Kissing the Killer(60)

This damn place came with room service. I couldn’t help but laugh. I came from a neighborhood where the closest grocery store was actually a little bodega that barely carried any food. Here, though, I could have them deliver a full breakfast to my door with only a phone call.

I wished I had come here sooner. But then again, I likely wouldn’t have been allowed in here if it wasn’t for all the insane stuff that had happened.

Really, if it weren’t for Brooks and Louisa. They were the only ones who seemed to care at all about what happened to me, as far as I could tell. With Brooks away at this meeting, I was really and truly alone for the first time in a while.

I didn’t know what I wanted from all of this. I didn’t know where this was going or what our options even were. Louisa just kept saying that she was going to help us, but I didn’t know what that really meant. I didn’t know if she was going to somehow get the mafia to stop thinking about me and hunting me or if she was going to get me out of the city.

And I didn’t know what that meant for Brooks. If I was safely smuggled out of the city, that meant he’d be able to get back to work. He could go back to his old life without a problem and he wouldn’t have to worry about my safety. Louisa could look after that, or really I could look after myself.

Everything felt simultaneously fixed and still completely up in the air. It was bizarre the way all of this was shaking out.

Just as I got up the nerve to call room service and get something to eat, there was a knock at the door. I got up, half expecting to find a cart of food already waiting for me, as if the Barones were so rich they could somehow read my mind.

Instead, as soon as I opened the door, Louisa stepped into the room and shut it behind her.

“Louisa,” I said. “Hi. I didn’t expect you.”

“Let’s talk,” she said. I watched as she walked over to the table and sat down, crossing her legs neatly and smiling at me.

I followed her, fascinated by her every move. She was such a strange person, so abrupt and forward. She seemed like she didn’t mess around and didn’t have time to pretend she was something she wasn’t.

I sat down across from her, feeling somehow inadequate. Louisa was smaller than me, but she seemed to loom so large whenever she was around.

“What do you think of me?” she asked.

I blinked, surprised by the strange question. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “You’re hard to get a read on.”

“Do you trust me?”

“You haven’t given me a reason not to so far.”

“Good.” She looked around the room. “Do you know how we bought all of this?”

I shrugged. “I assumed with all your money. Your family has been in business forever.”

“True,” she said, “but it’s more than that. My father was one of the most ruthless businessmen in the whole city for a very long time, and although he’s gotten much older, he’s still as shrewd as he once was. All of this is only possible because of that intense and unwavering dedication to the family.”

I nodded. “That makes sense, but I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”

“That’s the sort of man I come from,” Louisa said, looking at me. “That’s what I’ve inherited. But I disagree with my father in a lot of ways.”

“Human trafficking,” I said softly.

“Exactly.” She paused for a second, studying her nails. “All of this is built on the backs of the dead. This table, these rugs, this air, it’s all because my father was more violent this his contemporaries.”

“You don’t seem against violence,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“I’m not,” she admitted frankly. “Violence is a means to an end, and for my father, that used to be true. But things have begun to change in the mob.”

“Is that something you’re trying to change?”

“Somewhat,” she said, “but not exactly. I wasn’t lying to you when I said that I want to give power to the powerless.”

“What do you really mean by that?” I asked, surprised at myself for being so forward.

“I wanted to join my father’s business. Years ago, I refused to go to college, refused to become the good girl civilian that my father wanted me to become. I wanted to join the business, because I knew I’d be good at it. When he refused, I locked myself in my room.

“But that was foolish and childish, and I soon realized that. Instead of lounging around and crying about my problems, I began to learn how to use computers. The internet was my window into the world, and I gained some serious skills. I spent all day and all night learning my craft, and eventually I entered into some intense and important underground hacker groups.