Page 105 of Reasons We Break

“I’m fine.”

He drops his hand. “It wasn’t a suggestion.”

Nick hadn’t warned her about this. Simran glances at the tray. “If you find my services valuable,” she says, carefully, “why would you want me to take anything that will compromise my ability to think?”

He laughs. “No one told me you were funny, Simran.”

Simran remembers Zohra’s words all too vividly. “I’m not trying to be.”

“That’s the best part. But I have to say, the funniest thing you’ve done so far is this little strike.” He swirls his glass. “You want better compensation, I respect that. So I’ll make this easy for you—you study math at UBCO, right? We’ll pay your tuition. Hell, we’ll pay for you to become an accountant, and any other degree you want. Full-ride scholarship from the Lion’s Share. How’s that sound?”

Incredible. But Simran knows better. “How would I know you could keep that promise? The Lions couldn’t even organize well enough to defend a café.” His eyes flash, but she keeps going. “You can’t guarantee my safety. I paid the debts I was paying. I want out.”

She can’t explain it, but the air in the room changes near the end of her speech. The woman at Manny’s side rises, tightening the sash at her waist before padding out. The men behind Simran shift on their feet. And Manny...

“You know what I hate more than people who get cold feet?” His voice becomes silky. “People who think they’re better than all this. Low-level, green Lions who don’t understand how this works.”

“I’m not—”

“I know everything about you,” Manny continues. “I have eyes at the mill where your father works. I know your mother’s favourite walking route. I’m glad the cancer’s gone, by the way. I’ve also looked into your cousin, although admittedly I don’t know why she looked so angry with you today at the mall. And all your musician friends, too...I haven’t touched any of them, so maybe you think I’m bluffing.”

Simran tries not to show how shaken she is.

He steeples his fingers. “Thing is, accidents happen. I have some buddies in construction who told me about one just the other day. Some young guy fell off a roof. He walked it off, though. Lucky.” His eyes become brighter. “Next time, he might break his neck.”

Rajan. He’s got to be talking about Rajan. That dislocated shoulder of his...Manny’s doing. A show of his power.

When she doesn’t respond, Manny reclines, now looking bored. “Let me be clear. I was offering compensation to benice. But I see I have to drop that shit and remind you of your place. You’re a teenage girl who worked with the lowest shitheads of the Lions for a couple months. If you decide to be cute and stop working, you become a liability. So convince me right now, Simran, that you’re not a liability. Convince me you’re not going to walk, or do something else stupid, like talk to cops.” Something cold presses against the back of Simran’s head. She doesn’t have to look to know one of the guards has his gun on her. “Convince me, because the only reason I allowed this ridiculous meeting was so I could personally watch a bullet go into your brain.”

Simran’s throat closes. Several seconds pass.

She forces herself to breathe. Manny didn’t offer compensation earlier for nothing. And even now, him wanting to see her deadpersonallytells her something very interesting indeed. Sheisvaluable...but also dangerous. He would rather not kill her, but only if he knows she can be controlled.

Her eyes flicker over the table, and the items on it. A decision settles into her chest. There was never going to be a way out, after all.

Only a way through.

She points at the lines of powder and makes the biggest gamble of her life. “I’ll take my refreshments now.”

SIMRAN IS HAVINGa fantastic time when Nick and Zohra come by later.

Seriously,fantastic. She’s kneeling by the coffee table, paper spread everywhere, the books on the table shoved to the side. She’s so busy writing that she only vaguely notes two pairs of shoes stopping next to her.

Nick taps her shoulder.

“It’s time to go.” His voice is low, urgent. She glances up. Nick and Zohra both look worried for some reason. Manny’s just around the corner, having set her up with supplies. He gave her a green crayon instead of the pen she asked for, which was odd, especially because everyone laughed when she took it eagerly. But she could still work with it. Why are they so concerned?

“I have to write this down. Before I forget.” It’s so exciting, her heart races. She almost feels dizzy. Her brain, it’s working in whole newdimensions.

Nick glances at the page. “And what, exactly, are you writing?”

“An idea to encrypt the Lions’ ledgers,” she says eagerly. She starts explaining it. It makes perfect sense; hard to decode, but if you’re a Lion, it’s easy. It’s brilliant. It’s the perfect cipher. She’ll call it the Simran cipher. She’ll—

“You’re not making a lick of sense right now,” Zohra interrupts. Behind her, bricks from the fireplace come out of the wall and morph into spheres. “You realize that, right?”

Simran frowns and drops her hands, which she’d been using to illustrate her points. Of course Nick and Zohra don’t understand. Manny and his friends didn’t either. They let her talk for a while, but they didn’t listen, really. Everyone thinks she’s just high. Which, fine,yes, but that doesn’t mean she lost her brain. In fact, her neurons are firing better than ever.

Nick turns to Zohra. “Go distract Manny for a sec.” He yanks Simran up. “Let’s go.”