Page 33 of Kings & Carnage

Unfortunately the choice to leave had been made for me. The Blades had dealt with all of us at one time or another, but I was asking for something big and the request had a better shot of being granted if it came from me.

It took me forever to get to the giant mall that was our designated meeting spot. I didn't like being so far away from Willa — if something happened to her again it would take me a while to get back to her — but I needed to stay hidden and nobody was going to look for me in a homogenous suburban mall two hours west of Blackwell Falls.

I'd stopped at a local bank along the way and withdrawn a large amount of cash from the offshore transfer Rock had initiated. It would see us through until we figured out where to go from here.

I parked in one of the crowded lots and stashed half of the cash under the seat in the Buick. Then I made my way into the mall, wondering how things were going for Willa, Oscar, and Rock. We’d only realized after we made our plan for the day that we only had one ride. Lucky for us, Daisy had come through again, loaning us a car so they could go to the Giordana house while I was at the mall.

Not Daisy's hot rod of course. I had no idea where she'd gotten the old car or who had fixed it up, but I knew from the way she drove it that it was her prized possession and there was no way in hell she was letting anyone else drive it.

I would have loved to take it for a spin, but I was grateful for the loaner, a Mercedes she’d left parked in a grocery store parking lot outside of Blackwell Falls. I’d dropped off Willa, Rock, and Oscar on my way out of town and they’d taken it to Mrs. Giordana’s house.

It was the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's and the mall was packed with people trying to cash in on after-Christmas sales. It was exactly what I’d hoped for, and I weaved my way through the milling crowd feeling as close to invisible as was possible with my psycho dad determined to kill me.

It wasn’t like I was surprised. I'd never bought the story that my mom had bailed. Sure, I was only a kid when she'd disappeared. I hadn’t known her the way you knew someone when you were adult enough to see through the mask they wore for the world.

But she was my mom. I knew in my bones that she wouldn't have left me and no one would ever convince me that knowing was some kind of fucking fantasy.

Roberto had killed her. I knew it like I knew Willa belonged to me.

To us.

He’d tried to kill Willa to keep her quiet just like he’d killed my mom to keep her from telling everyone what he really was. To him, they were like ants at a picnic. An annoyance to be eliminated.

He wouldn't think twice before trying again. I knew that too.

I looked at one of the directories and followed the map to the food court. It was one of those times when I was glad to be taller than everyone else, and I peered over the crowd standing in lines and carrying trays of food to the grimy tables littering the area.

I spotted the person I was looking for standing in line for pizza at the far end of the food court. He was taller than everybody else too, and I made my way through the crowd toward him, his shaggy blond hair and leather MC cut standing out amid everyone else’s suburban attire.

He glanced at me disinterestedly as I joined him in line. “Pizza?"

"Always," I said. We didn't speak again until we'd both ordered, carrying our plates and drinks to a semi-isolated section of the food court.

"What kind of shit have you gotten yourself into?" Hawk asked, tearing the wrapper from his straw.

"What makes you think I've gotten myself into any shit?" I asked before taking a bite of my pizza.

It was delicious, hot and cheesy with the sharp tang of tomato sauce, and I suddenly wished Willa was with me.

Willa loved pizza.

"You asked me to meet you in the middle of this fucking mall two hours from Blackwell," Hawk said. "Also, word on the street is you've been cast out.”

I wiped the grease from my lips with one of the thin paper napkins I’d grabbed after paying for my food. "Can't cast me out of something I built.”

"Not talking about the thing you built," Hawk said. "I'm talking about the thing your dear old dad built.”

I shook my head. "My dad didn't build shit. He's just sitting on the throne of an empire built long before him. The empire will still be there when he's gone. And hewillbe gone.”

Hawk sighed. "I'm not looking to get caught up in some kind of turf war between you and daddy dearest.”

"I'm not interested in Roberto's turf,” I said. “When I'm done with him it won't belong to him anyway.”

"Still sounds like a pile of shit I don't want to put my boot into.”

"What if I told you Roberto had something to do with the missing girls? Not just Emma Russo but all of them?" I asked.

Hawk put down his pizza and wiped his fingers on one of the napkins. His gaze bore into mine, and I wondered if he was thinking about his little sister. I didn’t know much about her, but I knew she attended the local community college.

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