by Bry Ann
Adam growls, but doesn’t move.
“Carson was always the funniest boy in the room. Did you know that? He was two years younger than me. We called him my gluestick because he never left my side. At school, when everyone was mean to me because I couldn’t stop stutterin’, he stuck by me while my older brothers did all the butt kickin’. He’d steal Hershey’s kisses and eat them at recess. He was the best boy in the world, and he would have been the best man. If he wasn’t murdered. By your husband.”
“What proof do you have of this?”
Iris raises her eyebrows. “You think your husband’s not capable of murder?”
“I’m aware he is, but he didn’t murder everyone. How do you know he killed your brother?”
“He killed someone’s. That’s enough for me to want him behind bars.”
“How do you know he killed yours?” Lacey screams. “How? What proof do you have?”
The strength Iris seemed to have mustered fizzles. Tremors seize her body as pain clouds her features.
“Carson sent me a v-video.” Water spills over her cheeks. “H-he t-told me to give Ki-Ki…” Iris’s voice collapses into a sound of muffled pain. My whole body goes rigid. The fact that I have to stand here and let her suffer alone is killing me.
Lacey softens. Her arm reaches out and starts gently stroking down Iris’s arm, but Iris isn’t having it. She gently pulls away. Knowing Lacey, that makes me wince. Lacey shakes but musters up the strength to keep it together.
“You have video evidence?” Lacey squeaks.
“Car t-told me t-to give that n-name to my brother. There was a v-v-” Iris squeezes her eyes to get the words out. Her stuttering must get triggered by heavy emotion. “A video of the gunshot.”
“So…” Lacey’s eyebrows furrow. I can tell she’s trying to keep the pain out. “So, you have a video of the gunshot with a text to tell someone named King Adam Ruston’s name. And… where is that video now, Iris?”
Iris looks to the floor. “Please don’t hurt Kingston!” She yells, suddenly frantic. Of course, giving away his full name in the process. “Please. Oh my! I just put him in danger too. I’m not meant for th-this.”
Iris’s teary eyes flicker over to Adam.
“Please, sir. Not him too. I’ll die.”
I see in Adam’s eyes the urge to threaten her brother for information, but instead of speaking, he looks to Lacey and keeps his mouth closed, letting his eyes speak for themselves.
“No one will hurt your brother,” Lacey says softly, “but please help me keep my family safe. Please.”
“I’m sorry,” and for the first time since Lacey’s implored for her to tell the truth, Iris does look sorry, “but I can’t do that. It’s not my place to condemn a man.”
Me. That man would be me. Lacey’s friend. Keeping my face impassive is nearly impossible. I don’t know how I manage.
Lacey bites the corner of her mouth and lets her eyes dart around as her brain struggles to figure out a solution. She knows as well as I do that whoever is a risk to Adam will die. It’s the way of this world. Iris is alive because she’s a woman, and because she has Lacey. I wouldn’t survive it. I know this, too. I knew it going in. And Iris is too loyal to our country, too loyal to humanity in general, to give me up.
“I understand,” Lacey eventually says in a quiet whisper, eyes trained on the ground. “I do.”
Then, without another word, she runs from the room. My heart is torn between the two women: my good friend whose pain I can’t even begin to imagine, and this woman I find myself caring for more and more.
But I can’t do anything but stand there, grinding my jaw.
“I have to go after my wife,” Adam says after a long, awkward silence. “I have to. Deal with Iris the way you see fit. I trust you.”
Then he’s off, and I’m left standing here alone with a woman I know I have feelings for on some level. Forced to make a decision as both Underboss and FBI agent.
Should be easy.
“What the fuck happened? Are you safe?” Collin blurts into the phone as soon as I get the time to call him.
“I’m not compromised.”
Collin hisses out a breath.
“Fuck, man. We have to go in.”
“Agreed. That’s why I’m calling. I have a date and time.”“Finally,” he jokes lightheartedly, but I hear the strain in his voice. “You’ll send me coordinates?”
“Yes.”
