Free Sticky by Julia Swift Page B

Now, I text him. It’s an emergency.
    Because it is. Because this time, I’m not bailing him out again.
    This time my twin has finally gone too far.

Chapter Fifteen

Gage
    “ R eport .” Aaron leans back in a lounge chair on the top deck of the penthouse he bought last year, with money I sweated out of his clients for him. The pool to our left casts an eerily bright glow in the twilight set across the city. It catches him under the chin and turns his skin sallow and green, his already dark eyes midnight.
    I look into his eyes and I see my future. My fate. I’m turning into him, day by day. This man I hate, this man I would strangle right here and now if I knew I could get away with it, because of what he’s asking me to do to someone worth more than his pinky finger alone.
    Topknot smiles over his shoulder. Actually smiles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Topknot smile. It sends an uneasy buzz down my spine.
    “She’s meeting with her brother now,” I tell him. I don’t tell him how it made me feel, just a few minutes ago, to watch the instant relay from the camera feeds and see her drop the letter on her counter and collapse backwards onto the sofa, head in her hands. I wanted to drop my laptop where I sat, to ignore Aaron’s summons and run straight across town to her.
    Instead I watched her curl into a fetal ball and struggle to breathe, all because I planted a fake letter accusing her brother of owing a casino debt.
    To be fair, he does owe that amount. To Aaron, not to Bayonne Casino. But I planted a few hints in the letter, lines that should stand out to him in a way they wouldn’t stand out to Sloan. Including the signature line, where I put Aaron’s name instead of Bayonne Group’s CEO.
    The only reason I made it to my meeting with Aaron on time is because when Sloan finally raised her head from the couch, she was dry-eyed, steely-faced, and more determined-looking than I’d ever seen her.
    “That’s my girl,” I whispered to the laptop before I shut it, and took the elevator upstairs to meet my own fate.
    “I’m recording the meeting,” I add, when that doesn’t seem to please him. “I’ll know more about his current situation once I’m finished. I’ll send you a copy.”
    “I want his fucking money, Gage, not a home movie about his sad, pathetic life. If you can’t get him to pay, then I’ll move you to another job and I’ll send in someone who can get this done.”
    It’s a damn good thing I have a solid poker face, because I cannot let on how deep that threat hits home. If he assigns someone else to this case, some other goony like Topknot will be trying to seduce Sloan. Worse, since I already know that won’t work, if they can’t seduce her, they’ll kidnap her brother instead, or maybe both of them just to be safe. They’ll beat them both, force the information they need out of them, and at the end of something like that, you don’t leave witnesses around to testify against you . . .
    I clench my jaw. “I’ll get it done, Aaron. By the end of the week, you have my word.”
    “Words are meaningless without actions to back them up.”
    “Have I ever let you down before?” I point out, voice steady, never breaking my gaze from his. He knows my track record. He knows I’ve faced harder situations than this and solved the problem, one way or another.
    The only problem is, this time I only have one way to solve the problem. Any other way would involve Sloan finding out who I really am—or worse, putting both her and her brother at risk of Aaron’s wrath. I’m not about to let that happen.
    “No. But I’ve always had a greater insurance policy before.” Aaron’s eyes bore into mine. “What assurance do I have now that you’re even really trying here? How do I know your heart is in it, when the reason you agreed to work for me in the first place is gone? I am sorry how it turned out with her—”
    “Don’t you fucking dare.” My teeth grind so hard I can hardly