“Stay. I’ll come around and get you.” I give her the order then quickly shut the door. I don’t turn around to face the Valettis, but instead I immediately walk around the car to get her. I had her slightly relaxed, so I want to make sure I keep her that way.

When I open the door, she stands gracefully. My hand rests on the small of her back to steady her, but also to give her guidance. I rub my hand in small soothing circles as we walk around the car to face Tommy and his brother. I fucking wish I had her in Kevlar, too. It’s standard attire for me now, after all that shit that happened. It’s the only reason I lived.

I clench my jaw and try to settle the churning in my gut. She’ll stand behind me if anything happens. It’ll be alright.

“This is Ava.” I introduce her and give them a hard stare. I know they saw her before back at the hangar. Back when she was in that dirty dress, bowing on the ground in shackles. But this is different.

Anthony gives her a tight smile and a nod. Tommy’s eyes stare at her collar, at the little bit of bandage peeking out from underneath as he gives a curt hello. I fucking hate them for it. She shifts slightly as she swallows and quietly, yet confidently responds, “It’s nice to meet you.”

I pull her waist closer to me and put my lips to her ear to whisper, “Good girl.”

Tommy and Anthony walk ahead of me, with their backs to us and it gives me a little security. Ava’s walking with her hands clasped in front of her and I know it’s because she’s used to the chains around her wrists. My arm slips off the small of her waist and I take her left hand in my right. Her footsteps falter slightly, and Tommy must hear it because he turns to look back at us and I watch as his eyes stare at our hands.

A jolt of anger races through my blood. He doesn’t fucking know anything, yet he’s judging me. I can see all the shitty emotions on his face. He’s judging us. I don’t have a fucking choice in this, and neither does she. What the fuck does he expect from me? At least she’s not in chains and crawling on the ground like Abram would want.

A quick panic washes through me. If they told Abram about this, I don’t know what he’d say. I push that shit down. I don’t fucking care. I’m doing this my way and he gave her to me. He’ll have to get over it if he doesn’t like it.

We get to the front of the building and Anthony pulls open the large glass door and holds it for us. I press my lips into a slight smile and nod.

“Thank you,” Ava says, stepping in front of me to walk through the door, but not letting go of my hand. It’s such a natural move. It makes my smile turn more sincere. As she steps into the large waiting area she seems to realize something and stops in her tracks. She looks back at me with a flash of fear on her face. Her wide eyes stare at mine as she waits for a reaction from me.

“Good girl.” I’m quick to give her praise. A look of relief washes over her, but my eyes travel to Tommy who continues to walk in front of her, but shoots me daggers. My nostrils flare with anger and I grip her hand a little tighter. Her eyes fall to the floor as we walk behind Tommy and I wish I could take it back.

That’s strike two as far as I’m concerned. One more shitty look like that and that fucker is getting what he has coming to him. I stare at the back of his head as we walk down a narrow hall, trying to will my anger down but doing a shit job of it.

He opens the door to an office on the right and waits for us to enter. He braces the door fully open with his foot, and I want to push it open farther to crush his foot with it and punch his fucking face in. She may be a sex slave and I may have to watch over her, but she doesn’t need those fucking looks from him. Every look is a reminder and I don’t fucking want that for her.

“Ava.” Vince gets up from his desk with a wary smile, looking at me and then back to her. He holds out a hand for her in welcome. That’s better. That’s the greeting I want for her. She quickly but unsteadily places her hand in his, and looks up to me quickly. Her constant need for reassurance makes me sick, but I give her a small nod.

“Hello,” she greets Vince as she visibly swallows, and looks back up to me as she takes her hand away.

Vince looks at me although he speaks to Ava when he says, “Women don’t usually come to these meetings.” He gives her another smile and looks at her face, and then her neck. His eyes focus on the bandage like Tommy’s did. “I wasn’t anticipating you being here.”

On one hand, I’m happy he’s speaking to her. I want her to interact with people. But on the other hand, I’m the one he should be talking to about this shit.

I speak up, getting his attention. “I want her with me.”

He narrows his eyes as he replies, “Women usually stay at home.”

“Forgive me, but I don’t want to leave her somewhere I don’t know is secure.” He seems shocked by my answer. What the fuck did he expect? I don’t know him or his famila. And I don’t trust the safe house we’ve been staying in. He must be able to read that from my hard expression.

“We’d never hurt her.” Ava takes a small step backward, away from him and moves closer to my side. Her hand brushes against mine and I’m quick to take it. The tension in the room is thick. I rub soothing circles on the back of her hand with my thumb.

“I don’t know you, Vince. So you’ll understand that I’d like to have her with me.”

