With a shrug, I chuckle. “Fine. Piss off your boss. No skin off my nose. I don’t answer to her. All I know is Nadine looked pretty upset when she left Micah after telling him about the dead girl. You know how she likes to take care of things so he doesn’t have to.”
He stares at me for a long moment before narrowing his eyes to slits like he’s trying to figure out if I’m telling the truth or just bullshitting him. Or if he wants to kill me. A loud groan escapes from his throat, and then he looks over at the girl cowering in the corner.
Worried he’s still not convinced, I say, “I’ve never seen Nadine use a shovel. I bet she’s already started digging the grave. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be the guy who made her do that, but you’d know her better than me. Maybe she’s enjoying that workout in this heat.”
Whichever part of that makes him realize he better go find his boss I’m not sure, but after throwing the girl one last nasty look, he pushes past me, giving me a shoulder check for good measure. Not a lot of golden light with that one.
I don’t look back in his direction until I hear the door slam shut, but when I know he’s gone, I turn my head to make sure, just in case he has a change of heart and likes the idea of hurting some innocent girl more than obeying his boss. After waiting a few seconds, I breathe a sigh of relief. Why the hell does Micah allow Nadine to keep those stormtroopers around?
That’s above my pay grade, and I have more important things to deal with at the moment, so I turn my attention to the girl. I recognize her as the one who was looking around when she first got here. A pretty brunette, she had a curious way about her that was tough to miss.
Now she looks so small crouched in the corner with her arms covering her head. I can only imagine what those four did to her, but at least she’s still dressed, so I’m guessing they didn’t go as far as they have in the past with other women in the group.
As soon as I begin making my way toward her, she starts to cry. Shaking her head so her light brown hair swings, she sobs, “Please, I didn’t do anything.”
She’s not looking at me, but I raise my hands anyway. “I’m not here to hurt you. I promise. You don’t have to be afraid.”
My words do nothing to alleviate her fear. She still won’t look at me, and she keeps shaking her head.
When I get a few feet away, I stop and try to make her understand I’m not like Nadine’s guards. “It’s going to be okay. I know they scared you, but I’m not here for that. I just want to talk, okay?”
I wait, and finally after a few seconds, she stops shaking her head even as she continues to cry. She refuses to look at me, so I crouch down in front of her and softly say, “I’m not going to hurt you. Honest.”
“You’re one of them,” she sobs. “You’re all the same here.”
“No. I swear I’m not. I’m here to help you.”
That finally makes her look up at me, and I see her blue eyes are red and tears stain her cheeks. She studies me and then shakes her head again. “You look like one of them.”
I nod, knowing she’s not wrong. “Yeah, I can see that, but I swear I’m not. I work for the leader of The Golden Light. They’re just some woman’s henchmen. Totally different. Honest.”
“Nadine. She’s a piece of work,” she mumbles as she wipes her tears from under her eyes.
As much as I know I shouldn’t comment about Micah’s favorite, I can’t stop myself after the last couple days. “Yeah, she’s a lot. Trust me, that’s not what The Golden Light is about.”
The girl takes a deep breath in and lets it out in a rush. “Oh yeah? I’m having a hard time believing that after all I’ve seen in the single day I’ve been here.”
She needs to stop that kind of talk right now, or she’s going to find herself stuck with those four bastards again. I give her a tiny smile and choose my words carefully so as not to frighten her again.
“Just a little friendly advice, but you shouldn’t say things like that. Noticing anything is a problem here.”
I’ve never said that to another person since I became a part of Micah’s group, even though I’ve thought exactly those words more times than I want to admit. Instinctively, I look around to make sure no one heard me.
“Who are you?” the girl asks, tearing me out of my thoughts of how much trouble I could be in if Micah’s cameras can record sound. I don’t think they can, but I’m not sure.
I turn my head to look at her. “Nash. And you?”
She answers without hesitation, surprising me. “Lara.”
Leaning in toward her, I whisper, “Well, Lara, you’ve unfortunately gotten the attention of Nadine, and you’ve seen what happens when you make that mistake. The good news is she’s not in charge. Not exactly.”
Lara grimaces. “That’s comforting. What kind of group lets that sadist have any power?”
I wince at how loud that sounded. “I need you to keep your voice down.”
“Why?”
Without moving my head, I look up in the direction of the camera positioned in the corner on the opposite side of the room from where we are. “I don’t know if they record what we say, so it’s best to keep anything you want to say to yourself unless you know you’re safe outside. If you must, whisper it if you’re inside.”
