Page 2 of Breakdown
Peter examined his sister in the dull winter sunlight. It seemed like she had aged five years over the past six months, the circles dark under her eyes and the creases deep and permanent in her forehead.
He sighed. She wasn’t going to want to hear this, but it was the only way he could think of to keep her and everyone else in his life safe.
“So maybe that’s it then,” Peter said, struggling to keep his voice even. “Maybe it’s time to call it quits before someone does it for you, huh?”
Liv’s back stiffened at the suggestion. “No,” she said heatedly, “I’m not—”
He could practically see all the words on the tip of her tongue.A failure. A quitter. Weak. Like you.She let them go unsaid. Unlike Peter, Olivia wasn’t accustomed to losing. He could tell she didn’t like how it felt.
“I mean, what the fuck else am I supposed to do?” she asked, so quietly he almost didn’t hear it.
Peter had experienced that horrible free-fall that came when your entire self-worth was tied to your value as a criminal. Another gift from their father. “Literally anything but this, Olivia,” he suggested gently. “Something you like? Something you’re good at?”
Olivia laughed, but there was no joy in it. “I’m good at this, Peter. It’s the only thing Iamgood at.”
“There’s a world outside of this,” Peter said, suspecting he’d already lost the argument. He couldn’t help but feel that maybe she would’ve listened to him if he wasn’t the one who had fucked this up on her last summer. “Going legit’s not so bad. Almost none of my fellow mechanics want to kill me.”
“Oh, fuck off,” she said, without any real heat. “Do you really see me spending the rest of my life at some nine to five?”
He didn’t, and it broke his heart. “At least you’d have a ‘rest of your life.’ If you stay in this business, you might not have a rest of the year, Liv.”
“Still sounds like you think this is just my problem. I asked you to come here today so I could make it very clear that it isn’t. Watch your fucking back, Pete. I might not always be there to protect your perfect little life.”
He just let that hang there. Responding would mean saying a lot of things he wasn’t ready to give a voice to.
She drained her coffee and turned to go. “Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your brotherly concern, but I can fix this, Peter. I’ll figure it out. I always do.” The smile she gave him was closer to a grimace. “See you around, huh?”
“Yeah, I’ll, uh, see you later,” he said, hoping to God it was true.
“Try not to worry. It doesn’t help,” she called over her shoulder.
Every time he met with her these days, it seemed like it might be the last time. That just like his mother, Olivia might evaporate into thin air and never be heard from again. Peter tracked her across Park Avenue until she turned the corner, her movements jittery, her head scanning the streets for some unseen enemy.
He was worried. It didn’t help.
Chapter One
