Page 102 of A Breath of Life
A buzzing sounded in my ears as I clicked on the text and read.
The bottom dropped out of my stomach.
I’m very disappointed in you, Mr. Krause. I thought we had an understanding.
26
Diem
I’d made the biggest mistake of my life, and I was going to pay. The gravity of my error buckled my knees, and I staggered into a woman pushing a baby carriage. She shot me a dirty look. A curse formed on her lips, but my ears rang too much for it to penetrate. The world spun.
I grappled for something to hold onto, staggering into a nearby wall. My thoughts wouldn’t align, and I desperately needed to think.
My phone rang.
I scrambled to answer it, panic making my words thick. “Don’t hurt them.” The emotion-drenched plea made my voice crack.
“We. Had. A deal,” the Consigliere said.
“I’ll do anything. If Ace wants blood, he can have mine. Don’t punish innocent people.”
“Innocent? Your friend sits in a bathroom stall with a particular item that I recall telling you had to remain on your person atall times. Do you know what that tells me? Your friend knows a little too much. Another broken rule. That’s two, Mr. Krause.”
“He doesn’t know anything.” I closed my eyes, cursing my stupidity, unsure how I could fib my way out of a maze of my own making.
“You’re lying to me, Mr. Krause, and you have slipped under the careful watch of my men. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.”
“I can explain.”
“I don’t want an explanation. You had one job, Mr. Krause. Find Clarence Audraine. That’s where your focus should have been. Have you found him?”
“No.” And because I was an idiot, set on revenge, locating Clarence had become a secondary objective. I’d set my sights on Ace and the Consigliere. On the Bishop who had knocked me around.
“Are you presently at the courthouse, Mr. Krause? I suggest you think carefully before lying to me.”
“No.”
“Huh. Pity. What did I tell you would happen if you disobeyed me?”
Visions of Nana working colorful yarn over needles and wrapping it around her bony, gnarled hands flashed across my vision. Tallus, a sitting duck in a bathroom stall. His snark and sass were the last things I’d witnessed before walking away. He’d been furious at being left behind. Was an argument the last communication we would ever share?
A hollowness filled my chest as I considered the implications of my actions.
“I’ll tell you what, Mr. Krause. You have five seconds to tell meexactlywhere you are, or things will get ugly. Five, four…”
I launched off the wall and scanned for a street sign. “Bay and Hagerman,” I blurted.
“Don’t move.”
Our call ended the exact same way it began, with my desperate plea, “Don’t hurt them.”
With a click, the line went dead.
I rode on the edge of a panic attack, unsure what to do. I wanted to warn Tallus he was in danger. Had they taken him? Was it already too late? If I called and he was untouched but monitored, would they see it as a deception? I’d sworn he knew nothing, but at this point, I doubted they believed me. I hadn’t sold the lie.
I had to call him. If for no other reason than to ensure he knew I wasn’t angry and that I loved him. He was the best thing to ever happen to me.
My hands shook as I located his number. I couldn’t find the dexterity to send a text, nor did I want to, so I hit the Call button. The moment it connected, Tallus’s sassy tone rang through the line. “Where the fuck are you? I texted you, like, ten minutes ago.”
