Page 36 of Condemned Soul

“And you really think she’s gonna let Cliff go when she busts him with the Lambronis? Because if she doesn’t—” He shakes his head not needing to tell me that Cliff would squeak like a rat.

“It’s part of the deal, I give them the Lambronis and she gives us Cliff. She’s got a few men she trusts who will be with her when she makes the arrest. Cliff will escape…” I assure him.

“And we’ll deliver him to Wrath,” Jessie finishes.

“I gave him my word, didn’t I?” I raise my eyebrows.

“Look, Jess, I need you with me on this, yeah? Trustin’ her is a risk, but it’s the only way we’re gettin’ outta the shit Cliff’s pulled.”

“We could just make all the Lambronis dead. And we don’t need her to bust Cliff. We could go get him right now. If his name gets put on her paperwork, the club will get dragged into it. We don’t need that.” My VP makes another valid point.

“Cliff is wary of us, Jessie, he knows what’s comin’, him bein’ arrested is the element of surprise we need, to ensure we nail that bastard down. I’ve already spoken to Consuela, his arrest won’t be logged; in the eyes of the law no Soul will have been there.”

“And the Lambronis? What happens when they get questioned? They’re gonna mention Cliff’s name.”

“Consuela will be leading the interviews but she can only cover up so much. We need to scare ‘em into keepin’ quiet, and if everythin’ we’ve learned these past few days is true, we have the Lambronis by the balls. You know what you're lookin’ for when you get into their mansion.” I remind him and I can see from Jessie’s face that he ain’t happy about it. “You do your job and let Consuela do hers. She knows what she’s doin’. She knows the plan, Jess.”

“See, that’s what worries me. She knew all about this before you told your brothers.” I hate that he’s right, I hate even more that I still can’t tell him the whole story.

“You have to trus?—”

“Trust you, I get it, and there ain’t been a time in my life when I haven’t. But you're scarin’ me right now.” He stands up and crushes out his smoke.

“I’ll have the brothers ready to leave in the mornin’,” he promises, before leaving me to stare at the table and question what the hell I’m doing.

“I see the irony in this.” I look up when I hear Joanne’s voice a few minutes later, and when she moves slowly around the table, brushing the top of the chairs with her fingertips before she takes a seat, all I can do is stare at her.

“You ain’t supposed to be in here,” I croak.

“Maybe I wanted to say a little prayer.” She smiles as she takes Troj’s seat.

“Been a while since anyone said a prayer in here,” I admit, closing my eyes and wondering how the hell I’ve gotten into this mess. It all feels so outta my control that I wanna lash out.

“I don’t know, you looked like you were looking for answers when I walked in.”

“Yeah, well I gave up on relyin’ on the man upstairs years ago. A Soul makes his own fate.”

“And when did you figure that?” she asks, leaning back in the chair comfortably and helping herself to one of my cigarettes.

“After I spent years prayin’ that you’d come to your senses and bring my little girl home.” I stare right at her and let her see my hatred.

“Jimmer, the first step to happiness, is forgiveness. Ella needs you to forgive me for what I did. I need you to forgive me for it.” She takes a drag and then watches the smoke as it exits her mouth and travels across the room. And it looks so odd seeing her smoke. This place must really be rubbin’ off on her. “Hate is a real heavy burden to carry,”

“You remember that time when we were rippin’ the pews outta this place?” I change the subject, chuckling to myself when I remember better days.

“You asked me if I’d ever been fucked in a chapel.” She laughs, reminding me a little of the woman I used to know.

“Stupid question really, back then the only man who had ever fucked ya was me.” Despite how things have turned out, I remember how good it felt to be that man. “Jeez, Jo, you were so fuckin’ pure back then.” I shake my head and remember how obsessed with her I was.

“I wasn’t very pure when you took me on the alter.” She gestures her head to the spot behind me where it happened.

“For all we know, that's where Ella could have been conceived.” She giggles and reminds me how easy it is to be drawn into this woman

“There could have been so many more moments like that but you chose him.” I bring her back to earth with a crash. “I hope he made up for it.”

“Who, Vincent?” She shakes her head and laughs some more. “Vincent was a lousy fuck, he was selfish and lazy…”

“And you were too old for him,” I add sarcastically.

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