Page 76 of Clean Slade
In theory, it shouldn’t be difficult to become part of the inner circle, but with everyone on high alert due to the cartel bust last month, things might move slower.
Unless Salieri was that stupid or desperate—and who wouldn’t be after an entire operation went up in smoke—to take foolish risks.
Well, we’re here, aren’t we? So maybe he is.
Step by step, I regretted this decision more and more.
I should return to my daughter, go to Boston, get my stash, and disappear. That would be the non-foolish thing to do.
And yet I didn’t.
Because I didn’t know how he’d found me. And if he’d find me again.
I tried to remind myself that I wasn’t just a stupid, scared boy. I tried to remember I was an adult with far more knowledge than I let on. I tried to think of my options, but at the moment, they were limited to one.
I opened the mailbox and found the two bricks stashed inside, just as requested.
I shoved them in a bag and returned to the car, getting the fuck out of there. I didn’t know who was watching.
Half an hour later, I walked back into my salon, which was already brimming with barking floofsters.
What an odd switch from crime to everyday life. I hated to admit it, but part of me actually got a thrill out of this.
If only my daughter’s life wasn’t at risk…maybe I’d be enjoying this double life.
Then again, there was more to this double life than the surface. Who would end up with the drugs currently sitting in my trunk? What kind of lives would I ruin by becoming part of the food chain? Who would my father destroy with that filth?
“Hey, King, how was your appointment?” Nat asked me, and I froze.
“What?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow and turned to me with scissors in her hand. The husky she was finishing grooming licked her neck.
“Your doctor’s appointment?” she asked.
“Oh.” What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I lie anymore? Had I lost my touch?
I’m lying just fine to Slade.
Poor guy. He doesn’t deserve any of this.
“Oh yeah. All good. Sorry about ditching. Who’s next?”
Nat pointed to the Shih Tzu staring at me from inside the crate, and I put everything to the side. Crime, families, drugs.
And lies.
There was no space for them in my life.
“Come on, Chanel. Time to deal with those split ends,” I cooed at the little dog and got back to work.
This. This came more naturally than anything I’d ever done in my life before.
By lunchtime, I still hadn’t decided what to do with the stash in my car. I knew I’d have to tell my father eventually, but I didn’t know if holding off a little longer would help my plans.
Surely keeping the drugs wouldn’t help get Salieri’s attention, but did I really want another mobster’s attention?
Or maybe it’d have even more sinister implications if they thought I was sitting on a load.
