She averts her gaze, sniffling hard. “I just wanted a different life,” she whispers quietly, so low we aren’t meant to hear.
“We know, that’s why we helped you in exchange for all that information. Your debt is almost paid, Sandra, so keep your head down, and this place will be all yours before long,” I offer nicely. Ryder rolls his eyes at me before getting to his feet.
“Do not make us come back, Sandra.”
“And Mike?” she whispers, staring at us with huge tear tracks down her face.
I drop a quick text to the men holding him. “I paid his debt just now, he’s free, but maybe keep your eye on his spending and get him some help.” I play the role of the nice brother easily enough, and with a friendly wink, I turn to leave, but my eyes catch on the shelves of products.
“Oh, we need some girlie shit,” I tell Sandra. She nods, tears still streaming down her face, and black mascara flowing in its wake. She’s a mess.
“Take whatever you want,” she whispers, looking away quickly.
“Thanks, is this face…mask good?” I question, and Ryder snorts.
“Just take everything. I’m sure Sandra here can get more stock with the money she will be getting back from the Triad. Isn’t that right, Sandra?” he challenges nastily, and she hastily nods.
Grabbing a bag from the side, I dump all the stuff into it, hoping Rox likes it before throwing it over my shoulder and opening the door. Sam instantly takes the bag, his eyes still sharp, scanning our surroundings. Whistling again, I head to the door and Tony opens it but goes out first, checking everything before nodding at us.
We head back to the car, and when we’re inside, I look at Ryder. “We should get her some other stuff to make her feel at home. She is staying, isn’t she?”
He grips the wheel. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on, Ry, she’s nothing like that bitch. She doesn’t even want our money.” I laugh.
“No, she wants something worse. Her freedom.” He glares at me then. “She will never be happy being kept in our penthouse, she’s not a kept woman. She likes to work, it’s how she got by.”
I nod and look away. “Then we give her a job, something, anything. Because she’s not leaving us.”
“We couldn’t give her freedom, even if we wanted to. It would be a sign of weakness, and they have all seen her with us now. She would be dead the moment she stepped from the building.” Ryder sighs and rubs his head. We both know that’s the truth. By being ours, she has a target on her back, but I can’t bring myself to regret that when it means I get her. “Fine, let’s get her some stuff, the other bits can wait.”
Firing up the Aston, he pulls into traffic with Tony and Sam behind us, and does a U-turn to take us downtown to the shopping district. “I fucking hate shopping,” he growls.
Flicking on the radio, I dance along to the music. “I love it.”
“How are we brothers?” he mutters.
“‘Cause all the anger and madness went to you.” I laugh.
He swears, and I ignore him and ring Garrett. “Hey, we’re nipping to the store, need anything?”
“To be allowed to kill this fucking brat,” he snaps, then yells louder, “Then don’t fucking try that shit again,” before coming back to the phone. “She’s so annoying, you sure I can’t kill her?”
“I heard that, asshole!” Roxy screams in the background. “I might not have my bat, but I’ll still take you down, motherfucker.”
I raise my eyebrows at that. “I thought you two had started to get along?”
He snorts but doesn’t answer. Ah, okay, so she’s under his skin. We can work with that. “Don’t you fucking dare change that channel again,” he barks.
“I’ll leave you to it, have fun,” I offer with a laugh before hanging up and looking over at Ryder. “She’s going to have him wrapped around her finger before long.”
He grins. “No doubt, she already has you.”
“And D, did you hear he killed that drunken idiot at the fight?”
Ryder nods. “Sloppy, but that’s Diesel for you.”
He parallel parks outside a shop, ignoring the no parking lines. We wait for Tony and Sam to get out, and then they open our doors—we can’t be too careful at the moment. It wouldn’t be good for one of us to get shot just because we were sloppy, and with a bounty on our heads, they will all be coming out of the woodwork to try for us. We are hoping the German is one of them, which is why we are out and about.
Bait.
Heads held high and unafraid, we stroll into the shop. The greeter zeros in on us straightaway, recognising money, and his eyes light up. “Gentlemen, how may I help you?”
Ryder points at me and pulls his phone out to undoubtedly answer all the emails piling up. Wrapping my arm around his neck, I pluck his phone free and pocket it. “Oh no you don’t, you stuck your dick in her too, so you have to buy her nice things to make up for your shitty attitude.”
He grumbles and glares at me, pushing me away. He tries to grab his phone, but I move back, laughing. The salesman doesn’t even blink, pretending he can’t hear our conversation like all the best ones do. Catering to the rich and famous means you get deaf really quick or you don’t last long.
“Fine, she needs more jewellery,” he mumbles, making me clap my hands.
“Now you’re talking. She needs more of those sexy bras, and for sure some more of those boots, they are hot as hell. Oh, we should buy her some weapons.” I sigh wistfully.
He looks over at me. “And when she uses them on us?”
I shrug. “Probably only on Diesel, and he would love it, and, well, maybe Garrett, but he would just respawn like the devil he is.”
“Of course, sir, if you would like to follow me. I will have my colleague Francesco escort you, sir, to the jewellery.”
“Nope, we can go together, we are in no rush,” I reply and wave him on. He inclines his head and leads us to the second floor and the jewellery there.
“What kind of shit do women like?” I mutter.
“Anything expensive,” Ryder snaps.
“Like fuck. You think Rox cares how much we spend? She would probably just throw it back in our faces and cross those little arms and put on the cute face and be like ‘I don’t need your bribes, asshole,’” I mock, and his mouth drops at my girl voice.
“That was strangely accurate and a little scary. Fine, what shall we get her?” He throws his hands in the air.
“You, server guy, what should we get a woman who doesn’t give a fuck about money or riches and is rocker-like?”
He ponders that for a moment. “Ah, I have some things that may work.”
“Any in a snake?” Ryder queries.
The man doesn’t even blink at the strange request. “Right this way.”
He leads us to a small sitting area and then disappears. Leaning back in my chair, I look around at all the sparkling jewels around us. “Shit, I remember coming to places like this with Dad so he could show off his new trophy wife.”
Ryder grunts, but I carry on, “I always hated it and the women, all they cared about was money. Yet we ended up with those types of women…well, except now with Roxxane. She really is different. Do you think it’s because she genuinely doesn’t know how much money we have?”