Chapter Fifteen
Connor
“I’m sorry about tonight,” I say, thinking back to the look on her face when she watched Sanders fall to the ground.
“You’re sorry?” she asks incredulously. “If you hadn’t been there,” she says, shaking her head. “They both wanted to hurt me. I felt it. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if they’d taken me from that bar. It was so scary. And then, there was a moment on the street when I think Dennis really wanted Frank to order him to shoot me. I think Frank was tempted too. They’d have had their revenge against me, and they’d have hurt you in the process.”
“Yeah, Frank’s furious. He expects blind loyalty, blind obedience. And above all, no one’s allowed to leave the fold.”
She tilts her head. “What made you leave?”
“We shut down recruitment of young kids. Against my orders, Mangia forced a thirteen-year-old to do a run and the kid messed it up. Frank said the kid would have to make amends or die. It was a kid Trick knew. Trick said he’d cover the loss, which he did, so the kid would be off the hook. And I again said, no more little kids. But Frank went behind our backs and had Mangia beat the kid up. Broke his hand and hurt his leg.”
“What did you do?”
“Trick retaliated. He took back his money and more. He took money for the kid and his family. He took money for the kid’s hospital bills. He took some money just to cripple a pending deal of Frank’s.”
“Oh, my gosh.”
I shrug. “It was hunt Trick down and kill him for Frank, or leave with him.”
“Was it a hard decision?”
“No. None of us is interested in building a business on the backs of broken kids. Plus, by then, the three of us were already a crue within a crew. It wasn’t something we were willing to forfeit for any reason.” I look at her. “I think Frank had the money planted in your apartment and tipped us off to it. That’s before you and me. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time. Why would he do that?”
She shrugs. “Maybe he knows things that I’ve said to Rachel. I told her to call off her engagement and to move away. I’ve said we could go together.”
“Why doesn’t she?”
“Why else? He has leverage over her.”
I nod. I don’t ask more about that. It’s none of my business.
“Frank took a reckless chance with your life, Zoe. Instead of getting involved with you, I might’ve killed you.”
“Maybe that’s what he wanted. Rachel and I are really close. She loves me, and she doesn’t love him. I don’t think Frank can stand to feel rejected.”
“That’s true enough. He’s had chances to end this war, but he won’t,” I say, walking to the couch. “He doesn’t care that it’s bad for business. He wants us under his thumb or dead.” I rest my hands on the back of the couch. “You and I need to decide some things.”
She looks at me expectantly.
“It’s not safe for you to be on your own in Coynston. You can see that now. But I get why you don’t want to feel like you’re under house arrest, whether it’s for your own protection or not. So that just leaves us with one option. You’ll need to move. I’ll arrange for a bodyguard. I don’t think you’ll need one for more than a year, but we’ll have to assess that later.”
She sits down, clasping her hands on her lap. “Is that what you want me to do, C? Be watched by a hired bodyguard?”
“There has to be a bodyguard at the beginning, Zoe, even if you’re on the West Coast. If you’re performing you’ll be easy to find. And there’s no end in the sight for this war. I never want a repeat of what happened tonight.”
“Is my moving away the only option? Couldn’t I live here with a bodyguard?”
My body reacts instantly to that question. It has a strong opinion about where it wants her to live. “By here, do you mean in this town? Or in my house?”
“I—is that an option?”
“Which?”
“Either?”
I stare at her. “Yes, both of those are options. It would be more dangerous for you to live in this city, though, than to live somewhere else. You see that, right? Because you’d be around and it would be a taunt, of sorts. Out of Frank’s sight would mean less time on his mind.”