My voice is clipped on purpose. Yes, I’m at the discussed location. Safe. But still, I’m paranoid. I can’t ruin this now. Not after all I’ve given up emotionally for this case.
“Derek, are you okay? It’s almost over.”
“Just hold up your end of the deal, alright? I…” My hand slides through my hair.
“You have my word,” Collin cuts me off with sincerity in his voice. “I will do all I can for Lacey.”
And Iris, I want to say. But I can’t without sounding like I’ve actually lost my shit. Yeah, that plan to get my dick wet and fix my problem did not work. It only made it worse, because I wasn’t satisfied. I had a damn country girl stuck in my head the entire freakin’ time.
A country girl that told me to leave her there so she could see Adam get arrested after asking me if I’d take care of Lacey. After I said I’d do all I could, she looked at me like I was a hero.
She doesn’t get it. I’m still tearing Lacey’s family apart. Although I know I have feelings for Lacey that aren’t appropriate, they are feelings I’d never pursue, so most of the time they don’t feel real. What is real, though, is the deep connection I feel to one of my best friends, despite the circumstances.
This is killing me.
Locking Iris in a bedroom at the mansion killed me. I wouldn’t leave her in a cell, but she refused to go.
It’s all killing me. I don’t even know how this ends. How will I let this case go?
This world sucks you in and eats you alive.
“Good. I’ll text you the coordinates.”
“Derek, don’t worry; when you’re out, I got you. Alright?”
“Mmm.”
I click the phone shut. I know my best friend thinks he can fix this. Can fix me, like he’s done every other time. But I don’t think he can. Not this time.
Iris
His piercing black hair rests over his eyes, masking everything from me. He’s holding me gently by the elbow. Not too firm, so he doesn’t hurt me, but firm enough to be strong and supportive.
This is it.
I know it is.
I feel it in my bones. It’s confirmed when he gives my arm a tight squeeze as we approach a very tight-lipped mafia boss.
I can’t believe this is my life. Carson would be so mad at me for doing this, but I can’t not to do it. He’s my best friend. There is no ‘was’. He will always be my best friend, my partner in crime. I wince.
Bad line now. We were good people. I’m not sure I’m good now. I lied to my family. Kingston, Jay, and Hunter would literally kill me if they knew where I was, especially King. After getting me out alive, avenging every little thing that happened to me, and wrapping me in a blanket, of course. My older brothers treat me like I’m still their little baby sister, and I can’t say I don’t love it.
“Enzio,” the man I now know as Adam says with a pursed-lip nod.
“Boss.”
A whole army of his men are surrounding us. What’s going on? What’s Adam going to do? Did Enzio bring back up? Is there enough back up? Are people going to die?
I close my eyes to try to erase the sound of the bullet that killed Carson, but fail. BANG! It echoes in my mind over and over again. A blurry, frantic five second video that showed nothing but moving black and blurry images and a sound that would forever afflict my life wrapped in a simple text that said:
adam ruston- tell king… <3 u HK.
HK- Hershey kiss. His dorky nickname for me. It’s uber weird, but he’s been using it since we were kids and too inno
cent to be aware of how strange it is. So the name stuck when it was just us. The heart at the end, versus writing I love you, hurt. But I understand he probably didn’t have any more time. There wasn’t even proper grammar. Carson was (there’s that dang word again, was) a nerd. He was that person to call you out on a your vs. you’re mix-up. So if his text had awful grammar, he didn’t have time to fix it.
“Almost done,” I hear Enzio mumble with a squeeze of my hand. My head snaps up. It’s then I realize I’m crying. I got so lost in my head.
I hate Adam! I hate him with everythin’ inside of me. Every single piece.
But I do feel bad for that Lacey girl. I can’t even imagine. Does she have Stockholm syndrome or something? If feels wrong to assume. I don’t know their situation. I don’t know this world. I want to go home, but I have to see this first.
“Iris!”
Realizing I drifted off again, I look up to find Adam staring at me.
“I’m gonna give you a chance to leave here and forget all this.”
I already like Enzio’s promise better, jerk. I manage to keep my mouth shut and do nothing but glare at him.
“Let’s be clear. You’re alive because Lacey wishes it so. If it were up to me, being the threat to my family you are, you’d be missing. Alive or dead, I’m not sure. You’ve already caused enough problems in my family.”
The man who took me, Frances, flanks to Adam’s side.“That said, Lacey made it clear she’d leave me if I killed you.”
“Yay.”
I roll my eyes and don’t look at him. I can almost feel eyebrows raise. Enzio pushes me left, making me stumble. It looks like an underboss telling a captive to respect his boss, but really he just wants me to get my head on straight so I don’t, you know, die. I’m so mad though. I’ve never been this mad. Mama wouldn’t like it. She’s so patient and believes anger is a terrible way to handle things. I agree. Mostly.
“You’ve got spirit. I’ll give you that.”
It no longer sounds like a compliment coming from Adam’s lips.
“I brought a friend with me.” Adam starts to circle me. “He’s good at getting the information he needs without laying a finger on you. Let’s just say it’s his specialty. He does contract work in this area. I asked him to come out for this occasion. You should be honored. It’s the first time he’s done work for me since he left my ranks.”
Thump. Thump. Some of the anger fizzles out, only to be replaced with bone-deep fear. Who is he? What’s he going to do to me?
Again, Enzio squeezes my hand again, letting me know he set all this up. That calms me a bit. So he knows this man, right? No one’s gonna hurt me anymore. As if on cue, my finger begins to throb.
Then, from the left side of the open field, a man with dark, nearly black hair, and eyes of the same color comes out of the shadows. The harsh wind blows his hair back, but the wind is not the reason for the chills running up and down my spine.
“Sven,” Adam greets.
I squeak and try to scramble backwards, but Enzio grabs me and pulls me suspiciously close to him. He knows what he’s doing, right? Right?
The two scary men nod at each other. I’m so afraid. I just want to be back on my farm with my animals and family.
Carson. Remember Carson. He died by these men. The least I can do is endure the fear for a few more moments. Enzio won’t let anything happen to me.
“Enzio,” the man called Sven greets. “So you set this up? Boss told me what I need to extract from her and why…”
Extract.
“But he says you know the most about her. What do I need to know?”
“Top of the list,” Enzio begins in a flat, cold voice, “is that she believes Boss killed her little brother.”
Adam interjects there, looking right at me.
“Iris…” He glances at his fancy wrist watch that probably costs more than my life, then looks back at me. “Do you have any actual proof he did it? Physical evidence.”
“I have Carson’s word. That’s enough for me!”
“No, you have him telling you to give my name to your brother, Kingston Shelby. He never said I was responsible for his murder,” Adam chimes in.
“Don’t say my brother’s name!” I shout, heart thundering in my chest.
“Which one?” Adam smirks.
“Any of them! None of them. Don’t say the Shelby name.”
Adam opens his mouth to speak again, but Sven holds up a hand, cutting him off. Sven seems to catch himself, because he gives Adam — the boss, I presume — a quick look of respect afterward.
“If you want your brothers left out of this, then you’d better get talking. Boss, you have Kingston Shelby’s number, right? What do you think he’d say if he knew his little sister was here?”
He glances down at my finger.
“Injured, nonetheless.”
Oh my… No. No. No. Kingston can’t know! He can’t. He definitely would come here and get himself hurt! Or worse, killed.
“No. P-p-please. Sir, n-no! Ki-Kingston can’t… he’ll…”
I start to shake rapidly with wide, horrified eyes. Adam gives Sven a look of approval, but I can’t think.
No. No.
This can’t happen. I break my vow and look to Enzio. Help me!
“Do you want to be here, Ms. Shelby?” Enzio asks in a cold, dead voice. I search his eyes. Is this a code? I don’t understand.
“I-I… n-no, of c-course not.”
I’m trembling so hard, tears slip out. What if I mess up? What do I do? What do I say? “Are you being held against your will?”
I try to search his eyes for the right answer, but all I see is darkness.
“Y-y-yes.”
Think of Carson’s baby blue eyes…
“Are these men holding you against your will?”
Enzio gestures to the three men, Frances, Sven, and Adam, standing there looking at him with respect in their eyes. Like he’s saying all the right things. Am I being tricked? I don’t know. I don’t know!
“Yes,” I squeak.
“Then I’d get talking if I were y—”
“FBI! Put your hands up where I can see them!”
Then… chaos. There are guns, shouting… A tall man with blond hair and focused blue eyes leads a pack of men in vests surrounding us from all angles. I look around, desperate to escape. To hide.
All I want is to be safe.
My eyes water as I freeze. A strong hand wraps around my upper arm and I’m pulled from the wreckage. My whole body is shaking so violently it feels like I’m having a seizure.
“Shh, I got you, Iris. I got you.”
Enzio. My no name.
I surge forward and grab onto him, letting my body release the adrenaline. Letting myself shake and cry and feel dizzy and sick, because I know he’s got me. He kept his promise. He kept it. His strong arms tighten to hold me up as he drags me out. There’s so much going on behind me, but it’s not until it finally starts to feel farther away that I let myself turn around. Enzio tentatively holds my hips, making sure I’m steady and okay. I’m grateful for it as I watch several men led away in handcuffs, the main three being jerked almost violently from the scene, but it’s Adam I have my eyes on. He stares at Enzio with a hollow expression, which is somehow more threatening than if he outright made a verbal threat. My skin tingles. I take a step back toward Enzio’s stiff body. Is he okay? Is he scared?
Sven, on the other hand, looks at Enzio and smirks. It’s like the handcuffs don’t exist on him.
“Well played,” he mouths to Enzio, cocky as hell.
Ummm… okay?
Frances looks furious. Ready to murder the man holding him. It’s Adam Ruston that scares me most of all though. His cold, calculating look. This isn’t over.
Enzio, I squeak in my head, needing his comfort. But he needs himself right now.
The blond agent, the one clearly in charge, makes his way over to us as men are ushered into government vehicles.
Derek?
It makes sense. He was undercover. Enzio wouldn’t be his real name. Of course, I should have known that. Not assumed.
Enzio — I mean Derek, I guess — tries to release me and make his way over to the agent, but something takes over my system. I find myself scrambling backwards, grabbing onto him, and hiding my face in the crook of his arm.“Shh, Iris, it’s okay.” His voice is hoarse. “You’re safe now. Promise, Texas.”
Texas. It’s such a cute nickname. Not like no name.
“Ms. Shelby, my name is Collin Fox. I’m with the FBI. You’re safe now. No one else will hurt you.”
From above my head, I can feel the two men making silent eye contact, but I don’t want to let Derek go. I can’t. The anxiety slowly starts to fade, only to be followed by bone-deep grief. Tears happen. They leak out of my eyes, leading to gut-wrenching sobs. My body convulses against Derek. He takes my shoulder and slowly pulls me back. “Iris, my friend Landon is going to take you to the station. He’s a really good guy. He’ll take care of you.” “Am I gonna s-see you ag-ag-again?”
I hate this stutter! Why can’t I get a grip? It’s been years since it was this bad. It’s just ‘cause I’m so emotional, I remind myself. I wish Derek knew that.
Derek’s face goes soft.
“I’ll come check on you, okay? Would that make you feel better?”
“P-promise?”
“Yes, Ms. Shelby. I promise.”
“Iris,” I remind him as his friend Landon takes my arm.
“Yes,” he smiles softly. “Iris.”
“K-kay.”
“Come on, doll,” this guy, Landon, says. “Let’s get you some clean clothes and junk food of choice. I think certain times call for eating our feelings. Don’t you agree?”
His face is a mask of fake seriousness at the question. I find myself smiling a little, despite my mood.
“Hmm-hmm.”
“And your favorite?” He asks as he slowly starts to pull me away. “Her-Her… Um…”
I give him wide eyes. I can barely talk. It’s the adrenaline. Too many feelings. He waits patiently for me with a gentle smile. I close my eyes and focus. Shove the feelings aside and talk.