by Tijan
“See you later, pig.”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. She was a piss away from being a method actor.
Another moment, then, “He has feds on his payroll and local cops. Who are you sleeping with, Ri?”
I groaned. “It’s complicated.”
She laughed, rolling up her window and starting forward again. “Just hold on a bit. We have a plane waiting for us. Your boyfriend ain’t the only one with some connections.”
“The Network?” I asked Blade.
He shook his head, his first faint smile showing. “A friend of Carol’s.”
“Damn straight. I heard you. Tinder’s good for a few things other than a hook-up.”
“Carol, are you dating someone?”
She barked out a laugh. “You’re not the only one who’s got someone new and exciting in their life. My guy just happens to have his pilot’s license and a buddy with a plane. Took a bit of coercing, but he said he could fly you to Milwaukee.”
“Well.” I grinned at Blade. “Hot damn.”
“Hot damn, indeed!” Carol laughed again. “And hold on. I’m going to put the pedal to the metal, if you know what I mean.”
• • •
We turned into a small airport. I didn’t think it was the one Kai had flown out of since we’d driven for over an hour, but it was small. It was isolated. And there was only one plane getting ready for departure.
As soon as we parked, Carol went over to a guy coming out of the hangar.
Blade got out behind me, stretching a little. We’d stayed in the back until the last ten minutes, so our legs were a little knotted up. Rifling through a bag, he pulled out some papers and handed them over.
“Those are numbers to call for resources.”
“Blade.”
He kept going, pulling out a phone, a smaller envelope, another fatter envelope. “You can’t use the phones Brooke gave you. He’ll have figured out which ones were taken and have trackers on them. There’s money.”
I had both backpacks from Brooke. If there were a tracker on anything, we already would’ve had guards pulling in for me. I was safe, but I took the phone he gave me. Checking the back, I asked, “Not a Network phone?”
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t want to risk it. Like you said, he has people in the Network too.” He paused a beat. “The Network didn’t want to risk it.” He looked away. “You’re right. They green-lighted Carol and me to come get you, but they want to know who his people are. They’re not risking anything. Everything I’m giving you is off the book so no one can find you. Even me. The envelope is sealed, and the envelope inside that envelope is sealed. No one’s seen it except the manufacturer.”
And the manufacturer wouldn’t give two shits. They were just doing a job. I was safe.
“Where is he flying me into?”
“Not Milwaukee. You’ll fly to South Riddance. It’s a small airport past Milwaukee. You’ll have to drive back, but a rental car should be easy for you to get.”
It was a good plan. If they were looking, they might not look at flights that didn’t go to Milwaukee. It’d be an oversight on their part.
“Okay.”
He glanced at Carol, who was still talking with her pilot friend, before he pulled out another smaller box. “Put this in your bag. You know what it’s for.”
My mouth dried. It was a gun box.
I doubted there was a permit for it, but I put it in one of the bags anyway.
“He could lose his license.”
Blade glanced back at Carol’s friend. “Don’t get caught.”
I hoisted my bags to my back. Blankets. Clothes. I knew what was in the backpacks: cash, credit cards, the phones to use, fake identification. I had everything I needed to start a new life. It was a bit of overkill, all this to sneak into Milwaukee under Kai’s watch, but if I knew Kai, I would need it. He’d have his resources looking for me nonstop. I’d have to go all the way underground.
Carol and her friend walked toward us.
I asked under my breath, “We’re certain this guy is legit? He’s not on anyone’s payroll?”
Blade looked at me from the corner of his eye. “You mean on Bennett’s payroll?”
I didn’t answer because that wasn’t what I meant. I looked at Blade, and his eyebrows shot up.
“Carol swears she met him by chance, on Tinder. They’ve hooked up for six months.”
But he could be a setup. He could be working for the Network. And maybe I was becoming paranoid? Too many times going around the block with Kai? He was making me see moves in a game that wasn’t being played. Maybe.
Blade came to the same conclusion. “Ditch him as soon as you land.”
“That was already my plan.”
The guy nodded to me as he walked up and shook my hand. “You ready for this flight?”
Carol hugged me. She hugged the guy. He climbed into the plane, and she went back to the minivan, leaving only Blade and me.
He gave me a smile, another sad one. “Until we see each other again?”
There were words to say, sentiments to express, and tears I was trying not to shed. All I did was nod and promise, “I’ll see you again.”
As I climbed in and watched Blade go over to where Carol was waiting, I felt the same thing I’d seen on his face.
Sadness.
Everything was about to change. I felt it coming on like an impending doom. The pilot yelled at me to buckle up, and moments later, we were hurtling down the airstrip.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
I was being dumb.
This hit me as we flew over Milwaukee. I was being so beyond dumb. Yes, Kai had said I couldn’t go with him to see my father. But I wasn’t a captive, and I had snuck out of there like I was. Both Brooke and I had. I’d continued to hide, using this friend of Carol’s to take me the rest of the way. Disappearing was a skill I had, but it wasn’t one I needed in this instance.
