Page 9 of The Karma Project
Brandon interrupts her train of thought and says, “You’ve become sloppy. You haven’t even been trying to cover your tracks since Archer and his Blood Eagle. And you left the door unlocked at Peter’s place.”
Brandon makes a valid point, but we keep our eyes trained on what Zoe, on the edge of our seats— literally, to hear what she has to say next.
Zoe cocks an eyebrow at Brandon, “You think that was an accident?” She makes atsksound with the click of her tongue, “Silly, silly boy.” She winks.
“You’re saying it was on purpose?” He asks. Zoe’s only response is a knowing look.
“Then why? Why’d you make yourself vulnerable like that?” Max questions.
“I knew you’d never find me unless I made my presence known. I was growing bored of the cat and mouse, because you just never caught up to me. And I was ready to see my father’sprized possessions.” She gestures to us scattered around the table, gawking at her.
This woman is a force—a driving force that should be feared, and yet all I want to do is get closer to her. It infuriates me to feel this way towards her so quickly, I’ve neverfeltanything for a woman; other than what if felt like to come in them, of course. I never let myself get close to anyone but my brothers, nobody else can be trusted. Not even Zoe, and the magnificent woman she is. I’ll need to distance myself and hopefully getting lost in another pussy will keep my mind off of her.
“So, let me get this straight,” Max starts. “You let me see you at Archer's scene, and you have purposely left a door unlocked at a site of an unraveling scene, not to mention all the other things you have left behind at other scenes… all because you wanted to meet us? Why didn’t you just reach out?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She says, in a mockingly innocent tone as if she isn’t speaking of gruesome hellish homicide scenes.
“Oh, so the pretty sparrow likes to be chased?” Teddy leans in over her chair, and to all of our surprise she doesn’t even flinch in his presence.
Ignoring Teddy, Zoe fixes her gaze and narrows her eyes back at Max, “Say I refuse. That I don’t want any compensation, and I’d like to continue the way I have for the last four years. What happens?”
This is when Max takes on a wicked smirk and leans across the table to match Zoe’s expression, “I’ll kill you.”
Zoe snorts, “You could try. But why? Why kill me?”
“You have taken lots of money out from under us, stealing those hits. Millions, just in the last year. I’ve killed for less.” Max shrugs.
As if finally sensing the serious tone in Max’s gaze, Zoe nods in understanding and sits back in her chair. There is a brief moment of silence and tension in the room as Zoe slowly drums her fingers on the table.
“And,” Max breaks the silence, “We aren’t the only ones that were hunting for you. You’ve gotten a lot of people ruffled and are willing to pay an unimaginable amount of money to have The Sparrow’s head mounted on their wall.”
The look in Zoe’s eye proves that she wasn’t aware of the others on the search for her. Like she was clueless to the wars that have started just to get her in their grasp. There is another long beat of silence, and that canyon forms between her eyebrows again, and she finally nods.
“Fine. I’m willing to join. But terms would need to be negotiated first.” She eats another grape.
“I would hope so. What do you have in mind?” Max asks.
“I’ll need at least 12 hours to think about it, but I do have two things right now.” She grins.
“Go on.”
“Don’t hire anymore people like Mikhail Sanders. He wasn’t like a small faucet leak; he was a goddamn busted pipe. He was weak and willingly spilt all the information when all I did was hold a knife to his throat.”
Max’s jaw tensed but he nodded, “And the second thing?”
“I need to return to my apartment to get my things. Clothes, toiletries, weapons, and so on.” Zoe said.
“You can’t leave until we’ve squared away a contract. I can send for clothes and toiletries for the time being. Once things are signed and negotiated then we can return you to your apartment to retrieve any weapons or sentimental items you may have. But you will be staying here full time while you’re under contract—this is non-negotiable.”
Zoe grits her teeth but eventually gives a single nod, “Fine.”
Smiles are shared across the room and relief flashes on Max’s face.
“Great. Now that business is squared away. I have one last question.” Zoe stands out of her chair pushing it back with her thighs. “Who thefuckknocked me out?”
6
Conservation of Energy
