Page 15 of Vex (Dragon Brides #12)

This was so freaking stupid.

Luisa slunk down the hallway outside of the suite and headed for the Frost Lounge at the appointed time. Vex was trying to make a secured call back to his IDA contact and hadn't paid her any mind when she said she was going out.

Good.

She was slipping. He already thought she was off her game, and she wanted to kill Brant Tallyer for putting her in this position. If Vex found out she'd screwed up the mission. If he found out about her past …

Why did she even care about that?

So she'd stolen? There was no such thing as crime on Aetis, not in the legal sense. You'd need a government for that. She'd grown up there, come up from the dankest slums, and survived. You couldn't ask for more.

The rationalization felt hollow.

She'd broken into personal systems, violated privacy, destroyed lives with the information she'd uncovered. The kind of work that left stains on your soul that no amount of justification could wash clean.

But she didn't think Vex would see it that way.

She was beginning to suspect the "lord" part of his backstory wasn't made up. He was too comfortable in the role. And the way he'd talked about the estate back on Vemion? That sounded real.

He came from a world of honor and nobility, where people followed codes that meant something. He'd look at her past and see exactly what she was: a gutter rat who'd clawed her way up by stepping on anyone who got in her way.

So what was a real lord doing on this job?

The question piqued her curiosity, but it was the least of her worries.

The casino's corridors seemed different when she was walking them alone.

The soft lighting felt oppressive, creating shadows that could hide watching eyes.

Every well-dressed patron she passed might be a spy.

Her heart rate picked up as she navigated the maze of gaming floors toward the Frost Lounge.

The thrum of activity should have been comforting.

Instead, it felt like a farce designed to lull people into false security while predators like Tallyer moved freely among them.

The place was nearly deserted. It was too early for pre-dinner drinks and too late for the lunch crowd. There were better views in other bars. This place was just … quiet.

And Brant Tallyer was waiting for her at a secluded table in the back.

He sat in an alcove screened by decorative plants, positioned so anyone sitting there would have a clear view of the entrance while remaining mostly hidden.

Tallyer had claimed the chair facing the room's main entrance, forcing her to take the seat with her back to the door.

A tactical disadvantage that made her skin crawl.

The air in the Frost Lounge lived up to its name, cooled to an almost uncomfortable degree and scented with something sharp that reminded her of winter mornings in the undercity.

Tallyer sat relaxed in his chair, holding a glass of whiskey, looking like a successful businessman enjoying a quiet drink.

But his eyes held the same gleam she remembered, the look of a man who enjoyed having power over others.

"You came," he said, sounding genuinely surprised. "You look different."

"You're not dead." She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

He grinned. "Just a little misunderstanding between me and my creditors. You know how it is."

"I left that life behind." Her fingers twitched with the urge to reach for a weapon, not that she ever carried one.

"It looks like! I never thought I'd see you on the arm of some rich man, his pretty bauble. I seem to remember you saying you'd die before you sold your ass to anyone." Why did he sound so jovial?

"I just said that to keep you out of my bed." There was something familiar to the banter, and it made Luisa’s skin crawl at how easy it was to slip back into it.

He laughed, a full-throated guffaw that would have attracted attention if there had been anyone else in there. "You've always been special, Lu. I'm glad you've done so well for yourself."

He was buying her cover. Good. He wasn't about to report her and Vex to the casino for arriving under false pretenses. Aetis didn't have laws, sure, but businesses were more than happy to enforce their rules with the judicious application of violence.

"Did you just summon me to catch up?" She didn't have time for reminiscing. Vex would wonder where she was before long.

"I wish it could have been." He sounded genuine. That was the thing about Brant. When you were his friend, on his side, he'd move the stars to protect you.

When you lost that friendship? Or when he decided you were no longer useful?

At one point in her life, Luisa had thought he was the best partner she could hope to have. She did her best to stay on his good side and never earn his ire.

It hadn't mattered a bit.

"What do you want?" she asked.

He answered without shame. "Fifty thousand credits."

"What! I don't have a tenth of that!" The surprise shocked the truth right out of her.

He took a sip of his whiskey before responding. "Your lord keeping you on that tight of a leash? He got you that necklace you were wearing the other night, and that has to be half the worth right there."

"I can't pawn stones my … lover gave to me in the middle of this casino." Was the necklace really that expensive? She'd tried not to think about it.

It further cemented her belief that Vex had to be a real lord. No way did their operating budget allow for extravagant purchases like that.

Brant shrugged. "Then get him to loosen the leash. He has the cash."

"And if I can't get it?" What was he threatening to expose? He knew the worst of her crimes; he'd challenged her to do most of them. And if he tried to sell her out, he had to know that she'd do her best to drag him down with her.

Unless someone was protecting him.

"If not, I tell Maera Daxkar all about your skills, and she'll collar you and use you until you dry up. She'll pay almost as much for you as I'm asking for."

"You'd try and sell me to her?" Bile rose in her throat.

Brant looked almost sorrowful. "But I don't want to do that. Fifty thousand, and this all goes away."

Until the next ask. That's how blackmail worked. Always.

Luisa had to salvage this. "My skills are rusty. Daxkar wouldn't get her money's worth."

Brant stood up and gave her a pitying look. "Oh, Louisa. She will." He walked away.

Panic hit her hard, stealing her breath.

Fifty thousand credits might as well have been fifty million. Her legitimate work paid well, but not enough to cover extortion demands. And Vex … she couldn't even begin to imagine that conversation.

How could she explain why she needed the credits without revealing everything?

Running was an option, but a terrible one.

The Mountain sat on an isolated peak, accessible only by air transport.

Even if she could get past casino security, where would she go?

Back to the undercity where Tallyer's old contacts would find her in no time?

Off-planet without any connections? She was trapped.

The worst part was knowing this was just the beginning. Fifty thousand now, but blackmailers never stopped with one payment. He'd bleed her dry. And then he'd sell her to Maera anyway, just because he could.

Her hands started shaking as reality sank in. Every choice she'd made to build a legitimate life could be undone with a few well-placed words.

Maera already suspected something was off; Tallyer's information would confirm those suspicions and give the woman exactly what she needed to destroy both Luisa and the mission.

The thought of being collared, of being used as a tool by someone like Maera until her skills were exhausted and her mind broken, made her sick.

She pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to think through the panic. There had to be an angle. Tallyer was confident, cocky even, but overconfidence had always been his weakness. He thought he held all the cards, but maybe he'd overlooked something.

But what? She had no leverage, no resources he didn't know about. And time was running out. The careful balance she'd been maintaining between past and present was crumbling. The professional competence she'd worked so hard to build felt like a costume slipping away.

She was so caught up in her own head that she didn't hear Vex approach. He slid into the seat that Brant had abandoned.

"Care to tell me what that was about?"