FAVOURITE CRIME, kaz brekker.

03. MEET IN THE MIDDLE

Darya awoke feeling as though her heart was in her arse and a banging headache. She didn't open her eyes straight away though, mainly because she heard talking and didn't fancy the idea of getting herself killed.

"She is quite pretty, isn't she?"

"Jesper, move! You didn't have to hit her so hard, honestly the pair of you are like unsupervised children."

"She wasn't listening, Inej. And I don't beg."

She hears Inej sigh. "Well let's hope you haven't given her brain damage...... you know— no wonder I barely have friends outside of you two! Look what happens to them! You knock them out."

    "She's a healer for saints sake!" Jesper half whispers and half shouts at Inej. "Besides, you do what Kaz asks you."

Darya assumes their leader has left the room for them to be talking so openly about him.

    "That's different."

    "Of course it is." His words are laced with sarcasm.

For a moment there's silence, then shuffling and people moving around. Her peace was cut short, however, by none other than Jesper breathing on her.

    "I think she's waking up!"

When her eyes finally flicker open, they widen at the sight of Jesper leaning over her as though she's an animal in a zoo.

"Well, hello there, sleeping beaut— ow!"

A loud slap rings out as Darya pulls her hand back, whilst Jesper was leaning over, holding his cheek; she kicks his shin as hard as she can before stepping down from the bed she had been laying on.

"Darya, stop."

"Just let me go, and I won't cause any trouble." She looks at Kaz. "There's a very sick girl who needs my help, she almost died last night and I need to be with her."

"You expect me to believe that?"

Her jaw twitches with anger and he sees it.

Saints, she's easy to rile up, He thinks.

"Do you want to see her? With blood still staining her nightgown, probably still got a few broken ribs, black eyes? I'll take you if you want, it's men like you that have done the damage."

Had she blinked in the moment and she would've missed it, but Kaz's eyes widen ever so slightly.

    "This won't work here—"

    "It won't work ever."

    "Follow me," He continues, ignoring her completely as he walks past her.

Turning, she sends Inej and Jesper one last glare before she followed him. The stairs up to wherever he was leading her were winding, and due to the buildings natural tilt, the fact she had just been concussed and the dim lighting, Darya must've tripped at least four times by the time they reached the top.

Looking behind her, she felt as though she had swallowed poison. Had the stairs really been that winding? How on earth had Alice survived Wonderland, and Darya couldn't handle Ketterdam?

A door opening caught her attention, and she manages to catch before it swung back in her face.

Resisting the urge to comment on his manners, she bites her tongue and walks in to the room. Like the rest, it had a natural slant to it, but it was decorated nevertheless.

    It practically screams Kaz.

Looking up, she watches as he hunches over his desk, briefly motioning to the seat in front of him.

    "I'm good here, thanks." He looks up at her, brown furrowing. "I'm not keen on the idea of a second concussion."

"Don't be so dramatic." He clearly intends to mutter, but does the total opposite.

"Don't be so demanding." She retorts. "Just because you own Inej doesn't mean you own me."

Kaz stopsfor a second, allowing her words to set in before he sits down in his own chair and begins flicking through papers.

"So, what? Am I your new secretary?"

"Hm. Funny." He says, the sarcasm might as well have been written on his forehead. "Just sit down before someone sees you."

"Got eyes in the walls here, have we?" She jokes, a small smile on her lips as she quietly laughs to herself.

"What's funny?"

Her smile falters. "You're a barrel of laughs, Kaz Brekker."

"So I've been told."

Another minutes or two passes by, the only sound filling the room were her sighs of frustration and the paper flicking between his fingers.

    "Why am I here, Kaz?"

He finally pulls out an envelope, throwing it on to the table in front of them.

    "Open it."

    "No."

Kaz frowns. "Why not? I'm not going to hurt you, Darya."

    "You expect me to believe that?" She speaks his words back to him, feeling a lot prouder than she should've.

"Fine then, I'll explain it to you." He sits back in his seat, his gloves hands meeting in the middle and intertwining as his elbows stay on the arm rests. "You may be the only healer in this entire city that I can trust."

    "What makes you think I'm trustworthy?" She asks, mirroring his position.

    "Inej trusts you. So I trust you."

Darya snorts. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"Darya, do you have any idea where you are?"

"Clearly not."

"Nobody but my crows step foot in this place, and yet...."

"Here I am." She finishes for him. "Am I supposed to be honoured? Fall to my knees and start begging that you let me stay?"

"You're supposed to let me finish."

"The floor is yours." She sends him a small smirk.

"With our line of work, someone like you, with your... skill set, would come in very handy."

"Well as nice as this was," She stands up. "I'm not something you can buy. And unlike you, I have a job to getting back to."

Kaz pulls out another envelope, this time the sound of it hitting the desk alone is enough for her to stop what she was doing.

It was heavy.

"As much as I encourage independence, you Darya Belova, can be bought. And your debt will be paid, so long as you agree."

"Do you speak to all women with such charm?" She inquires, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm a lot of things, Kaz Brekker, but stupid isn't one of them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Inej is the only investment of yours. All of the girls know, me included, if this is some convoluted plan to get—"

    "Darya, listen to me!" He cuts her off much harsher than he had intended to. "I know, alright? That's why I'm willing to pay off your indenture completely in return for your compliance."

    "You can't possibly know."

    "I know everything."

AUTHORS NOTE!
fuck me that was ominous, why do all these chapters end on cliffhangers HELP????