do. And you’re going to sign this.” He pulls a folded paper out of his pocket.

“Fuck no.”

“Read it.”

I narrow my eyes, then read what looks like a contract. It’s short and simple. It’s a non-disclosure agreement that begins from the first day I was hired at Newmans and lasts for a month from now. It says I won’t talk about my relationship with either brother to anyone for any reason unless a future agreement is made. The amount of money he promised me is there, standing out in absurd numbers.

I try to find the loophole. He’s a lawyer. There has to be a loophole.

“Not signing this.”

Gage plucks the envelope of cash out of my hand. I growl, trying to snatch it back.

“Then no money.”

“No.” I reach across the seat, but Gage just tucks it under his thigh, and I snatch my hand back to avoid touching him.

I hate him. I hate him so much. My hands are sweating, and I rub them on my skirt. I don’t know what to do. Do I steal the car and leave? That’ll put me in the same spot I was before. I want to be gone. To disappear. To get a private place with my books and shut out the world.

Gage doesn’t say anything else. He just lets me process. Although, I’m not really processing. I start to feel my brain go fuzzy and just… check out. Just like I did before. I feel the self-hatred rolling through me, but then it’s drowned out by blissful, amazing numbness. I try to fight it, but what’s the use? I don’t know how to fix this shit show. I don’t have the money or the power to fix it. Once again, I’m helpless.

“Can you take me to the grocery store?” Gage asks.

I stare out the front windshield.

“Tomorrow morning, eight AM. You’ll sign the contract, and I’ll bring you more.”

His voice is annoying. It’s breaking through the fog. All I gather from what he’s saying is that I can get more money tomorrow. I just have to make it through today.

For freedom, Raven. You’ll do anything. Play the goddamn game.

So, just for now, I put the car in drive.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

I can’t let Raven suffer like this.

I knew that before I offered her my savings, and I really know it now.

That doesn’t change the fact that my plan to help her involves me making the girl who wants to kill me—or Axel, to her, there’s no difference—comfortable.

I haven’t been anything but cold to something that’s not an animal in… a long fucking time. I’m not entirely sure I can do it. But the fear and anger in Raven’s voice remind me so much of when I first met Poe, and she clawed at me and bit my finger open. Poe was just angry. Scared. Hurt.

And so, here I am.

Raven parks in the grocery store lot, and I find it hard to get out of the car. Her presence is smothering in a way that both hurts and is intoxicating. She doesn’t say a word, and yet I can feel her anger clinging to every bit of exposed skin.

Slowly, I crack the door.

The cool air outside helps me focus. I have my old glasses on that give me a headache, but I can see enough to realize that she’s parked as far away from the doors as possible.

Maybe she doesn’t want to get out first.

I step out of the car, waiting to hear her door open, but it doesn’t. A bolt of anxiety kicks through me. Is she going to drive off? Take the small amount of money I gave her and run?