Maybe?
I didn’t know.
God. Why was this so hard?
“You ready to touch down?” the pilot yelled at me over the system.
“Yes!” I yelled back. I was cold, I had to pee, and I was ready to try to right my world again.
Once we landed, I grabbed my bags and nodded to him. “I need to head to the bathroom.”
He pointed where to go, and because I didn’t really know if he was just Carol’s friend, I disappeared again. I did have to pee, but I needed every advantage I could get. Bypassing the bathroom, I swiped a set of car keys hanging in the hallway. I went out to the lot and walked around, pressing the unlock button. In the second to last row, I slipped behind the wheel of a Taurus and headed into town.
The GPS was set up on one of the burner phones, and I put in an auto repair place. Not the one with the best website, but one that didn’t have a website, one that had Yelp reviews from local customers. I pulled in and used their bathroom.
We had landed during business hours, though it was getting late.
After I peed, I asked for a female employee, because there usually was one. When she approached, she was older—gray hair, makeup done. I couldn’t tell her exact job title, but it didn’t matter. I could see in her eyes she’d been around the block.
“I need a car,” I told her. “My boyfriend is in the mafia, and I’m running from him.” White lie. “I need anything you can give me. I have cash for something cheap and desperation enough to let you know I stole the car I drove here in.”
She hesitated, scanning me up and down.
I wore the same black clothing I’d had on when I left the house. I was sure I smelled. My hair was pulled low into a no-nonsense ponytail. If I needed to sell being on the run, I’d hit that out of the ballpark.
She ran a hand over her face. “He hit you?”
I didn’t want to lie any more than was necessary, so I chose my words carefully. “I just have to get as far as I can from him.”
“You stole that cash from him too?”
My eyes flicked up. “No. Cash is good. A friend gave it to me.”
She still hesitated. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Look, the car won’t be reported for a while. Maybe even a few days.” I glanced up to the cameras. “Wipe the footage, then call in a random car. You have cars parked here all the time. I know how auto shops are. No one’s going to look twice. You can say your footage clears every few days anyway.”
She wanted to help. I could see it, but a girl showing up with cash, a stolen car, and a story about a connected mob boyfriend spelled trouble.
A hoarse “Please” finally sold it.
She let out a sigh, nodding. “Drop your keys for the car on the floor and give me a second.” She disappeared behind the counter, returning a few minutes later. She slid an envelope over to me. I could see there were keys inside. “That’s to the Chevy truck out back. Leave what you can for cash. I had a friend who got beat up by her boyfriend, so I get it.”
“Thank you.”
I reached inside one of the bags, took a few hundred-dollar bills, and held them out to her. The envelope pocketed, I did as she said. I dropped the keys to the Taurus on the floor and headed out. The store had been empty, and as I got to the only Chevy truck in the back, I knew she was either erasing the security footage or calling the cops.
Either way, I pushed down on the pedal, though as I headed out of town toward the interstate, I had to admit I wasn’t sure who I was even hiding from at this point.
Kai?
My father?
The Network?
Or maybe myself.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
I didn’t have a full plan.
The first day I got to Milwaukee, I set myself up at a B&B—one where I had my own exit and entrance—before I hit up a library and forged a new library card. Fake name, fake address, everything fake, but it worked. I got the card. That got me access to the library’s internet, and from there, I searched for my father.
I wasn’t going to search for Kai. I worried if I did then he’d find me instead. My dad was the next thing. I was going radio silent with everyone else, at least until I knew for sure what I wanted to do here.
The first article that popped up was an event my dad would be attending in two days.
The second was my obituary.
Prominent local tycoon’s wife and daughter both dead. Authorities are investigating.
Jesus. I felt sucker-punched.
Clicking it, I read the story of my car accident, and how my mother’s own car accident six months earlier was now looking suspect. The fucker had been investigated. Good. I felt some satisfaction. He deserved it. He deserved that and more, so much more.
There was a small write-up on my funeral. These were all articles I never could bring myself to search for and Blade never offered to get for me. But I saw the picture of my father grieving. He had a hand to his face, his head bent like he was crying, and a woman I didn’t recognize trying to console him.
He was faking it.
My father never cried. Ever. I wondered once if he even had tear ducts.
I got out of there, clicking on other articles.
There were more than I expected. He had gotten national coverage too; and his mafia connection was mentioned in both national stories. No doubt it was the reason for the articles in the first place.
My throat thickened, just thinking about him, about the reason for those articles in the first place.
My mother.
It still hurt. I thought I was over it, that everything had been pushed into the right categories and boxes and I was this professional, no-emotions operative. But that wasn’t the case. It all swept up in me again.
I usually felt the hatred. That was never far away when I thought about my father, but today, looking at his face, his name, and remembering that time, I felt mostly just pain.
By the time I left and went back to the B&B, I had a plan formulated, and I picked up the phone in my room. I dialed the number at the house we’d most recently stayed at since I didn’t have any other number on hand.
