Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
My legs feel heavy trudging up the echoing steps in a cinderblock stairwell. Brenden doesn’t speak as he takes me into a grimy apartment, barely furnished, the refrigerator empty.
“What is this place?” I stare around, numb and shellshocked, my world falling apart.
“This is one of my best safehouses. This is where we’re going to figure out how to fix things. And we’re going to do it together.”
CHAPTER 22
BRENDEN
The ledger makes no sense.
I read through it for the tenth time. I’ve barely slept since we ran from the Brotherhood greasers back at the bank. Tallie’s wrapped in blankets and breathing slowly, but I’m sitting up against the headboard, eyes down on the pages in my lap.
They don’t make any damn sense.
There’s a shape to the names but it’s like there are massive chunks missing. Shipments appear in the logs without any apparent origin like they teleported into place. Money flows out, but nothing ever comes in. I can’t figure it out and it’s like my guts are being sucked into a whirlpool.
I have to toss the ledger aside and go for a walk.
There’s a grocery store not far. I keep my gaze straight ahead, hands shoved in my pocket, doing my best to disguise myself with a hoodie and jeans. I doubt the Brotherhood will come looking for us here, but I don’t want to take any risks. I’m sure they’re scouring the city by now and most likely keeping Tallie’s family under strict surveillance.
I let her down. That’s the worst part. I wanted to make things right—that’s why I told her the truth about Sam and the robbery—but in the end I only dragged her into this pit with me.
Maybe I’ve been spiraling into self-destruction for a while now, ever since I failed so miserably out in Vegas. Riley’s kept me alive, her and Alexan, but maybe they wasted their time. This whole idea, stealing from Arsen, using what we find to buy true freedom, it was always half baked from the start. Even if we get what we’re looking for—and he’s willing to deal—and he’s willing to pay—
There are so many holes it’s a miracle I haven’t sunk through them sooner.
Now it’s bad enough I did this to myself. Riley will be very upset when she finds out what happened.
But it’s so much worse bringing Tallie into it.
I buy food for a few days. Avocados, pancake mix, chicken breasts, pasta, enough staples that I can cook her some decent meals. I force myself to focus on the task ahead of me, but I keep drifting back to the horrible facts of our situation.
Arsen knows we have the ledger. Which means he’s coming for us. Which means Tallie’s family really will be targets sooner or later, though I doubt he’ll drag them into it right away. Haik’s strong enough that he’d be a problem if Arsen decided to go scorched earth.
But how long do we have? Hours? Days? Not weeks. Not months.
The ratty apartment doesn’t deserve Tallie. She should be back at our house in a nice neighborhood with beautiful furniture and lots of light. Not this shitty little place in a nothing town.
I find my wife awake and curled up on the couch when I get home. She barely stirs as I make coffee and cook eggs. I give her a plate and a mug, and she rouses herself enough to look over.
“This is only the outgoing sales. We’re missing half the picture.”
I step back, stunned as the pieces fall into place. I laugh despite myself and wave a hand at the pinched way she glares at me. “I know, it’s not funny, but I was up all night trying to make sense of that thing. You figured it out in like an hour.”
“What are we going to do with this? Isn’t the whole point of taking this specific information because involving the Davises complicates everything? But they’re not in here. This only proves Arsen’s been selling, but who cares?”
I slump down beside her. I look at my hands, at the scars and the callouses, at the gnarled knots of flesh around the knuckles. The hands of a thief. Of a man who has spent his whole life lying, cheating, stealing, and hiding.
“You know what I wanted before you came into my life? The only thing I cared about in the entire world?”
“Diamonds.”
“I wanted to disappear. That’s all I cared about. I was a broken man, Tallie, ready to give up. This whole plan, to rob Arsen, to use it to blackmail him, the whole idea was to immolate myself, make it so that I could never return to Baltimore, but couldn’t be followed either. It was killing myself without killing myself.’
“You wanted to start over.”
“No, not really. I wanted to end, but I never thought about what was next.”