“Yes,” his eyes dart to her neck again before meeting mine, “I imagine Abram would be upset if anything were to happen to her.” Ava noticeably cowers at this and scoots closer to me. It pisses me the fuck off.

The hot air seems to suffocate me, and the only thing I can hear is the blood rushing in my ears. I’m surrounded by three armed men with Ava at my side, and all I want to do is take out my anger by beating some fucking sense into them. I focus on my breathing instead.

“Let’s get to business, Vince.” I bite out the words with only the tiniest bit of aggression apparent. His eyebrows raise and he exchanges a glance with someone behind me. I don’t turn, I just stare back at the asshole with a hard look.

“What is it that you’d like to know?” he asks, walking back around to his desk and gesturing to a chair to my left. There’s only one chair there. I look to the far corner of the room where Tommy’s standing and there’s a chair behind him. I think about moving it over so she can sit with me, but then I think twice about it.

I don’t feel like sitting anyway. I guide her to the chair with my hand on the small of her back and motion for her to sit. I move to stand behind her and grip the chair. She looks uneasy and she has every right to be. I do my best to comfort her by placing my hands on her shoulders so she can feel me there.

“Would you like the other chair?” Vince asks, as Tommy pulls the chair across the floor. There’s an awkward tension in the room and I don’t know how to get rid of it. It’s making Ava tense, it’s pissing me off, and if I turn down the seat it’s only going to get worse. I turn around and look at Anthony who’s standing behind me and in front of the door.

Regret settles in my chest as I clench my fists. I wish I hadn’t brought her. I wish I had somewhere safe to take her. But I don’t have anyone. I turn back to Vince and give him a quick nod before gripping the chair and pushing it to butt up next to Ava’s.

I take a seat and hold out my hand for her. She’s quick to take it and turn her body toward me.

“We don’t deal with this aspect of the industry, so you’ll have to excuse me, but I find this...” Vince looks between the two of us, “...odd.”

I crack my neck to the left and stare back at him debating what all to tell him. Fuck it. I might as well lay it all out there. “I don’t do this shit, and I won’t be the one working between you and Petrov.” I take a steady breath knowing I may have just triggered my death sentence. When this gets back to Abram, he’s not going to be happy. But I’m sure as shit not going to be doing this. “I’m here to learn the ins and outs of your business and report back.”

Vince narrows his eyes at me. “That’s not the impression I was under. I thought you were in charge of this...” he trails off, looking at Ava and then quickly averts his gaze as he concludes, “...this kind of handling.”

“I’m not, and I won’t.” My words come out hard and I’m glad they do.

His brows raise in surprise before he schools his expression. “Is there anything else I should know?”

My brow furrows in confusion. I don’t know what he’s hinting at. “Subtlety isn't a strength of mine, Vince.” I lean forward, but keep my hand back so Ava doesn’t have to change positions. “If you want to know something, you should just come on out and ask it.”

“Is she yours, then?” Vince asks, and I swallow thickly as I settle my back against the seat.

I don’t know how to answer that. If I could take her away, I would. It’s one thing to turn down Abram, I’m probably already dead for that. But to steal from him, that would most certainly put me six feet under.

“For now.” I answer as honestly as possible. All eyes dart to Ava as she takes a ragged breath in. When she notices how much attention she brought on herself, she cowers in her seat and looks to me with a sad expression. Her lips part, but I quickly shake my head, stopping her. I don’t want to hear her say she’s sorry. She’s said it too much already.

I brush my thumb along the back of her hand. “It’s alright, Ava.” I try to reassure her quietly before turning back to Vince. “The circumstances are different today than they will be in the future. I just need to get a handle on how you run this operation.” The questioning look on his face vanishes and is replaced with a hard, no-fucking-nonsense look. He gives a nod and rises from his seat. I do the same and Ava quickly follows suit. Her other hand covers the back of mine and she walks closer to be by my side.

She’s scared and obviously unwell. I would give anything to ease her pain. I wish I could say she was mine and that I was taking her away from this shit. But I can’t. And I won’t lie to her.

“I have a shipment coming in any time now. We’ll wait outside.” He walks around the front of the desk and meets my eyes, before walking toward the doors. “I’m not sure what all could possibly be different on our front that Abram would need to know. But I’ll let you have a look.” I give him a tight nod as my muscles coil.

He’s right. It’s a simple operation. I don’t know what Abram has planned, but I can’t imagine there’s anything the Valettis do that would be a surprise to him.

I walk behind him with Ava gripping onto my hand like she’s afraid I’ll let go. I won’t. I pull her closer to me and just barely resist the urge to kiss the temple of her forehead.

Abram already knows everything except simple numbers. He must want something else.

I hadn’t thought of it before, but now that the realization has hit me, I don’t fucking like it.