Page 16 of Sinners Keepers
For her and for Ijah.
After a moment I settled on, “It’s not easy losing someone you love, no matter how it is that you lose them.”
“I feel like he left a gaping hole in my chest.” Then she laughed a bit sardonically. “I guess he did.”
With that, her mood rapidly shifted. She angrily shoved the toppings onto her burger and took a massive bite, chewing like she had a personal vendetta against the tomatoes.
This was going to be impossible.
She was entitled to whatever emotions filtered through her, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to navigate them alongside her. I would sure as hell try my best, though.
We ate in silence for a while. Now was probably not the best time to bring this up, but I didn’t have much of a choice in that matter. We were pressed for time. “About your dad,” I started. “We’ve heard through the grapevine that he owes someone a lot of money that he doesn’t have the means to pay back.”
Her eyes darted to mine over the top of her burger, mid-bite.
“Roman Barone?” I prompted. She’d likely recognize the name because he was another well-known douche in Fate Trace, very similar to her dearly departed husband.
Her eyes widened as she dropped her food back onto her plate, chewing slowly. She understood exactly what that meant;shewould be the payment her dad forked over if he could get his hands on her.
Law shrugged, playing it off as no big deal. “Neither of them will have the opportunity to follow through. Your dad has made himself scarce since… the night you were injured. But wewillfind him, and questioning someone who has had recent access to him is a great place to start.”
“We have a plan,” I assured her. I wanted nothing more than to just say fuck it and ride off into the sunset, but taking Hunt away from the only town she’s ever called home—the only placefamiliarto her—was not in the cards for the time being. I hated the idea of keeping her here, but we had no choice in the matter. She needed to be here if there was any chance of her truly healing. I was relieved every second that passed that she didn’t ask us to take her away somewhere. I didn’t know what excuse I would be able to come up with to justify her sticking around that would satisfy her if she decided she wanted to go.
I suspected she was keen on staying to put an end to all of the ghosts from her past haunting her for good. Smart girl.
She glared at me. “Well, out with it. Tell me the fucking plan, then.”
“Bee…” I started.
“No,” she cut me off. “I’m sick of sitting on the sidelines while everyone around me pulls all the strings that directly affect me and my life. Tell me.”
I groaned, relenting. “Fine.”
Internally, I was at war with myself at the thought of putting her in a position to be hurt again. And for all we were keeping from her.
We were all such fucking idiots to not realize what Mattia had been putting her through, trapped in that diamond-encrusted prison of a house for years. But, security footage doesn’t lie... and we'd combed through every second of it.
We'd had to in order for our plan to go off without a hitch.
Dead men tell no tales, and neither does shit caught in 4K if it’s been deleted.
“Roman seems to be totally in the dark about anything to do with your situation, or the fact that you’re anywhere other than patiently waiting by your dad’s side,” Law began.
She raised her eyebrows, genuinely shocked. “How could he not know what happened to me? Fate Trace isn’t that big of a place. I was literally shot in the chest.”
I hesitated. I knew the answer to that question but it wasn’t information I could share with her just yet. Lying to her was so much harder than I’d anticipated. She deserved the truth more than anyone, but it was the one thing I couldn’t give her. Not yet.
“We don’t actually know, but the positive in this scenario is that he has no idea we have a target on his back, so he’s still hosting the massive charity Christmas party he hosts every year.” I waggled my eyebrows.
“Oh my god, are we going?!” Hunt screeched. She was way too excited about this, but I guess any party seemed exciting when you’ve never really been allowed to go anywhere just for fun or truly enjoy any of the places you were allowed to be.
“Weare,” Law gestured between himself and me. “The plan is to grab him and bring him back here. He’s the easiest target and the person most likely to spill where your dad is if it means saving his own ass. He may be a big deal, but his security detail is literal shit.”
“Oh, no. I’m going. I have the perfect dress.” She was all but bouncing in her seat.
“Bee. We’re crashing the party tokidnaphim. This is not for a fun time,” I tried to level with her.
“Sounds pretty fucking fun to me,” she responded, swallowing the remainder of her burger and guzzling down the rest of her drink. “When is it?” she asked, already out of her seat.
