Page 89 of Shark Bait

“You’re a great friend, you know that?” I say. It’s not a question.

Alessio stares.

“I would want to have you in my corner is all I’m saying.”

“You will have your family, and I will have mine.”

Cold feet. Cold feet. COLD FEET. “What if I stayed?” I whisper.

“Too late.”

“Let me stay with you. I don’t want to… I want to see him again.”

“Too complicated.”

“Please, Alessio.”

“Get out of the fucking car.”

I push the door, which opens all the way so I can step out comfortably. I lift my middle finger at Alessio, then slam the door just as someone else slams the door on the other side of the van.

My brother comes around the front of the van. “Troy?” He pauses, then rushes me. “Oh my God, Troy!”

“Denver!” I hug him awkwardly, then find a better position for my belly and clutch my brother for dear life. I start to cryuncontrollably, great big sobs. I’m mostly relieved that this long and exhausting ordeal is over and I’m with someone who smells familiar and hugs me the way my family hugs me because they love me.

Somewhere in the background, I hear Alessio’s car peel away.

It’s not until I’m on a jet flying back home that I fully comprehend what occurred under the bridge. Someone from the police station brought Shark to Alessio in exchange for me. And that was it.

I’m never going to see Shark again.

I start feeling hollow in my chest. The hollowness means I left my heart back there. But then I’m pissed. That bastard. I’m madder with Shark now than I’ve ever been before, and the highs and lows of how I feel about leaving and returning home are giving me whiplash.

Didn’t I want to go home? Don’t I want to be with my family?

Sure I do. I can’t wait to see my mom and dad. My brothers, Amy, people from church, and my pets. But at the same time, I’m sad that it came at the cost of never again seeing the man who’s made all the difference in my life.

I rub my belly. Inourlives. To think my baby will never know her daddy, and when I say daddy, I mean the man to whom she owes her life, because let’s face it, if Miroslav hadn’t been on the yacht that day, the baby and I wouldn’t have made it. Not with the way my thoughts were darkening with every passing day. Not with the way Fis was looking at me like he wanted to have me.

And certainly not if La Falena sold us.

Why can’t I have both Shark and my old life?

Why can’t I have it all?

THIRTY-TWO

CLASSIC GANGSTER

SHARK

The drive back to the chopper from the exchange point is as pleasant as expected. Which means it’s not pleasant at all. Sitting next to Alessio while his rage grows inside him with each passing moment feels like babysitting a tire he keeps pumping full of rage way past the point of equilibrium.

The red flags are flashing in warning that the tire will explode, but Alessio is all up in his head, thinking all kinds of world-annihilating thoughts. I can tell.

On his best days, he’s one of the hardest, most rigid men I’ve ever met. The reason we get along is because I understand him and his charming character.

I need to debrief him, tell him what happened during my mission. He expects honesty, but I’ll lie to him about it so that he can keep believing he came up with the idea of trading me for her and that I hadn’t manipulated the entire situation so that he would give her up, let her go home to her family, and not force her to marry me.

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