Page 48 of Retribution

‘Well that was nice,’ she sighs, looking a little dreamy.

‘Yeah. God I miss you.’

‘Me, too,’ she says, taking my hand. I sit next to her on the bench and she leans against me. ‘It seems like weeks since I really saw you guys, not days. The other day at the coffee shop was so fast, it doesn’t count. How’s the club?’

‘The cops are done with it. The story is still that it was a gas leak, so I guess Sauvage did his thing.’

She nods. ‘But they can fix it?’

‘Yeah, even better than before. Insurance is paying out and they’ve already started. That’s how I was able to get your stuff out of there. Lu gave it all to you?’

She nods. ‘She’s coming over later.’

‘No more problems with Nasty Nurse?’ I ask carefully.

She doesn’t answer right away.Red flag.

But she shrugs. ‘Nothing I can’t handle.’

‘Okay,’ I acquiesce. ‘But if that changes, you tell us as soon as it does.’

She nods.

‘Promise me, Daisy.’

She looks up at me. ‘If it turns into something I can’t deal with myself, I’ll let you guys know. I promise.’

‘Good.’ I sigh, knowing that, same as me, a promise means something to her.

I relax a little, confident she won’t break it.

We drink our hot chocolates in companionable silence, our hands touching. But all too soon, she stands.

‘I’ll be missed if I spend any more time here,’ she says, squeezing my hand. ‘When will I see you again?’

‘I don’t know,’ I tell her truthfully. ‘Mav has been having some problems with Envy. Something isn’t right, but he can’t figure it out.’

‘Maybe I can help,’ she says, but I shake my head.

Her lips purse as she looks down at me. ‘I’ll message him, then.’

‘I don’t want you anywhere near Sauvage. Let us deal with it.’

Her face goes blank, and I know she doesn’t like what I’m saying. I take her hand. ‘It’s not because I don’t know you could one hundred percent figure out the problem. We just don’t want Sauvage noticing you. He already knows you exist. That’s bad enough.’

She tilts her head to the side. ‘What does some mob boss know about me?’

‘That you’re my stepsister. That we care about you.’

I leave it at that, and she turns away.

‘See you soon, Shade,’ she says with a sad smile and opens the door, sprinting quickly down the trail.

I put our mugs back on the tray and leave it where it is. I don’t want to make it obvious that I met Daisy out here. She’s not even supposed to speak to me, after all. Besides, Stephens will send someone to grab it later when no one’s watching.

I leave the pagoda and go in the other direction, up to the house and around to the front. Stephens opens the door, and I smirk.

‘Daisy get back okay?’