CHAPTER FOURTEEN

          THE BRUNETTE DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO SAY HER GOODBYES AS THE DARK EYED MAN PULLED HER FROM THE ROOM BY HER BICEP. He seemed to be in a hurry but he did not enlighten her with a reason. Rio took long strides down the hall and she had to quicken her steps to catch up with him.

"What happened?" she tried, barely able to take in her surroundings as they reached his vehicle. The coiling doors were already opening and she panicked as he unlocked the car. He dropped her arm and stalked towards his door before hauling it open.

"Get in the car, Lucy." he grit out in anger as he got in.

The woman did as she was told with a furrow of her brows and strapped herself in but he had already stepped on the gas as he drove out of the warehouse. His hands were holding the steering wheel tightly, knuckles whitening from the force of it. The muscles in her face were prominent as he clenched his teeth together.

He was on edge and it made her uncomfortable. It could only mean that there was trouble within his world and trouble meant danger. He went over the speed limit quite a bit and she held on for dear life.

"Are you going to tell me what the fucks going on?"

"Just droppin' you off like you wanted."

"Is that why you hauled me out of there? To drop me off?"

Rio shot her a glare and she clamped her lips together at the anger behind his gaze. Lucy shrunk into her seat and swallowed away the quick thrum of her heart. The woman wanted to disappear. He drove down the street that led back towards the main roads, leaving the warehouses behind and only then did he slow down his car.

"My guys can't find the kid." he glowered as he let out a deep exhale and dropped one hand from the steering wheel. "Think he might've talked to the cops, can't have you there if they come sniffin'."

"I guessed he'd gone back to you." she frowned as she looked at him sideways. Lucy had wondered if he was still alive. His stitches had popped that night and he had been bleeding all over. The brunette had just guessed he'd gone back to find Rio and let it go. "What happens if he does talk to the cops?"

"I'll take care of it."

The woman pursed her lips. "That means kill him, right?"

Rio didn't say anything and instead almost ran a red light as he looked into his rearview mirror. Lucy let out a shaky breath and opted to stare out the window instead, as he drove through Detroit towards her apartment building. 

The cool leather of his seats were nice against her skin and she rested her head against the headrest. As Lucy blinked she could see the dead body of that kid within her mind, blood oozing from multiple gunshots. 

She would have patched him up for nothing and she really hoped he wasn't going to the cops for whatever reason Rio was worried about.

"You alright, ma?"

The question caught her off guard and she slid her gaze over towards him. His throat bobbed up and down and as he turned his head towards her for a moment. Lucy hummed once and let her eyes wander over the side of his face before peering back out the window.

This man was giving her whiplash.

The rest of the drive was silent as he pulled up at her apartment building. The woman thought he'd keep the car running, wanting to get out of there as quick as possible but he turned off the ignition and dropped his hand from the steering wheel, resting them on his lap.

"Thanks ..." muttered Lucy as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

He had also dropped his head against the headrest and lazily rolled his neck towards her as he watched her unbuckle herself. If she hadn't been wearing so much makeup to hide her bruises he would be able to see the crimson shade that overtook her cheeks, but he couldn't. He looked at her from beneath long black lashes and she pressed her teeth together.

"Here," he muttered and slid a bundle of cash from his pocket, placing it in her lap and she tried not to pull her hand back as the coldness of his rings came into contact with her skin.

"Why?" she furrowed her brows as she took in the bills. 

He shrugged. "Told you i'd pay for this."

"I said i'd check up on Juan if you needed me to. I don't need money for that." Lucy held the ten grand in her hands and fumbled with the bills.

"Why's that?" he narrowed his eyes, not understanding her reasoning. "What is it with you? You wanted money so bad you robbed me and now you don't accept it for the work you've done."

Lucy ran her tongue along her teeth and let out a breath. 

"Because I don't even know what the fuck i'm doing right now." she scoffed and averted her gaze. "I never wanted any of this. I didn't want to steal, I didn't want to be involved in any sort of crime and now i'm here with you. I don't even know why."

"I do." he said slowly, his dark eyes raking over her form like a warm caress. He tugged on one of his rings with his fingers and swallowed, making his eagle tattoo move with the motion. "You enjoy this even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. Take the money. Call me when you've figured it out, yeah?"

He revved the engine of his car back to life and she shot him a glare before stepping out of the vehicle. Lucy stalked away from him and towards the front of the building, feeling his eyes on the back of her head as she walked.

She had stuffed the bills into her pocket messily before she pulled the glass doors open. She was cussing to herself at the fucked up situation. 

The woman let out a gasp and took a staggering step back as her heart jumped with fright.

"Lucy," grinned her landlord as he took hold of her shoulders to steady her while stepping around the woman. "haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been hanging around?"

The brunette shook his hands off of her as discreetly as possible and took a step back while she wanted nothing more than to glance back at Rio, but she held her head held high. Lucy tried to be as polite as possible. "Richard, hi. I've been very busy with work and I actually have to be somewhere right now. So, sorry."

"That's okay." he smiled, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Just wanted to let you know that i'm increasing rent again. I send you a letter about it but I never got a reply."

"How much?" she gritted out, trying to hold the smile on her face.

"About a hundred dollars." he shrugged. "Times are tough, you know?"

"Hmm," she wanted to burst out crying. "that's okay."

Lucy could see from the corner of her eye that he had not driven off yet, instead he was watching her like a hawk and she wanted the ground beneath her to disappear. 

The brunette offered him one last forced smile and turned to enter the building with as much haste as she could muster.

"Oh, and Lucy?" Richard stopped her with a wry grin. "You better read the letters if you don't want to miss such information. If I hadn't bumped into you, you would have been too late for the next payment and i'd have to fine you. You know the fine to late payments is five hundred dollars, do you not? I don't want to do that."

"Thank you ... Richard." she grimaced, before she stalked up the stairs toward her apartment.

The apartment she so desperately wanted to leave behind. Feeling the weight of the ten grand in her pocket, she thought that might actually be a lot sooner than she would have thought.

hello loves, i struggled a bit with this chapter but i still hope you enjoyed it! thank you for the lovely comments on this story so far they motivate me so much! i'm in the stages of planning the next chapters and outlining them and i am so excited!