She could argue about anything. Heatedly. I knew if I didn't give in that we were gonna go a couple rounds. For no good fuckin' reason. That was just how she was. And if it wasn't so fuckin' hot, I would probably find it annoying. “Fine, doll. What do you want to eat?”

At this, she dropped her hands from her hips and shrugged. “I'll eat anything.”

It was so ridiculous and unexpected, I found myself throwing my head back and laughing. “You fuckin' serious?” I asked through it. “You bitch at me about not asking you what you want when you don't give a fuck what I order?”

“Like I said... it was the principle of the thing.”

Jesus Christ.

She was a fuckin' nut.

But I walked down the fire escape smiling.

I was watching the people behind the counter load up the brown bag with soy sauce and mustard packets when my cell rang. The sound immediately filled me with dread. I had no other jobs going on. And while it wasn't uncommon to get a call about a new one, they usually began with a tentative text with a passcode first so they knew it was really me before they got me on the phone.

I reached for it and hit the call button.

“Yo.”

“Breaker,” Lex's slimy voice met my ear and confirmed the churning feeling in my gut.

“Lex,” I said back, sounding bored though the blood was whooshing in my ears.

“How is my girl holding up?”

Fuck. This was shaky ground. There was a chance I was being watched so I couldn't lie. But it also didn't look good that I was parading around with her not cuffed or looking the least bit disheveled. Hell, when we left my place, she looked freshly fucked and contented.

“Pain in my ass. Demanding I take her back to her place to get her a change of clothes.”

“Gotta love a girl with spirit,” he remarked making my lip snarl up. He liked girls with spirit because he enjoyed breaking them. Sick fuck.

“Why you calling Lex?” I asked, handing cash to the girl with the food.

“Keeping an eye on my investment.”

“Investment?” I repeated, taking the bag of food and walking to the door, stepping onto the sidewalk.

“Yes. I have plans for her.”

“Enough with the fuckin' code, man. What do you want?”

“I need you to bring Miss. Miller to my office tomorrow.”

Shit.

“Which office?” I asked, knowing this made a big difference to Alex's fate.

“Oscar Street,” he answered immediately.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

“What time?”

“Eleven.”

“Be there,” I said, hanging up before I could say what I was really thinking.

Namely, that I should take Alex and get the fuck out of dodge.

Lex had a number of offices in a number of locations. There were the ones he called you to to discuss new business deals. Offices with a desk and bookshelves and a sidebar full of nice liquor. Then there were the 'offices' that were cheaply decorated in the front room because the meeting was really taking place in the back and it usually meant a lot of your blood would be washed down the drains in the floor.

Oscar Street was one of the office fronts.

And if he was being smart (which he usually was), there were eyes on me. There would be no running off.

I made my way back up the fire escape with a pit in my stomach, opening the door and freezing.

Alex was standing in front of her desk, piling the notebooks into a cardboard box. She had changed into a pair of light wash skinny jeans and a purple long sleeved t-shirt. And a bra, I noticed with a smirk. But that wasn't what had me pausing.

It was that she was singing.

A slow, somber song that was about smiling when your heart was breaking. I had a vague memory of it playing on some oldies station when I was growing up. But whoever I had heard singing it didn't do it justice. Something about it coming from Alex's lips, her voice a smooth, crooning sound, had the words landing heavy in my chest. She had a great voice. But it wasn't that. It was seeing the Alex behind the walls and fences for a moment- soft and sweet and unprotected- that had my breath getting caught.

“Oh,” she said, turning her head to find my standing there. A blush crept up on her cheeks and she doubled her efforts to get her packing done, pretending it took all of her concentration. “I'm almost ready.”

“Alex...”

“Just need to grab something from under my bed and we can...”

“Alex.”

“What?” she asked, picking up on the edge in my voice.

“Lex called.”

At this, she froze. And her eyes lost the light they had and went dull. Closed off. Walls firmly back into place.

If possible, I hated the fuck all the more.

“What did he want?”

“A meeting at his office.”

“Which one?” she asked, an edge in her voice suggesting she already knew all about his different offices.

“Oscar Street.”

She didn't go pale. Her mouth didn't fall open. She didn't start to freak out. Nope. The Alex from the train car was back. The Alex who was resigned to her fate.

“What time?”

“Eleven.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding once. “Well that gives me some time.”

“Time for what?” I asked, hoping she would come up with something she wanted to do. Something I could do for her. Something to put a smile on her face.

“To transfer all these files in these notebooks and get them online. Someone will come across them eventually. I don't want to die without sharing the dirt I have on him.”

Fuck.

So much for that hope.

And with there being a strong likelihood of the both of us dying in just under twenty-four hours, I couldn't really deny her the one thing she wanted to do with her time left.

“Let's get moving then,” I allowed, going to take the duffel bag from her.

“Don't worry. The Chinese somehow tastes better when it's reheated,” she said, grabbing something under her bed and shoving it into the box of notebooks. She laid her laptop across the top and we made our way back to my truck.

When we got back to my place, I reheated the food. And it was bad. But she was right, I'd had worse. Alex took her laptop into the living room, picking at her plate of food and she manically typed into her keypad, adding pages and pages of information onto the forum on the dark net.

I ate despite a loss of appetite as I sat watching her work. Under other circumstances, I would find her single-minded focus and determination sexy as hell. But right then, watching her type up what was, in her own twisted fuckin' way, her own suicide note... yeah... that shit wasn't hot at all.

And that was what she did all day. Not taking a break to reheat her food when dinnertime rolled around, just eating it cold as she kept flipping through the pages of her notebook.

“Alex,” I said later, the world dark outside the windows.

“Almost done,” she said, not looking over. “A lot of this stuff was filler. Just another page or two.”

So I sat and waited.

Twenty minutes (and ten pages) later, she sighed, flexing her fingers then rubbing her eyes before turning to me.

“Okay. All done,” she said, giving me a bleary-eyed smile.

“Feel better?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don't know why I was sitting on that information for so long. It should have been out there floating around for other people to find.”

“Come over here,” I said, surprised at the softness in my tone.

Her brows drew together but she scooted across the cushions, planting her ass beside me, pulling her knees up toward her chest. I threw an arm around her, hauling her closer, tight to my side, her knees pressed up into my stomach.

“I ain't gonna feed you no platitudes. You're too smart to believe them anyway. You know as much as I do how bad this is. We both know there's a good chance that neither of us will get out of this alive tomorrow. And that fuckin' sucks because I just met you. And what I've seen so far? I like it. And I wanted to get to see more. But that ain't in the cards and there's no use whining over it. But I will say this, Alex Miller,” I said, ducking my chin so I could look at her, making her see I was serious, “It's a fuckin' shame. 'Cause I woulda liked to break down those walls. Seeing you singing today? I liked what I saw when I peeked behind them. I wanted to drag you out and show you what life is like outside that fortress you live in.”