Page 27 of Bitter Arrangement

Brenden: Don’t ask me about them ever again. Don’t text me back. We’ll talk later.

My mouth runs dry. He’s never acted like that before. My older brother taught me how to steal a car. There’s never been any secrets between us. Nothing’s ever off-limits either. He teaches me what he knows and we trust each other implicitly.

But if he won’t even text about these people?

Alexan parks out front of his house, and I start to think I’m in deep shit.

Once we’re inside, he leads me into the kitchen and sits me down at the counter. He pours two glasses of wine, puts the watch down between us, and stares at me as he drinks his down.

I sip mine, itching to break the silence but too stubborn to talk first.

“If I return this to Iron Head?—”

“Who now?”

“That’s his code name,” Alexan says, giving me a stern look. “If I return this to him, he’ll want to know who stole it. If I refuse to say, he’ll torture me until I talk. And believe me, wife of mine, no man in this world can hold out forever when the Mantis decides they want to know something.”

I pick up my wine with both hands and hunch over it. “What if you don’t turn it over?”

“Then the Mantis will take that as a failure, and they will punish me and my entire organization. Maybe they won’t kill me, if I’m lucky, but they’ll make sure we suffer.”

“All for some stupid electronic watch?”

He grunts and looks down at it, shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s on that hard drive, but it’s extremely important.”

“So just, I don’t know, destroy it. Or tell them you found it in the lake. Or invent some other story.”

“They’ll know I’m lying.”

I laugh, feeling somewhat hysterical. “That’s really convenient.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Clearly not. Jeremy Fong was just some guy. He didn’t even seem all that clever. And now you’re telling me he’s this fancy Iron Head whatever, and his criminal organization is ruthless and knows everything?”

“Pretty much.” Alexan refills his wine and paces. “What were you thinking, stealing from that man anyway?”

“I was thinking my dad’s a fucking asshole and I felt like doing it.”

“Which means you weren’t thinking at all.”

“Hey, look, you’re a fucking asshole too, congratulations.”

“Don’t get pissed at me. You’re the one that fucked us both.”

“Fucked us both?” I shove back and stand. My glass sloshes slightly and spills on the counter. “Look, how about this? Give me the stupid watch back and I’ll deal with it. My brother will know what to do.”

“Absolutely not.” He picks up a sponge from near the sink and wipes up the wine. God, he’s such a neat freak; even in the middle of an argument he can’t help himself. “Your family isn’t up for this. Mantis will tear them to shreds.”

“And you can handle it? Seems like you’re doing great so far.”

“I’m saving your life.”

“Are you sure about that? Or are you just saving your little token wife and keeping your alliance together?”

His look is cold and flat. “What’s the difference?”

“Asshole.” I don’t even know why I’m so mad at him. He’s not wrong—I’m the one who stole the watch and set all this in motion.

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