Thousands (Dollar 4)

His voice was low—barely audible over the sea breeze. “Do you also know he’s almost paid back what he stole?”

“What?” My jaw fell open.

“He would never have accepted it if I hadn’t convinced him to look at the money as a loan rather than a heist. He’s referred to his success as a debt ever since.”

“A debt?”

He shrugged. “The crime.”

My eyes widened as his words sank in. “You mean…Elder found the guy and paid him back?” The concept that anyone would do that, and could somehow take one wealth and turn it into double blew my mind.

“He wanted to give it all back, but I talked sense into him.” Selix smirked. “Then he wanted to give most of it and keep a few million for his family. I told him life had given him this break. He could borrow it without issue if he couldn’t outright steal it.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

So that was why Elder worked so hard. Why he sailed the world dealing with ruffians and criminals and created such beautiful floating pieces of art. Not because he had a need to be in the underground world but because he knew that crime paid and he needed pay checks to service a debt.

“I know he’s told you about the Chinmoku, so I’m going to give you a word of advice.” Selix turned to me, looking over his shoulder to make sure Elder was still power swimming around the yacht. “Over the years, he’s built up a fearsome reputation, pissed off people, befriended others, and lied through his goddamn teeth. All he wanted was to go home and live in peace, but that isn’t how revenge works. He’s playing a long game, and the big match is coming.”

Moving away from the rail, he paused as his shoulder brushed mine. “They’re coming. He knows that. I know that. You might as well know that because when they come for him, he’ll need all the fucking help he can get.”

My hand shot out as he moved away, latching around his forearm.

He looked down with a quizzical look as if shocked I’d touched him.

Before he could request I unhand him, I asked, “What can I do? How do I help him?”

“Not for me to say.” He shrugged, his face aloof and slightly cold. “You left because you thought it was the right thing for him. That makes you a good person, and I won’t try to stop him from being with you. But you need to find a way to stop hurting him. He needs to have a clear head when they come. Because they are coming, Tasmin Blythe. Mark my words. And if he’s not ready, he’ll die. And then his family will die. And you will die. And everything he’s fucking created from nothing? It was all be for nothing—he might as well have burned with his father and brother just like his family wanted.”

Removing my hand, he muttered, “He’s lying to you. Don’t take his bullshit and you’ll help him far more than by giving him what he wants.”

My heart grasped at his advice, soaking it in with desperate knowledge-thirst. “Is that what you do?”

“That’s what friends do. And I’m many things, but first and foremost, I’m his friend.”

He strolled away, jamming his hands into his pockets as if we’d never spoken. As if he’d not given me clues on how to seduce the very same man who’d painted himself in the blood of my old master and claimed me.

A gust rose from the sea below, revealing Elder as he completed yet another lap. I wrapped arms around myself as a shiver worked down my spine.

Selix had used my real name.

It hadn’t been comforting or inspiring.

It had been ominous and unsettling and done exactly what his words had failed to do.

The Chinmoku weren’t going to let Elder get away with what he’d done.

And I wouldn’t leave Elder.

Eventually they would enter my life, and I no longer had umpteen time to figure out if Elder could sleep with me safely and finally find a place of peace.

A stopwatch had started.

Ticking fast.

Running toward a finish line that I didn’t know would end in victory or bloodshed.

* * * * *

That night, I woke to calamity.

One moment I was curled beneath warm blankets, the next the door slammed wide, footsteps pounded to my bed, sheets were ripped off, and I was jerked into powerful arms.

My eyes flew wide.

My mind shut down.

Horror and panic drenched me.

I hadn’t locked the door.

I really should have.

My voice did two things at once: it tried to hide and become mute. It tried to scream and become noise.

I settled on a combination. A stuttering caterwaul full of sleep and horror. “Put m-me down!” I screeched and kicked, doing my best to attack my assailant. “No! Stop! Let me go!”