My Sister Is the Warlord Queen novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Pier

A car behind us leaned on its horn.

Cal didn't move.

"You can lie to me," he said. "I'll probably let you. But I'd rather you didn't."

The horn went again, long.

"Drive," I said. "Not to the bakery. Somewhere nobody's going to hear this."

He drove to Charlestown.

His salvage tug was tied up at the end of a pier in the old Navy Yard, squat and red, with rust on her rails and a name half painted over.

The cabin had a bunk, a table bolted to the floor, and a kettle on a gimbal.

I texted Roisin.

"Out. Fine. One hour. Keep the coffee hot."

She texted back a row of question marks and a knife.

Cal put the kettle on and sat across from me.

"Well?" he said.

"Yes."

His shoulders dropped.

"How long?"

"Commander three years. Ironwatch eight. Army six before that." I turned my phone over on the table. "The hotel was a job. A man was selling rifles to pirate crews out of a suite on the ninth floor. I scrubbed his toilet for three months. They took him yesterday at six."

"And then you drove to the party in the coveralls."

"Roisin texted me her dress."

He shook his head slowly.

"And you let my brother call you a janitor in front of two hundred people."

"I am a janitor. I was good at it."

"Why not just tell them?"

"Because nobody's ever seen my face." I touched the scar in my eyebrow without meaning to. "There are men in prisons in four countries because of me. Some of them have brothers. My people have wives and kids in Virginia and Mombasa and Manila. The day my face goes in a newspaper, every one of them is a target."

"And Roisin."

"Roisin first."

He nodded.

"That's one reason," he said. "What's the other?"

I looked at him.

← Chapter 6 · All chapters · Chapter 8 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend