Page 42 of Reasons We Break

“Please, don’t,don’t—”

Zohra speaks. “Stop.”

And they do. Just like that.

“Take it outside,” she says, giving Simran a somewhat pitying look.

Someone gives Rory a shove, and he stumbles toward the door. Before he disappears, he turns to look at Simran.

The hatred in his eyes shakes her. She’s still staring after him when Nick comes up to her.

“Get back to work.”

Her hands are shaking. She strains her ears for a gunshot that will confirm her worst fears. “What will they do to him?”

Nick and Zohra exchange impatient looks, like Simran’s a bratty kid having a tantrum. “He knew the consequences of what he was doing.”

“Which are?”

Nick barks a laugh. He doesn’t answer her, though. “I want you to look over the rest of his work. Find out exactly how much Rory stole from us.”

The implications of that catch up to her. She’s in.

But Nick seems to read her mind. He leans over the table, getting in her face with those cold dark eyes. He seemed young to her earlier, but right now he seems ancient, barely human at all.

“Don’t get it twisted—you work forme. Don’t think about getting smart like Rory did. Don’t try being a hero, either. There’s no legal evidence in any of the ledgers you have access to. Got it? I have no problem snuffing you out if you decide to become a problem.”

She stares.

He slams his hand down on the table, making her jump. “I said,got it?”

A scream tries to work its way up her throat. She swallows it down. “As long as you leave Rajan alone.”

Nick digs into his pocket and produces another notebook. He throws it at her feet. “Fine.”

“And don’t tell him about this,” she adds, but he’s already swept out of the room, leaving her with Zohra and one of the men. Still, it’s a victory. She bends to pick up the new ledger. It takes her two tries because of her trembling.

When she straightens, Zohra sits on the countertop watching. “I used to be like you, you know. Soft.”

Usedto be? How did she end up here, anyway? She doesn’t have the tattoo, but she clearly has power. Enough authority to get a bunch of grown men to take a murder outside. Enough experience to con Simran into trusting her, and enough audacity to act like it never happened.

Simran can’t help the bite to her words. “You mean, human?”

“Whatever it is.” Zohra’s expression doesn’t change. “It won’t last.”

AFTER OVER Aweek of radio silence from the Lions, Rajan starts to think Nick is playing some kind of sick game. The point of kidnapping Simran was to get Rajan back on the payroll. So why aren’t they calling?

All he does at home is think about what the Lions’ next move will be. All he does at work is guess which of his coworkers is on their payroll. All he does at Hillway is wonder if he’s putting everyone he talks to in danger. At this point, if Nick reappeared, Rajan wouldbegfor a job, just to end this torture.

Which, maybe, is the point.

Ahead of his next probation meeting, he stands in the kitchen, tuning out his brothers’ latest hallway cage match while he finishes a mandatory gang violence module for the social worker Kat works with. It’s full of stupid advice that would likely get him shot if he tried it with Nick, but he obligingly presses the correct answers. Then he pushes away the old laptop and sighs. The fight in the hallway still hasn’t stopped.

“Dad said—”

“If you tell him, I’ll—”

Sukha cuts himself off when Rajan steps into the hallway.