“Hello?” Tanner answered.
“You have my number?” I didn’t introduce myself. He would know. I didn’t wait for a response. “I’m going to hang up.”
There was no hesitation. “Okay. Brooke’s ankle is fine, by the way.”
I paused, then put the phone back on the base.
I didn’t know how long it would take, but I watched the clock and began counting.
It took twenty-three minutes.
Knock, knock! “Let me in. Now.”
I let out a sigh, stood, and opened the door. I stepped back, seeing Kai’s tight features glaring back at me.
I pressed my hands together. “The door wasn’t locked.”
He moved inside and shut it with a kick.
I’d expected him to come to me, to reach out, touch me. He did nothing. He remained just inside the door.
“It has to be your decision,” he growled. “Everything has to be your decision.”
His eyes were hard, his mouth pressed in a flat line.
He. Was. Pissed.
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
Oh boy.
His eyes were locked on me, unmoving.
I swallowed. “A day.”
He shook his head. “A day. You’ve been here a full fucking day?”
Well, it was closer to a day and a half with the traveling included, but I didn’t think he cared about that.
“How did you get here?”
I gave him a look. “Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not! I’m not fucking kidding. How did you get here?”
“My job is to help people disappear. That is what I do, what I’m good at. You do mafia shit. That’s what you’re good at.”
“I’m good at keeping my family safe. That’s what I’m good at.”
“Come on. I mean, did you really think I wouldn’t get here? You really thought I would let you confront my father without me? He’s my dad. Mine.”
“And he deserves to die.”
He was growling, nearly shouting, but he rubbed a hand over his jaw. He was trying to calm down. He looked down. “You flew, didn’t you?”
Aw shit. “Yes.”
“Goddammit, Riley!” Back to shouting.
I had to take a step back.
He wasn’t moving, but it didn’t matter. The air writhed around him, his words like punches. Everything was tense and riddled with fury.
Stark shadows fell over his face, making his cheekbones prominent and unyielding.
“Why are you mad?” I asked.
“I’m mad because I give a shit about you.” His hand went to his hair, running briskly through it. “Maybe it’s irrational, but my loved ones don’t fly. It’s my rule. It’s the one thing I held on to when I took my father’s position. Everything else I gave up. Everything. People I cared about, friends, girlfriends. School. A normal life. All of it was gone the second I took the head council position. It fucking matters, and it’s one small way I’m reassured my family members are alive. You have a shot at living if your car is tampered with. There’s no shot with a plane once it’s in the air. No shot.”
He cared about me.
His loved ones.
And his girlfriends.
It was petty of me, but…girlfriends? More than one?
His hands went to his hips, clearly frustrated. Bent, broken, but still here. Still standing. Still in the room with me.
“Brooke thinks our mother died from an illness. She didn’t.” His now-tired eyes flicked up to mine. Pain flared there. “Our father killed her, and he didn’t act alone. I’ve never told anyone in the family this.”
“How’d she die?”
“With her lover.” His nostrils flared. “With Cord’s father.”
Oh—OH! My mouth fell open.
Kai sat on the edge of my bed, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared at the floor. “I was to
ld by a source that her lover’s family killed them both. They’re a member of the council as well. And I’ve never been able to prove it, but my father helped. I know he did.”
“No one knows?” I sat next to him, wanting to touch him, comfort him.
He gave me a look. “Not about Cord, but come on. Jonah doesn’t look like us. It’s obvious she was a cheater. And who could blame her? Her husband was a monster.”
I winced, hearing my own thoughts flung back at me, words I had spoken before too.
He stood, pacing the room. “Fuck. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.” He stopped suddenly and shot me a heated look, one filled with anger and loathing and worry.
The worry got to me, melting me. His tone, not so much.
“I don’t care where you decide to go. I honestly don’t, as long as you’re safe. You’re not a captive, even though you snuck out like one. If you and Brooke had demanded to come to Milwaukee, what’d you think I would’ve done?”
“Taken away our phones and kept us locked away in a log mansion?”
His mouth closed with a snap. “Yeah. I see your point, but you’re not Brooke. You don’t have a boyfriend that could fuck everything up for this family like she does. You have a logical head on your shoulders. Brooke would get pickpocketed by teenagers at the mall if she didn’t have guards. That’s actually happened. She has no life skills. You saw what house we found her in.”
Yes. The house he had exploded.
He did care. He did love.
He was angry with me about flying. He was telling me about his mom. He connected them together, somehow. A way to lose me, another person he lost. I was going with caution, but I had a gut feeling here.
He needed to talk, if even for this one time.
“You said your mom died with her lover, but how exactly did she die?”
He closed his eyes, his head falling back. He let out a soft “shit.”
I waited. Instinct told me to wait, to be quiet, to let him fill the space.
“They made it look like a mugging. A random fucking act of crime, but it wasn’t. She was stabbed three times, once in the throat, and the knife lodged in the side of her skull.”
Holy fuck.