The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fᴏʀᴛʏ﹣Sɪx ❊

Sophia came into the room around one o'clock in the afternoon with a pinched look on her face. I knew the look. She was confused.

"A woman named Tami is here." Her eyes flicked over to Eva and softened. It didn't matter how many times she saw her lying there, she always looked like she was on the verge of crying whenever she saw her.

I slid my hand out of Eva's and stood, my vertebrae cracking at the sudden change of posture. I had slept a little on and off, always waking up when the doctor came in to check her vitals. So far, nothing changed. She hadn't woken up since the tiny slice of life she showed when I took her out of the helicopter. After the doctor came in around twelve-thirty, he pronounced her to be in a comatose state. He wasn't sure when she'd wake up.

I forced myself to turn away from Eva and exited the room, leaving Sophia in there to watch her in my stead. Sooner or later, she'd figure out what I did for a living. It was difficult to hide it, especially now.

Tami was waiting for me in the entrance and she turned, surveying me with her one green eye and one brown. Her bright red hair was pulled up into a slick ponytail that fell across her shoulder blades and down the middle of her back. She wore a black pantsuit with a white undershirt, which she seemed to wear every time I met with her.

"Let's go to my office." I skipped the formalities. I didn't like her much, let alone like her in my home.

"I'd like to see the girl."

I blinked. Okay, I didn't like her at all, in my home, or near Eva. Why she would want to see her was unknown to me. It wasn't like she could talk back and explain everything that happened to her up until she got back to my house.

"Eva is in a coma," I said. "She can't speak to you."

"I'm aware that the girl is in a coma." Her voice was beginning to grate on my nerves. "I just want to see her. If she can't hear or speak, then there should be no problem."

Knowing that I ultimately wouldn't have a choice in the matter, I sighed and turned to go back to Eva's room. A part of me was relieved that I would be able to remain by her side, while the other was confused as to why Tami felt the need to be in the same room as her.

Once inside, I told Sophia that she could go. When she was gone, I took my seat next to Eva's side again and slid my hand into hers. It wasn't as cold as it had been the first time I linked my fingers through hers, but they still weren't warm.

"So this girl knows about your job." It was a statement, so I didn't reply. "She comes into your life and makes you weak. You did your duties as the boss of your group, but you failed them when it came time to save her life. You did what you were told in terms of keeping Maverick alive, but you ordered your employees to kill everyone else. That in itself is grounds for termination of employment. And then you felt the need to hide crucial information regarding the human auctions, where you purchased not only this girl, but the other one as well."

I knew she wasn't done speaking, but I couldn't let her keep babbling on like we hadn't already talked about this on the phone. "As I told you before, if I told you about the auctions, they would have only moved the location and I wouldn't know about them. You would have stopped them for one round. There was no point."

"No point?" She laughed incredulously. "We would have put eyes on everyone-"

"You would have put eyes on over one thousand people?" I slid my hand out of Eva's in fear that I would squeeze too hard and hurt her. "If you're here to fire me, then just say it. I did what I thought was right. You were the one who ordered my training. You were the one who ordered my trainer to tell me to see everyone as guilty unless proven otherwise. Everyone in that house was with Maverick in some way. So that made every single one of them guilty."

She didn't speak for a while. Her mismatched eyes ran over Eva's body as if she were just some display in a poorly constructed art exhibit. And although that scrutiny ticked me off, I kept my face as hard as stone. I kept my eyes on her until she finally looked back at me.

"I'm not firing you, Enzo," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm here to tell you that your termination request against Maverick has been denied."

Although that pissed me off, it was the least of my worries anymore. Eva was in a coma because of him, yes. But she needed me more than I needed to kill Maverick. I just wondered where she planned on putting him. If she allowed him to go back home, then she and I would have more problems than she'd like to count. If I had to worry about him coming after Eva again, I'd go and kill him myself, denied termination request or not.

I raised my chin and stood.

"There is no proof of him doing this to any other girls." She linked her hands behind her. "Let alone him killing anyone else. But he and Vince will be put in prison and-"

"Prison," I cut in. "You expect me to be okay with that? He starved and tortured Eva to the point of death. She barely made it back here alive. He'll do his time and come back out, just to do it again."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I want you to interrogate him to get him to confess to the other kidnappings and murders. When this girl wakes up and you feel fine enough to go, that is. If and when he confesses, your termination request may be changed. I just wanted to see if this girl was worth all the stress."

If she was going off of looks alone, Eva looked like an innocent girl who was taking a nap. But under those covers, her entire body was covered in scars and cuts. All of the bruises were dark and marred her porcelain skin.

I pulled the covers down to show her exactly what she went through before I got to her. When Tami's eyes landed on her body, her face visibly paled. She looked sick, even through the professional mask that she wore. I had time to get over the initial shock of seeing Eva's body, but I knew the feeling well.

The only sound in the room was the monitor beeping repetitively, telling me that her heart was beating strong. The IV hissed and clicked a couple of times before going silent once again.

"You tell me." I covered her back up. "I think she's worth more than saving."

The door opened before Tami had the chance to reply, the doctor and his nurse walking in to check on Eva's vitals. They didn't look at us. They went straight to work, checking her blood pressure, blood sugar, and temperature. I figured everything was the same, since they both exited quietly afterward.

"You say she has made me weak," I finally said, looking back down at the fragile girl in the bed. "I say she's made me stronger than I've ever been. I will interrogate Maverick when she's awake and I know she's okay. And I'll tell you this right now." I looked back at her. "If you let him go, he'll be found dead not long after."