Chapter 2

The next day, the basement door was kicked open.

Arlen came storming in, seized me by the hair, and dragged me off the bed onto the floor.

"You bitch! Hand it over!"

He gripped my head and slammed it into the concrete wall.

Warm blood ran down my forehead into my eye.

I clenched my teeth. Not a sound.

Arlen drove his heel into my stomach.

"You think stealing that drive gets you off the hook?"

"Even without the recording, I've still got a mouth!"

"I'll spend my days outside Ella's office building. I'll tell her coworkers. I'll tell her bosses!"

"I'll spend my nights livestreaming from the Gardens' front gate!"

"I'll tell the whole internet that Mrs. Garden is a piece of trash who almost got fucked by her own stepfather!"

"That her mother's a murderer who covered for her rapist husband to save face!"

"I'll finish her. She'll be a stain on the Garden family name for the rest of her life!"

I threw my arms around his ankles.

"Don't—don't do it—I'll get you the money—"

Arlen paused, looking down at me.

"How much can you get?"

I swallowed the blood pooling in my mouth.

"A hundred thousand. I'll get Ella to give me a hundred thousand."

Arlen spat in my face.

"Tomorrow. Noon. If I don't see the money, I'm walking into Ella's office."

After he left, I dragged myself up and rinsed the blood off my face with cold water.

I dug out an old set of clothes, put them on, and went to interview for a cleaning position with the property management at Ella's building.

At lunchtime, Ella and her assistant and best friend, Lily, stepped out of the elevator.

I was mopping the floor by the elevator bank.

Ella stopped. She looked at the gauze on my forehead, at my raw and battered hands, and her expression froze over.

"For money, there really is nothing you won't do."

Lily rolled her eyes beside her.

"Ella, how did she even track you down here?"

"Someone with a record like hers—the building lets that in? They're not worried she'll steal something?"

Ella looked at me coldly.

"Come to my office."

I lowered my head, picked up the mop, and followed.

The door closed. Ella yanked open a drawer and tossed a bank card onto the desk.

"There's a hundred thousand on it."

"The PIN is my birthday."

"Take it. Get out."

"Don't ever show your face to me again. Just looking at you turns my stomach."

My hands were shaking hard. I crouched down and picked up the card.

"All right. I'll take it. I'll go."

I walked out of the building with the card in my hand and headed to the bank.

I slid the card in, entered Ella's birthday, and transferred the full hundred thousand into Arlen's account.

Arlen showed up almost immediately. He looked at the confirmation text on his phone, tipped his head back, and drained a bottle of whiskey.

"Victory!"

I kept my eyes locked on him.

"You've got the money. Now shut your mouth. Don't go near her again."

Arlen waved me off carelessly and walked away.

When I turned around, I saw Lily standing not far off, waiting for a coffee.

She had her phone up. She was taking a picture of me and Arlen together.

Lily walked over, contempt written across her face.

"Rita. That is really something."

"Extort money out of your daughter, then turn right around and use it to keep some man?"

"Ella must have been out of her mind to ever feel sorry for you."

"People like you belong in prison for life."

I didn't argue.

I just picked the mop back up and walked into the building.

Before I left for the day, I mapped out every blind spot in the ground-floor lobby, the underground garage, and the emergency stairwells. Committed every one of them to memory.

I knew a hundred thousand was nowhere near enough to fill a gambler's stomach.