Page 84 of Hold Him Like Gravity

“What do you mean had him?”

“Like kidnapped. Or held hostage? I saw a video. He was all beaten up.” Except, of course, judging by his face I’d seen earlier that night, he’d never been beaten. It had just been, I don’t know, really good makeup, I guess.

“Okay,” Rico agreed, strangely calm at such shocking news. “I’m assuming your ex wanted money?”

“Yes. He said I had to start skimming off of the register and paying him each week.”

“To what end?” Rico asked, sitting forward, elbows going to his thighs.

“He didn’t really have an end. It was weird. He didn’t seem to think I would get caught. The register has to be balanced out.”

“Keep going,” Rico said, voice a little tighter. “Is that the whole thing?”

“I mean, I started taking the money. I didn’t want to, I swear. It was killing me to keep—“

“Babe,” he cut me off. “Right now, facts. We can do feelings later.”

“O…kay,” I agreed, unsure about his recent change in demeanor. Feeling antsy, I started to pace a bit. “But I just… I couldn’t be under his thumb forever. I started to try to stake out parts of the Bronx where I thought he might be.”

“Did you find him?”

“Not until tonight,” I told him. “I just… got lucky, really. He was coming out of a Chinese restaurant. I followed him home.”

“And then?”

“Then I snuck in and went to the basement. I thought that if I could confirm that my brother was there, I would call the police and tell them that Kyle was holding Jake against his will. Torturing him.”

“But you didn’t call the police,” he concluded.

“The basement was empty. So I was glad I didn’t call. I figured I could maybe follow Kyle to the location where he was keeping Jake. But… but then…” I broke off, taking a few deep, steadying breaths.

“Finish it. What happened?”

His head was ducked, so I looked at him, my heart shattering in my chest, knowing I’d broken something that had been rare and precious, something I didn’t think I’d ever get again.

“I was leaving and I saw someone.”

“Your ex?”

“No,” I said, sucking in a deep breath as the metallic taste of bitterness filled my mouth. “It was my brother.”

“What?” Rico asked, head lifting, pinning me with his dark gaze.

I was frozen in the spot, incapable of moving as he stared at me.

“It was Jake. He was walking out of Kyle’s building,” I told him, lower lip wobbling with my still-fresh anger. “And as I was leaving, I saw an email from my brother’s roommate, sayingJake had paid him for the rent and he’d picked up some of his stuff. He was never kidnapped. They were working together.”

“Your brother and yourabusive ex.”

It wasn’t exactly a question. But I found myself answering anyway.

“Yes.”

Suddenly, that carefully-contained air about Rico disappeared as he flew off of the couch quickly enough to make me go back a step.

“Do they know who thefuckI am?” he raged as he stalked away from me, moving toward the kitchen. Like there was too much rage inside of him to stay still. “Do they know who they are fucking with?”

DidI?

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