Inside by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online Page B

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    Peyton climbed carefully to her feet. Her ankle hurt, but she hadn’t twisted it so badly that she couldn’tstand. It would be fine in a few days. “Why were you incarcerated in a federal institution?”
    “Because I was prosecuted federally.” He grimaced. “Tougher sentencing laws. Otherwise, maybe I would’ve met you sooner, since I’m from L.A.”
    The return address on the letter from his sister had indicated Colorado Springs. “But your sister’s in Colorado?”
    “That’s right. She left L.A. to be able to visit me on a regular basis.”
    “She sounds nice. I hope the government’s putting her in the Witness Protection Program immediately.” Because he was right. If he left The Crew, they’d put out a hit and “torpedo”—send someone to shoot—his loved ones. The fact that they were watching Laurel so overtly meant they were trying to scare her—and keep Virgil mindful of his allegiances and his duty to support them in their criminal activities. Those could include murdering someone, charging taxes for drug deals going down on what they considered their turf or robbing a bank.
    “They’re going to move her soon. Now I just need to do my part.”
    Which wouldn’t be easy and it might even be impossible. “Blood in, blood out,” she murmured. No wonder he’d reacted the way he had when she’d said that before. He knew the meaning of those words far better than she could’ve imagined.
    A bitter smile curved his lips. “Blood in, blood out.”
    Peyton felt such sadness for the dreams his sister had expressed in her letter. We’re going to live the most boring, safest lives in the whole world, she’d written, and just the opposite was true.
    “Do you think your mother had anything to do with the murder of her husband?”
    “I’d bet my life on it.”
    That explained why he hadn’t opened her letters. “A pretty unequivocal response. What makes you think—”
    “And that’s all I’ll say on the subject,” he interrupted.
    Peyton could see why he might not be eager to discuss it. She didn’t need to know any more, anyway. She’d already figured out what she deemed important.
    After their little tussle, her hair was too messy to walk outside and risk running into Michelle. Pulling out the elastic, she shook it loose so she could redo it. “You’re not the luckiest man in the world, are you?”
    He leaned against the wall and watched her from beneath half-lowered eyelids. “No. But I haven’t done myself any favors, either.”
    At least he accepted responsibility for his actions.
    “So where do we go from here?” he asked. “Are you planning to march over to Wallace’s room and try to blow up this deal? Because you won’t succeed. The department isn’t going to back off. They have me right where they want me, and they’re going to take full advantage of it.”
    The more she complained and raised hell, the less chance Skinner would have of keeping a lid on what he was doing. She felt it was safer to say nothing. For now, anyway.
    “No. I’m not even going to tell him I know.” She limped into the bathroom, tossed the bloody cloth in the sink and examined the cut on her neck in the mirror. “Whether or not you tell him is up to you, since you’rethe one putting your life on the line. But I want you to understand one thing.”
    When he came to the doorway, he blocked it and she instantly felt trapped. “What’s that?”
    Her injury was just a nick, nothing serious. “Fischer has put me in charge of this operation, so…you’d better play nice.”
    “Which means…?”
    “No games. You trust me, tell me everything as soon as you possibly can, and I’ll work to protect you.”
    “Why’d Fischer put you in charge?”
    Using her fingers to groom her long hair into some semblance of order, she created another knot at her nape. “It’s what he does when he encounters anything too…volatile.”
    “You got stuck with the assignment no one else