Page 35 of Surprise Baby for the Enemy

Derrick actually looks surprised when I nod. “All right,” I lie. “I’ll stay in the car.”

Emma Clarke- whoever the fuck that is- lives in a modest suburb with neat little lawns and two-car garages.

I’m disappointed, honestly. Up until we started driving past identical little houses with identical little yards, I was still daydreaming about storming Silver’s house and arresting himtoday. Instead, we have to ask this Emma a bunch of questions, and hope her answers will lead us directly or indirectly to Silver, and not just straight into another dead end.

“This is bullshit.”

“What is?” Derrick asks, and I realize I’ve spoken out loud.

I chew on my words. “I just- I expected this to be more straightforward. There’s a guy running a gang and we want him to stop? Cool. We find him, we kill him. But no one seems to actually know who this guy is or where.”

Derrick smiles crookedly. “You do know that most people don’t know your brother is a mafia boss, right? It’s not common knowledge”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” I ask, instantly wary.

“I mean, most people believe he’s a business investor and real estate tycoon, or they don’t know he exists at all. That’s his public persona, his mask. The Warwick estate is just some really rich guy’s heavily secured mansion. There’s a huge portion of the populace that doesn’t even think modern mafias exist, or that they only exist in other countries.”

I… never thought of the fact that most people don’t know who my brother is. I’ve always felt invisible because I’m a trivial part of the Warwick family, but the idea that Thomas is invisible to others too? Impossible. Ridiculous.

“S-So?” I stammer.

Derrick looks over at me, maybe hearing how badly he’s just rattled me. “So… who is Silver when he’s not a gang leader? What’s his mask? Sure, sometimes it’s as easy as catching a man committing a crime on camera, running some facial-recognition software, showing up at the guy’s house, and arresting him. But sometimes it’s not that simple, and we have to ask questions about a person’s motives, their past, and their goals before we can start looking.”

I shake my head, my mind shifting on its axis.

Silver literallywearsa mask. But I’ve never wondered who he is underneath it.

Because every time I think of Silver, I think of him standing before that bare mattress with a matte black gun in his hand.He’s not a human with a human face in my memory. The fangs painted on his mask are real.

Silver isn’t a person to me. He’s a monster.

I’ve felt insane and stupid many times before in my life. But this is the first time I’ve wondered if I’m literally unstable. My brother is just an armed businessman, and Silver is human.

I know so little and understand even less. What else is true in the world beyond the Warwick estate’s walls? How long will it take me to catch up to a person who hasn’t lived inside for the first twenty-five years of their lives?

How am I supposed to start questioning why someone else is the way they are when I don’t even know who I am?

“Raleigh?”

I jump, even though Derrick didn’t shout. He’s slowed the car to a stop on the street and is staring at me like I’ve grown a second head. “What?” I say, more sharply than I mean to.

Derrick’s eyes are too sharp. Too clear. He’s seeing right through me, and I don’t like it. “What’s wrong?”

Get your shit together, Raleigh.

I absolutely do not want to cry in front of him again. I’m not going through more vulnerable and embarrassing self-discovery with Derrick Lindman as my witness.

Instead, I smirk my hardest smirk at him. It’s the only thing I can think of that will hide my tumbling thoughts. “You’re really a cop, aren’t you?”

Derrick blinks. “I’ve been a cop almost as long as you’ve been alive, Raleigh.”

“Yeah, but I just assumed you drifted on my dad’s money,” I say, and refuse to feel bad about it. “And that you caught his eye because you were good at playing roles. But everything you’ve been saying about proper procedure and asking questions? That sounds pretty legit.”

The line is back between Derrick’s eyes, and his jaw is working as he thinks of a response. I’ve not only irritated him enough to make him forget aboutmyspiraling thoughts, but I’ve genuinely upset him.

Instead of responding to me though, he just jerks his chin, indicating something over my shoulder.

“We’re here,” he says, and turns off the car with a sharp twist of the key.

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