Bow Down(6)

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” I asked him

He poured himself a drink. “I came to see my star.”

“I’m nobody’s star, Arturo. Just a guy.”

“You’re the youngest attorney general ever. I’m proud of you.”

I smiled, though I wanted him to leave. “Thank you.”

“Here’s to you.”

“Salut.”

We clinked and drank.

“So, you saw the old and the rich tonight?” Arturo said.

I kept my smile plastered to my face. He clearly wanted me to know that he was watching me, and that was fine. I should have expected it.

“Yes,” I said. “They were old and rich, as always.”

“Find any good donors?”

“I have some leads.”

“Good, good.” He opened his jacket and took out an envelope. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“That’s a fat bribe.”

I took the envelope and looked inside. It was cash, and a lot of it.

“For?”

“There’s a man I want you to be lenient with.”

I nodded. “I can do that. Send my assistant the details.”

“Already done. How is Ethan these days?”

“He’s well. He sends his regards.”

“Good. I’m fond of that boy.”

“I’m sure you are.” Since you’re both killers, I silently added.

“Well. I’ll leave you be. I just wanted to stop in and say hello personally.”

“I appreciate that, Arturo. I really do.”

“Good.” He shook my hand again. “Until next time.”

“Take care.”

He turned and left. I caught a glimpse of his bodyguards leaving with him back down the hallway.

I shut the door softly and sighed, finishing my drink.

The mega-wealthy and the mafia. I should have known what sort of shit was waiting for me at the top of the power pyramid.

I couldn’t wait to find out what was at the very top.





4





Louisa





There weren’t many safe places left in Chicago. Not after I torched all of my bridges and started a war with my father.

My house was crawling with women. Earlier that night, a squad of my best fighters had liberated another whorehouse, and brought as many women back as were willing. We’d eventually train them and let them join our organization, if they wanted, or we’d give them some money and buy them a bus ticket to another city.

We were helping these girls. We got them off drugs and we gave them a purpose in life that wasn’t just spreading their legs for whatever dick could pay. They were more than just a wet hole to me. They were people.

They made me strong. In return, I gave them a reason to live. I saved their lives and the lives of their friends. I never forced someone to join when they didn’t want to.

The house was in a quiet part of Chicago, essentially a suburb. Nobody would ever expect me to be hiding right in the middle of a bunch of middle class moms and dads with their perfect little children and their prep schools, but there I was, criminal and killer. I was their nightmare neighbor, though I was actually very inconspicuous. Truth was, we had tunneled down beneath the house and built essentially three extra floors underground for the girls to live and train. Meanwhile, I lived upstairs with my closest guards and lieutenants.

I was tired, though I didn’t know why. I hadn’t done much aside from kiss Wyatt Carter. Maybe I was exhausted from thinking about him over and over on my way back home. I couldn’t get that man out of my mind, and frankly that scared me a little bit.

I knew he could be useful, but it wasn’t about that. It was about more than what he could give me, or maybe it was exactly what he could give me. It was how he could make me feel, or it was how he had already made me feel. I wanted more of that. I’d been living the hard way for so long, living a double life, and now I was ready to be myself again. I didn’t have to pretend to be Louisa Barone, dutiful daughter anymore. I was my own person again.

In some ways, that was terrifying. I’d known only how to be Louisa Barone for a long time. I was learning how to be someone new, but it was coming slowly. I was a leader and a hacker and a crime boss all wrapped up into one. I was a liberator and a savior of girls.

I was a killer and a traitor.

I shook my head. There was a knock at the door, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Come in,” I called as I slipped on my shirt.

Kasia stepped inside. She was about my height, Russian, blonde, and strong. “Good night?”

“Not as good as yours.”

Kasia was my second in command, the fist woman I ever saved from captivity. She was my best fighter and I trusted her above everyone else.