“This morning.” Trevor’s nose scrunches in confusion. “When I came by this morning…the girl on your couch….in the maid outfit.” His eyes widen in understanding. “Holy shit, so that’s why she was there.”
Vanya’s and Vitaly’s expressions switch from confusion to shock to anger.
Max’s jaw drops. “You kept the witness?”
I don’t back down. “She has information.”
“About what?” Vitaly bops his palm against his forehead before throwing both hands in the air. “What could a cocktail waitress possibly know that’s worth risking everything for?”
“She knew Benny.” The half-truth slides easily off my tongue. “Who he talked to. Who he met with.”
Of course, the full truth is more complicated.
More dangerous.
They can’t know that I want to keep her close so that I can try to understand the strange pull I felt from the moment Isaw her and again when we kissed. Or how I’m drawn to the way her eyes spark with intelligence and defiance even as fear radiates from her. The way she fights even when she must know fighting’s pointless. The way she babbles when nervous, words tumbling over each other like she can’t contain all the life inside her.
“I don’t care if she had the keys to the Vatican!” Vitaly pushes right up in my face, jabbing a finger at my chest. “You’re slipping, Lex. Skipping jobs, keeping witnesses, chasing ghosts. This shit with MJ is making you sloppy.”
The control I’ve maintained for years snaps, splintering under the weight of rage and grief. “This shit?” I grab a fistful of his shirt. “His death is shit to you?”
Vitaly holds my gaze for a moment, then glances away. He kneads the back of his neck and huffs out a breath. I release my grip and back away. “Look, I know the history. I know how you looked up to MJ. How you feel responsible. We all do.” He gestures to the others. “But at some point, you have to let it go, brother.”
“Let it go?” The words taste like death in my mouth. “How canyoulet it go? He was your brother too. How can all of you just…forget him?”
Vanya curls a hand over my shoulder. “No one’s forgetting?—”
“Bullshit!” I knock his arm away. “You’re all so eager to accept the story. To move on. To pretend nothing’s wrong.” With each word, my fury rises. “MJ was right-handed. The gun was found in his left. Does that mean anything to you?”
The parking lot falls silent. Even the distant hum of the highway seems muted. My breath comes fast and hard, blood pounding in my ears.
No one speaks.
Palpable shame hangs in the air with the summer heat.
Max studies me, eyebrows raised. If anyone is going to rat me out or put me down right here for going against Roman’s orders, it will be him.
“You were all so happy to move on.” My rage cedes to something colder, sharper. “Because it was easier that way. Well, it’s not easier for me. It’s eating me alive. I won’t let it go. And you shouldn’t either.”
Vitaly’s focus slides to the asphalt. Vanya slides his hands into his pockets, lips pressed into a thin line. Even Trevor shifts uncomfortably, though he didn’t know MJ all that well.
The quiet stretches, broken only by the distant blare of a truck horn.
“Doesn’t matter if we understand, Lex.” Max’s soft voice is devoid of emotion. “Roman gave an order.”
His simple honesty hits harder than any argument.Roman gave an order.In our world, that’s final. My position, my safety, my life, all depend on abiding by my uncle’s commands. I’ve already pushed too far.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, grateful for the distraction.
That gratitude dies once I read the notification.
Security breach. Tenth floor.
My blood turns to ice.
“Fuck.” I shove the phone back in my pocket. “I have to go.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Lex!” Vitaly’s voice rings out behind me. “Roman’s back tonight.”
