"That makes two of us into tall blond assholes, huh?"
Will choked on his rice, his eyes bulging like saucers. "What?"
"Me and Jules have the same shitty taste in men." I slumped down on a chair and pulled my dinner toward me. "Lars Eriksen looks a little like Noah. That's why I kinda...freaked out when I saw his photo."
Will drank desperate gulps of water before picking his spoon back up with a shaky hand. "Are you OK?"
I pushed rice around my plate, willing my appetite to reappear. "I'm fine now. Just a stupid coincidence."
Luckily the chances of seeing white guys when I got back to Busan was almost zero, so I wouldn't risk losing my shit every time I saw a tall blond outta the corner of my eye.
"I can't stand what he's doing to Jules," Will growled into his rice.
"Yesterday she told me about some hot guy who'd fucked her over. She didn't say his name but it's obviously Lars Eriksen."
"She's not gonna listen to us," said Will, eyebrows wriggling.
"I figured." If Gloria and Clive hadn't gotten through to Jules the last three times, Jules probably wouldn't take kindly to our friendly advice. "Now I can see why Jules didn't look twice at Julián. How can a hiking doctor compete with a yoga guru?"
I looked up to see Will staring at me with his concern-face. "You've not eaten much."
"I'm just tired of talking about tall blond evil dudes," I replied with a bout of nervous laughter that didn't put Will at ease. I made a show of tucking into my food.
"Are you worried about the interview with the Inspector next week?" he asked eventually, unable to change the subject now that Sigma's parasitic vines had crept up and smothered our conversation, as usual.
"No, I wanna tell Sofi everything I can. If Ollie can incriminate Cal, then my friends are gonna be free. Unless some other Sigma shibal-seki hides them somewhere else."
"Maybe they already escaped," Will mused.
"Raheem and me, we're kinda similar. We're tough enough that we'd probably take a shot at escaping. But the other two...I just wanna know if they're OK. I don't need to see them, just to know they're safe is enough."
That was the problem. I didn't need to see them, but I wanted to, so badly.
"You care about them so much." Will smiled.
"Yeah, and Cal knew it. He'd threaten to kill one of us if any of us guys acted up."
"Did he ever...kill anyone?"
"Yeah, he's killed a bunch of people from other gangs, and contract kills. That's kinda his thing."
I sat in silence for a while, trying to breathe through a sudden ripple of nausea. A few days earlier I would have spoken lightly, as if Cal murdering people was the most natural thing in the world, but after days in Santa Elena the thought of it made me break into a sweat and my knees tremble. The grip that Sigma had on me was perhaps loosening the tiniest amount.
"He'd threaten to, but Cal's never killed any rental assets. When I arrived in Sigma there were eight of us male assets. Slowly Cal let some of them go, with threats to keep quiet about Sigma."
"Were they not...attractive enough to clients?" Will asked warily.
Sweet innocent Will.
"Attractiveness isn't really a prerequisite for being a rental asset. Having working body parts is."
YOU ARE READING
The Sigma Asset 🏳️🌈 (bxb)║AMBYS WINNER 2022
Mystery / Thriller**AMBYS 2022 WINNER** He'll never play piano again. That's what virtuoso pianist Zephyr has vowed to himself after escaping Sigma, the sprawling criminal organisation that once held him--and still holds his friends--captive in California's mega-city...
