Page 39 of Stealing Iris

Cappy shook his head. “It wasn’t ever gonna happen. He never divorced Ellie.”

Bunny’s eyebrows shot up again. “Didn’t know that.”

“Weeeeell, they had their problems.” He shifted as if uncomfortable with this part. “But he still loved her. He was just stupid and got caught,” he adds, as if it explains everything. “Tony supported his wife and kid, and kept both on the insurance.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Drove Olga crazy.” Which seemed to be a plus for him. “She was pissed because she and that worthless kid of hers lived in an apartment while Tony’s daughter and wife kept the house.”

Now that catches my attention.

Cappy grins. “Tony took his kid to learn the business. He took her kid because he was a lazy son of a bitch and needed to learn how to work.”

A hollow feeling crawls up my throat and settles in.

“Never did like her kid,” Cappy clears his throat. “Always spent too much time staring at Iris in some weird, pervert kind of way.”

Yeah, but he must have done something right because she’d chosen to stay with him instead of me. Even so, in the back of my mind lingers a nagging suspicion that I was missing something.

*****

IRIS

It’s been four days, yet when I close the gate in front of the store, Tino’s waiting patiently in the parking lot. He pulls up to the entrance since the rain’s coming down hard. By now, he knows he doesn’t need to get out of the car. I can open my own door. He’s doing more than enough to be out here waiting on me at ten o’clock at night, in a storm. I’ve slept in the warehouse before to avoid the weather. I could have done so again.

“Good evening.” His voice is as neutral as always.

“Hello.” The last six hours weighs on me, and you can probably hear it in my voice. Tino pulls away from the entrance, but his gaze lingers. He realizes something’s up, but he doesn’t ask. For once, I’m glad he’s the silent type. Though his silence is driving me nuts. Why doesn’t he say something about Dante? At this point, even an accusation would be welcome, so I can explain I’m not part of Conny’s plan. Why did Dante tell me about the thing on Saturday? If I didn’t know, I couldn’t tell Conny. Instead, I foolishly let my temper get the best of me and blurted everything out.

The blocks roll by. He’s taking a different route today. The one I always use when I walk, so I can avoid traffic and the guys sitting outside their house, quietly exchanging drugs for money. The pressure to find out more, to explain and shake the weight of guilt, forces me to speak up, because this may be my one shot at fixing things.

“Dante…still has you coming by?” I ask, barely hearing my own voice over the slap of rain on the car roof.

“He never told me to stop, so I didn’t.” Eagle eyes linger on me from the rearview mirror. While what happened earlier shouldn’t matter to him, I turn, looking outside so he doesn’t see the bruise forming on my cheek. This isn’t part of what Dante told him to do. Besides, why should I expect him to care now? He thinks I set up his friend or boss, I’m still not sure which.

“He hasn’t asked about me?” My voice sounds pitiful to my own ears.

Tino drives on for a block without answering. Part of me wants to take back the question, pretend I never said anything. The other part of me wants answers, though I won’t be around for whatever happens.

“He’s not in town.” The words are stiff, isolated.

“Oh.” Nothing else comes with his curt explanation. The loss tears through me, burning my throat and the back of my eyes. I suppose I held onto a shred of hope things could work out. Stupid but true. This seems to be the norm for me now.

The car stops, and this time I recognize I’m in front of the house.

“Tino.” My voice is stronger this time. “Thank you for everything, really…but don’t come back.” I open the door and step out, heading to the gate without looking back. True to form, Tino doesn’t drive away until I make it through the front door, even though my fingers are numb and I’m fumbling with the key.

I stumble inside, soaked through, and collapse against the sturdy kitchen door. Thunder cracks overhead as the storm unleashes its fury. Lightning cuts through the darkness surrounding me, momentarily illuminating all the things familiar to me before plunging me back into darkness. What am I going to do? I can’t live with what Conny threatened. I won’t. I’ll choose death rather than end up passed around from man to man until there’s nothing left of me. My only other option will likely send me to jail, and who knows how many lowlife friends Conny has in there. Which is worse? I don’t honestly know how bad this could be, and what else they may have done I’m unaware of.

Conny is running the store into the ground. We’re down to two employees, and he’s barely leaving enough to pay them, much less the utilities. We’re going under, and I can’t do anything about it.

Anxiety rushes through me like a wave, setting my head to pounding. I’m reminded of when Dante first came into the store. My eyes sting again. Why hadn’t I kept my mouth shut? He could’ve gone in and out without ever noticing me. Tears begin to overflow. This thing between us is over, and my heart’s crumbling at the realization. Maybe, somewhere inside me, I held out hope he’s cooling down. That in a day or so he’d want to talk to me, even if he just wanted answers. How can I try to figure out what he’s thinking, when I know very little about the man himself? And that’s limited to what it’s like to be with him and how he makes me feel.

I have to make a decision. Should I go to the police? The images Conny’s holding show me taking money from the safe. While I can explain we were waiting for a possible ransom, the call never came. Where’s the money? And where is my dad? We’d had a very public argument before he disappeared. I look guilty, though I would never physically hurt my own father. But when you’ve actually yelled at him, saying you’d wished he’d been the one to die instead of your mother…well, there’s nothing in the world you can say to change that.

My legs go weak, and I slide down the door into rainwater puddling on the floor. I’ve lived with this agony too long, with a threat hanging over me, choking me, leaving me wondering about my future. I know what I have to do, even if tonight may be my last night of freedom.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DANTE

Distant lightning forks across the sky as I pull up to the tarmac on the ranch. My cell rings, lighting up on the passenger’s seat. Snatching it up, I find Tino’s name across the top of the screen. What could he want? I leave my thumb hovering over the home button, unable to press down. My heartbeat echoes in my chest. He must be heading home after dropping her off. So, why is he calling? And why did my pulse kick up when her image filled my mind?

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