Page 50 of Wanted

“I wouldn’t want to be a father to such an entitled prick.”

“You really think you’re cute, don’t you?”

“Your father doesn’t care enough about you. He won’t listen if you complain to him about me being mean,” Travis commented. “In fact, he’ll applaud me for disciplining you.”

He stood up from his chair, the tablet in his tight hold. “Take action, or you’ll be the next one that dies. And it won’t be because he ended you. It’ll be because you ended yourself.”

♥♠♥

“Where’s the girl?” Lee asked as I entered his tattoo shop in broad daylight. He welcomed me with open arms. The waiting customers’ mouths gaped open. Some gasped. All of them gawked. Music filled with bass played in the background, attributing to the rough look of the tattoo shop. “Does she like her tattoo? Does she want a new one?”

I shook my head. “She left a while ago. It’s just me.”

“Let’s go talk somewhere in private then?” Lee suggested. I shook my head.

“I’m here to see how you work. I’d like to get to know some people,” I said.

Lee raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. “Who are you, and what have you done with Weston Wraith?”

I shrugged.

“When did you start doing charity work?” Lee asked, leading me further inside of the shop and away from the waiting room.

“About a week ago,” I responded. “I’ve been making the rounds for a couple of days now. I have a thousand friends on an app called SexNote. I hear that’s a big achievement.”

Lee nodded, chuckling to himself.

I spent the entire day at Lee’s workplace. It was a busy spot, customers coming in without any breaks of peace. Husbands came with their objects to brand them. There were women, some of whom I recognized because I remembered faces well, that came here to get other types of tattoos. They were working women in whore houses, Hole Stores, or big corporations without husbands, making ends meet on their own.

“Why did she leave?” Lee asked.

“This life wasn’t for her,” I told him. My eyes fell on the silenced television that kept playing while music blasted through the speakers. Lee and I were observing as one of the best tattooists of Katantia drew a picture of a slender woman with a baby in her hands on a man’s left arm. That was his dead wife. She’d died at childbirth.

“Can we turn the volume up?” I gestured at the television.

“Sure,” Lee responded, reaching for the remote. The music quieted while the television was made audible.

“Fuck!”

“That’s the princess!”

“Who’s that guy?”

“Weston?”

I stood there, frozen. My eyes were set on the television screen. That was my sister on it, standing next to a tall black man in a suit. She was dressed in a long black dress, and her hair was brown. The last time she’d been brunette, she still had the pimples of her teenage years on her face.

She held on to the man as if he were her shield, her protector… Her lover.

“The former Princess of Katantia has released a statement, Wendy! She’s engaged to MVP Alex Winters. They’ve known each other for some time, having met through mutual friends. We assume that she fled her country to be with him. Who wouldn’t want to date this specimen of a man? Handsome. Kind. Ambitious!”

Something inside of me plummeted.

“He’s next in line for a championship ring! Kamila hasn’t been spotted in Indianapolis, but sources say she’s already moved into his mansion. Their wedding is coming soon.”

For a moment, the only sound I could hear in the room was my heavy breathing.

Then, relief filled the room. People clapped. People shouted. Lee turned it off, realizing that it wasn’t doing me any good.