Fighting to Be Free (Fighting to Be Free 1)

I nodded, it all sounded good and to be honest they’d both be crazy not to agree, there was no downsides to it really. “But what about when the orders come flooding in, and you have no one to fill them?” I asked curiously.

He frowned, sucking his teeth with his tongue. “I’ll sort something out. You never know, maybe you’ll be done trailing around the world quicker than expected, and you’ll want to come back to work. I could make it worth your while, if this deal goes through then I’ll double your boost fee, how about that?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

I smiled apologetically. He’d tried everything to get me to stay, money, respect, more power within his organisation, threats of violence towards Ellie - that one didn’t go down very well with me so he apologised and took it back pretty quickly. But none of it was enough to get me to stay, I wanted out and after tonight, I was.

“I’d recommend you try and get Vincent on your team,” I suggested. That night that I worked with him, he was an incredible booster, he talked too much for my liking but I would definitely recommend the guy.

“Who’s Vincent?”

“Oh, right, Dodger,” I corrected when I realised that Brett probably didn’t even know his real name.

“Man, that has to be the worst nickname in the history of bad nicknames,” I muttered, shaking my head, laughing to myself.

Brett grinned and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, if it comes to it then I’ll talk to him. Maybe Ray could train up another little protégé for me too,” he mused, patting me on the knee. We lapsed into silence and I looked out of the tinted windows, watching the streets whizz past in a blur. My eyes were heavy; I could actually do with going to sleep right now instead of this.

“You know, I’m really sad that you’re leaving this life,” Brett stated seemingly out of nowhere.

I turned back to look at him to see a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah, but I never really wanted this life in the first place,” I muttered.

He nodded. “Your dad would have been proud of you getting out and starting over like this. He never really liked this life much either.” I looked at him curiously when he mentioned my dad. “He wanted out too but he wasn’t gonna get it, the person he worked for wouldn’t have let him go easily.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “No, he was too good at what he did; they wouldn’t have wanted to lose his talent from their team. You definitely got that from him. I’ll be sorry to see you go, and not just for your skills either,” he said, smiling affectionately at me. “I’ll actually miss you a lot.”

I squirmed a little on my seat, uncomfortable with the emotion that he seemed to be exuberating.

“I’ll miss you too, Brett.” That wasn’t actually a lie, he was a great guy and I’d always liked him - well, when he wasn’t threatening Ellie I liked him anyway. I’d miss a lot of the boys on the team; I counted them all as friends lately.

He smiled wistfully, fiddling with his buttons on his suit jacket. “I always thought you’d take over from me one day. I never had kids of my own, so I kind of always thought of you as my kid. If I had to hand my business to anyone, it’d be you.”

I laughed nervously. “I’m too good-looking to be your kid,” I joked, trying to break the intense mood.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “And too conceited,” he added.

I chuckled. “And too smart.”

He raised one eyebrow, still grinning. “Don’t push it, I don’t like you that much,” he said, winking at me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it out to me. “I got you a little going away present.”

I took the paper cautiously, wondering what it was going to be. When I opened it up, I saw a bank account number and password written on there. I frowned. “What’s that?”

He smiled and shrugged. “I opened you an offshore bank account to help you get started with your girl. I know you always wanted your own car garage, well, there’s enough in there to help you buy one,” he answered, laughing.

I gasped, looking at him in shock. “Brett, I can’t take that,” I protested, holding the paper back to him again.

He shook his head and pushed my hand away, refusing to take it. “Kid, just take it and I hope it makes you happy.”

“I want to go straight, I don’t want to take this and owe you anything,” I countered, looking at him pleadingly. If I took that money then he’d always have a hold over me, I’d always be in his charge.

He made a scoffing sound. “There’s no strings attached. That’s yours, just take it and spend it on whatever you want. I know you want out, and I respect you for that. That’s a parting ways gift, kind of like severance pay,” he joked, winking at me playfully.

I opened my mouth to make another protest but the car pulled up into a workshop parking lot.

Immediately my business face snapped on, the deal came first, I could argue with him about the money after. I shoved the paper into the pocket of my jeans, smiling as my fingers brushed over Ellie’s panties that I’d confiscated earlier.

Brett sat forward in his seat, telling Ed to turn the car around and park near the door just in case. I looked out of the window; it looked like the other people were already here. There were four expensive looking cars parked even though it was half eleven at night now. Lights were already aglow in the workshop, casting an eerie glow over the parking lot. I spotted a couple of Brett’s guys getting out of their cars and heading over towards us, and another car pulled in behind us.