Chasing Trouble Read Online Free Page A

looked at the business card. "He's not in the picture, as I said. And I don't know what to tell you about the money, Val. I'm sorry they didn't bring Lacey to the drop-off point. Did they try to call?"
    Her mouth twisted and she flicked at the window curtains. "I have heard nothing from my daughter." She faced me again, expression composed to indifference once more. As if her daughter hadn't been kidnapped. "And here is my problem, Eloise. I paid ten thousand dollars to get my daughter back. You lost the money. Now I have neither ten thousand dollars, nor my daughter."
    My heart dropped. "I didn't lose the money, Val. I left it exactly --"
    "You had the money, the money disappeared, and no one saw where it went. Not even you." Her tawny skin wrinkled, almost cracked, as her teeth bared. "So forgive me for not taking the word of a petty criminal."
    "I'm a damn good criminal," I shot back, too unnerved by her accusation to let it pass without challenge. If she thought I'd stolen her money and condemned Lacey to death, I was totally fucked. "Or you wouldn't claim me as an employee, would you? I did what you told me to do, Val. Maybe the wolves took it. Or the kidnappers aren't playing by the rules. How the fuck do I know?"
    "Very well." She stalked closer and I stood my ground, though my heart plummeted. Her fingers, wizened and wrinkled and with thick nails twice as long as mine, pressed just below the hollow of my throat. "You get one more chance, little gorgon. Find my money, or find my daughter. If you don't, I own you until you repay the debt."
    The cold rage prickled through my temples and out my eyes, and I debated testing out the mojo. I stared at her nose, close enough to her eyes that sweat broke out on her upper lip. "I'm not going to --"
    "You have two days." She took a step back, eying me from head to toe. Her broad shoulders squared and she looked more like an aged prize fighter than someone's granny. "Fix it."
    Whatever objection I might have offered died in my throat as she walked out. I massaged my temples to try to fix the magic that collected around my eyes. Not now. Really not the time. I'd have a fucking migraine for a week at this rate.
    I grabbed my phone and checked to make sure the hall was clear. Lacey would have the answers. It seemed like a good idea at the time, scamming her mother out of seed money so Lacey and her boyfriend could start over in Europe, far away from hyena politics, but me ending up a wage slave to the hyena queen was not part of the plan. Lacey would have to call her mother and explain. Return the money or show proof of life. Something.
    I couldn't be indebted to the hyena queen. Valentina Szdoka was almost as ruthless as the Chase brothers. I pinched the bridge of my nose. The CEO, Logan, was the worst, but his lawyer brother wasn't far behind. They were legendary among the city shifters for being cold-blood negotiators and businessmen, unfeeling as they dismantled and sold and bought and traded. I fished the business card out of the jeans in the shopping bag, and almost threw it out the window. Benedict Chase.
    But the memory of his smile comforted me as I headed out into the night to call Lacey. If what Val threatened came to pass, I would need a hell of a lawyer to extricate myself from her clutches. A lawyer who could turn into a lion might be worth the exorbitant retainer, particularly since the hyena queen seemed disconcerted by him already.
    I wondered if he offered a payment plan.

Five
    N one of Val's daughters hung around outside that I could find, and none of her sons loitered at the corner. I kept my head down and half-jogged a couple of blocks until I found a working pay phone. Lacey's was one of two numbers I knew by heart.
    After a couple of rings, my heart thudded against my chest loud enough I feared Val might hear and track me down again for being chicken-shit. She didn't tolerate cowards, but she put up with liars. So I lied about being a coward.
    I concentrated