Page 8 of Mob Bride

Is she fucking sneaking out?

“Is Meredith behind her?” Tommy leans over the steering wheel to get a better look.

“No. She just shut the door.”What is she doing?“Stay here.”

I ease the door open and slip out. She spots me immediately. I didn’t think she was looking in my direction. At least her situational awareness is sharp.

“I don’t want to argue with you, Shane.”

“Good. Go back inside.”

She looks at me for a moment before smiling as best she can, considering her left eye swelled shut, and her left cheek has a bruise the exact size of a fist. “Have a good day. It was nice meeting you.”

The hell?

“Does your mother know you’re going out?” When did I turn eighty?

“Yes. She knows I need to go back to my hotel and grab my stuff before I catch an early train.”

“Does Jesse know where you’re staying?” I will never forget that name.

“No.”

“Are you going to be anywhere near his place?”

“Thank you for worrying about me, even if was just for my mom’s sake. I gotta hurry, or I’ll miss the train.”

“I’ll drive you.” Let’s see how she gets out of this. I don’t believe there’s a hotel room. At least, not one she already has reserved. The more I thought about it last night, the less I believe she believed she could enter a hotel the way she looks now. She might have seemed stubbornly naïve, but she wasn’t. She was stubbornly manipulative.

She glances at her watch. “Okay.”

She knows she surprised me. We cross the street, and I open the town car’s back door. After I walk around to the other side and get in, I lower the privacy glass. Tommy twists to look at Carys and me. He has no reaction to seeing her face up close. At least no outward reaction. He’s one of our most stoic men, but in another life, I think he would have been an empath. Irony’s a bitch.

She tells him the name of a place in Washington Heights. That’s not what I expected. It’s not a dangerous area, but it’s not where I’d expect her to stay unless it was to be as far away from something as she could get. I don’t think it was about being near a guy because I don’t believe Jesse exists. It’ll be a drive from the Bronx to the top of Manhattan, so I expect uncomfortable silence. I don’t have to worry because she’s asleep within three minutes of Tommy pulling away from the curb.

It’s not cold in the car, but she shivers. I slip my suit jacket off and spread it over her. I watch her sleep. The only time I do that is when I’m monitoring someone at that abandoned train station. She was bound to have noticed when we approached the safe house. I saw her brow furrow. I watch people in the depths of that train station to know when they’re rested enough to go another round with me, and which implement to choose to beat them or torture them with.

She doesn’t stir despite some rough potholes Tommy can’t avoid. She’s out. It’s obviously what her body needs, and it’s keeping me from peppering her with questions. I don’t enjoy having so many unanswered ones rattling around in my head. Nothing good comes from me not knowing everything that’s happening in any and all situations. I suppose some would say it gives me anxiety. What it gives me is an increased likelihood of dying. I’d prefer not to. My mom would kill me.

Me

I want Carys’s entire life story.

I wait for my brother’s response. Our older brother, Finn, is a forensic accountant and has some of the best hacking skills you could imagine. But my little brother—by three minutes—has a master’s degree in national security and can find anything under the sun. It may take him five minutes, but if it exists, he’ll find it.

Sean

I started last night when you told us what happened. We all knew Meredith had a family. But she’s tightlipped about everything. Carys has active social media but it looks typical. She lives in Pittsburgh so there are pics from there. Most of it is here. I checked her bank accounts and police record. No unusual activity at the bank and nothing since she was sixteen and got a speeding ticket. Lead foot. Fifty in a twenty five.

Me

I remember something about that. Grandda was pissed because he thought Meredith wanted a favor. Mom was the one who asked. Once Grandda found that out the ticket was gone in ten minutes.

Sean

I remember now God I haven’t thought about that since it happened.

Me

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