Take the Heat

My throat felt thick. “You tricked him. He has a problem. An addiction. The gambling—”

“Excuses. Didn’t you check him into that cli

nic six months ago? That cost you a pretty penny. And what did he do?”

He’d checked himself right back out, wasting the three-thousand-dollar enrollment fee. It had been money painstakingly saved up from the whole time I’d worked as a custodian at the nursing home. Then when I’d graduated high school, I’d been promoted to an orderly. I had thought maybe one day I could save enough for nursing school…but God, that would never happen. I had been crazy to think it would. There was barely anything left over in my paycheck after bills and food. And anytime I did save money, Benny’s addiction ate it up.

Benny hung his head, unable or unwilling to defend himself.

I was suddenly feeling far less sympathetic about his injuries. In truth, I had shown up expecting it to be worse. I’d had terrible visions of broken bones and severed fingers. But maybe I’d been overreacting. Maybe Liam still had that spark of humanity, of compassion, I’d once loved as a child. And even if I knew Benny was partly to blame for his situation, I couldn’t leave him to the wolves. Namely, one wolf. Liam.

I turned to my childhood friend who looked so different now with the glint of scruff on his face, with a bend in his nose where it had been broken. He looked so much more distinguished. He looked intimidating.

“Please let him go. Even if he… I know what he did. But he’s my brother. I can’t leave here without him. Take the two thousand. I’ll get you more, soon. I promise you. Just don’t hurt him.”

“Do you know how much he owes me, Grace?”

I swallowed. “Five thousand dollars?”

His face pulled into a slight grimace. He sighed. “Fifteen.”

I stood there, stunned. Unable to gasp or even breathe. Fifteen thousand dollars. I would never have that much money, not ever. But he was my brother.

“Please,” I whispered, reduced to begging.

Liam looked away, and for a horrible second I thought it was a refusal. My stomach pitched wildly, in fear and doubt and desperation. How could I fix this? I couldn’t, I couldn’t. My brother was going to be beaten or killed.

Then he turned back to me, a hard glint in his gunmetal eyes. “There is a way you can help. You can be mine, Grace. Mine to do whatever I want with.”

Seconds passed with excruciating slowness as my mind protected me. Then reality slammed into me—all at once. He meant sex. I was almost sure he meant sex. Then I laughed at myself, hollow and jaded. What else would it mean?

I hadn’t thought it possible to hate Liam more, but I did, because he’d set up an impossible choice. For fifteen thousand dollars—and for my brother’s safety—I had to agree.

What did that make me? A prostitute? A sex slave?

An expensive one, at least.

I looked at my brother as the offer stood in the air. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. Couldn’t he at least put up a token protest? At least try to protect my honor? But I was getting a clearer picture of Benny than I had our whole lives. Letting himself fall to this level was one thing, but dragging me into it was the last straw. I would do this for him—and that was it.

“Never again,” I whispered.

I would never drain my bank account and come running to help ever again. Never sell my body for him. Never trust my brother again. It was like losing a family member. The only one I had.

Benny nodded, or maybe he was just drifting out of consciousness, his head bobbing slightly. Who knew? I was done. I would do what Liam required of me, and then I would be finished. Finished with family. Finished with criminals.

I’d be alone then.

I nodded grimly. “I’ll do it.”

Liam gestured to his goons. “Show him out.” Then he turned back to me with a guarded look. What was he protecting himself against? “This way.”

I stared after him for a second. What had I gotten myself into? But it was too late to back out. Benny was already being strong-armed out the door. Well, if I was honest, he wasn’t being forced at all. He was practically running out the door, and he didn’t look back. He wasn’t a fool.

I was the fool.

My heart beat an erratic pattern. If I tried to bolt, would his men stop me? Would Liam himself restrain me if I fought him? He’d purchased the right to use me, in a way. That didn’t mean I’d make it easy.

He led me down the hallway I’d come from, and into a more expansive lobby. A massive chandelier filled the domed ceiling. Some long-gone centerpiece had left a patch of vibrant-colored carpet in the middle of the room. Why had he picked this place for his headquarters? Even in its decay, it was too beautiful for cruelty.