Page 95 of Jig's Last Dance

John stretches his neck and smoothes his hands over his pressed fucking chinos before saying calmly, “I know. He has his precious little niece set on me. I’m taking care of it.”

“How?” Roman snorts. “Is your ass jealous of the shit coming out of your mouth? Why the fuck would you show her the keys?”

There’s a pregnant pause before John says, “I didn’t. They were on the table.”

“They were on the table! They were on the . . .. You fucking idiot! Now Castinetti’s suspicious. He’s sniffing around. You think you’re immune to this shit?”

“Castinetti isn’t my problem—”

Rustling breaks out, and I wince as Roman says, “He’s everyone’s fucking problem now. What do you think he’s going to do when he realizes the girl is gone? You fucker. Find her!”

“Fine. I will, but there’s still the matter of the boy.”

“You’ll get the boy when I get mine,” he barks before stalking past me. I shrink into the shadows and hold my breath when he stops at the door. “And John?”

“What?” John says, appearing in the threshold.

Fuck me. I press my back against the wall and pray.Please don’t see me.

“You do anything to that girl, and I will fuck up your world.” With that, he slams out the front door.

Closing my eyes, I exhale quietly into my hand, hoping John goes with him. But of course, he heads up the stairs instead. Once he’s out of view, I grab my bag and head toward the backyard, wincing at the racket he’s making.

It sounds like he’s throwing shit around upstairs. Out the window I go, and I’m sliding along the side of the house when the backyard lights come on, flooding the space with light.

I freeze again and drop to the bushes, praying he didn’t fucking see me. John stalks into the backyard and turns in a circle before approaching a tree toward the back.

Peering at him through the bushes, I ponder my chances of running while he’s not looking before collapsing to the earth and waiting him out.

He detours to a shed nearby and comes out with a shovel. After that, he digs a hole by the tree. The entire time, I watch, alternating between holding my breath and breathing so shallowly I’m surprised I haven’t passed out.

Finally, he emerges with a bag and closes the hole back up before turning off the light and entering the house. I cock my head when I hear him leave through the front door. An engine starts up, the sound fading away before I emerge from my hiding spot and stare at the tree.

Why would he cover it back up unless he left something in there?

Creeping over to the shed, I shine my flashlight app inside and grab the shovel before going back to the tree. The fresh mound of earth is hidden by a planter, and I push it aside before shoveling the dirt out of the way.

Setting the shovel down, I flash the light and glance behind me warily. When nothing emerges, I set to digging the hole deeper until I hit something soft.

“Finally,” I mumble, dropping the shovel and grabbing the flashlight before shining it into the hole. Inside is a large duffel bag. When I pull it out, I peer inside with a gasp. There’s money in here. A lot of fucking money.

Holy shit.

Why did he leave it? Pushing the stacks aside, I find more fucking pictures and sigh before hefting the bag over my shoulder.

I have no use for blood money, but this is leverage, and I’ll take whatever I can fucking get.

∞∞∞

The only place I know to hide the cash is at my home. But Ben’s truck is in the drive, so I park down the street and doze until morning.

Around 7:30, my phone buzzes in the console. Picking it up, I find a message from Jig.

Where u at?

Is this playful Jig? I’m not sure whether to be annoyed or relieved that he left it this long, but one thing is for sure, I shouldn’t bring up his sister if I don’t want to be iced out again.

Alice: School

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