Page 74 of Help Me Remember

“I made my own decisions. You don’t—”

“What, have to ‘ruin’ my life for you? I’m not because I ruined it long ago, and now I finally have to pay for it.”

“And hers?”

“That’s her choice.”

Eric drew himself up, and I could see the stubborn set of his jaw. “Or I could deny the version you two tell. I could tell the truth. What then?”

To my surprise, it was Ana who spoke up. “And what, get yourself locked up, cast suspicion on me when I’m going to be the one who could help look into Patterson? Possibly go to prison along with Dylan…Riley, whatever, here? You can barely look at him right now, and you’re still willing to go to prison for him?”

“You’re really going to say yes to this blackmail?” Eric demanded.

“Call it blackmail if you want, but if all I get blackmailed into is helping someone who’s not very good at making decisions, but for the right reasons, and bringing a freaking crime lord in, then I can accept it,” she said, though I could still hear that it pained her to admit it. Whether it was because I was using force or because she agreed despite whatever principles she held, I didn’t know.

“That’s…” Eric began but faltered, and I watched the fire in his eyes fade.

“The truth,” she told him with a shrug. Ana then looked at me, grimacing. “You sure?”

“Did anything I said make you think I wasn’t? Do we have a deal?”

“Fine, then I guess we have—”

Ana stopped, her body language and face positively screaming alarm and surprise as she looked past me. Turning around in my seat, I saw the group of men filing up behind us. They were all dressed reasonably nicely, save for one who stepped forward, wearing only a shirt and jeans.

“This is all very sweet,” Patterson began, looking over the three of us. “But I’m going to have to stop you there.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Eric was the first to react, pushing himself up. “Motherfucker.”

The four men with Patterson all reacted, their hands shifting toward their waists. I reached out, grabbing hold of Eric and pulling him down into his seat before he set them off further. We had both seen enough of these men to know they were more than happy to pull the trigger on either of us if it came down to it. Yet we were still alive because they wanted something from us, even if they were still willing to kill us.

“Matt?” Ana asked, standing up slowly, her eyes sweeping around the group, which began to spread out.

I recognized immediately they were trying to cut us off, making it harder for me to reposition myself if I tried anything. Between two of them, I could see the woman who worked at the sandwich place making herself scarce. I had no idea what this situation looked like to her, but she clearly sensed danger and was getting away. I sincerely hoped she had enough sense to get far away rather than just hide.

Patterson looked at Ana and winced. “Ana, I was hoping you wouldn’t be stupid enough to go looking for trouble. I believed you were smarter than that or at least too noble to go vigilante.”

“That’s not…not what I was trying to do,” Ana said, looking at the suited men around Patterson.

“I know,” he said, reaching into his pocket, drawing out a cell phone, and wiggling it at her. “I could hear everything.”

Startled, Ana drew out her own phone and looked it over in confusion. “What, but…you bugged my phone?”

Patterson shrugged. “I didn’t exactly have a lot of options. These two managed to get away when I was supposed to be the one handing them over, so I had to find them. They seemed taken with you, and given how personally you took their escape, I thought it might be worth keeping an eye on you. But well, like I said, I wasn’t expecting you to go out of your way to hunt them down.”

“If you were listening, you know damn well that’s not what I did,” she growled, pointing at him with her phone. “I know what he said, but damn it, Matt, I didn’t want to believe it.”

I didn’t know if I wanted to give the man any credit, but he at least had the decency to look uncomfortable. “You weren’t supposed to get in the middle of all this, you know.”

She snorted. “You mean I wasn’t supposed to find out you were on the take.”

I saw the annoyed twitch and resisted the urge to applaud her for getting right to the soft spot. “That too. Then again, none of this was supposed to go like it has, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

“Oh no! The corrupt cop has had a hard time because his Mafia handlers are grumpy with him,” Eric sneered from beside me.

“You need to think very carefully about what comes out of your mouth, considering it’s only him we need,” Patterson told Eric while gesturing toward me. “You’re currently only alive because they think you might be useful.”

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