Nothing about this was clear, not even her and especially not me.
“Explain it,” she ordered, softer but no less intense. “All of it. Don’t leave anything out.”
I held her gaze before giving her what she sought, telling her, “I started noticing the money first.”
Her eyebrows pinched together.
“You never questioned it?” I asked, wanting to know how much she truly knew about what her best friend was doing.
She flinched, answering my question. “I trusted him.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“And that was my mistake, right?”
“No. Your mistake was believing he’d protect you from it.”
She thought about it for a second. “How did you find out?”
“I followed him.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “You followed him?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I had a feeling.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the truth. I saw who he was meeting with and where he was going, so it didn’t take much to put two and two together. The people he’s working for, they don’t live in a world where loose ends exist.”
“And what do you think is going to happen once Julius is free?”
“He’s not their first dealer who’s been arrested, and he won’t be the last.”
“You don’t think they’re going to be pissed about not only losing a dealer but also all those drugs? You don’t think that puts him at risk?”
“No, they know he’s not going to snitch on them. He’d be a fucking fool. He’s not a loose end anymore.”
“Neither am I.”
“You would’ve been,” I spoke the truth. “The second something went wrong. You’d be the first they’d use as collateral, and I’d never let that happen to you.”
“So getting arrested doesn’t classify as something going wrong?”
“No, it’s inevitable. Trust me, someone has already taken his place.”
Her lips parted, then closed because some part of her knew I wasn’t wrong. Some part of her knew I was telling her the truth.
“Trust you, huh? He could go to prison, Kraven. How do you not see the severity of what you did? What if you can’t get him out? What if he’s stuck there for years? Do you get it now? Do you see how bad you fucked up?” She couldn’t get her accusations out fast enough. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you come up with a better plan. It didn’t have to go down like this. He’ll never forgive you now, and I don’t blame him.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take to keep you safe before he buried us all alive.”
“So you buried him instead?”
He cocked his head to the side, spewing, “You forget I’ve gone through this before. Do you have any idea how many times we were used as collateral for my parents to pay up? If they’re capable of that, what else do you think they wouldn’t think twice about, Kitty?”
