Page 112 of The Mastermind

I desperately wantedto see Audri and have our conversation, but I got a frantic call from Slash’s wife, Maria, saying he was dead.Dead.

I hoped it would be the last bad news I’d receive today.

I didn’t want to leave Audri and have her think I’d abandoned her or didn’t care. No one mattered more to me than her.

As I headed to my car, Grayson approached me. “My mom’s with Audri now.”

“Great. I’ll swing by after I get back.I have to go.”

“For fuck’s sake, what now?”

“Remember Slash?”

“How could I forget? What’s up?”

“He’s dead. His wife just called me. I need to see her. Maybe the past has caught up to him . . . to us.”

Grayson exchanged a knowing glance with me. Slash had given all of us boys a second change fifteen years ago.

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, you stay here. You have a lot of shit to take care of too. If you see Audri, can you let her know that I’ll be back? Actually,forget it. I’ll text her.” I opened the door to my car.

“She loves you, you know.”

“I know.”

“If you hurt her, best friend or not, I will kick your ass.”

“I know.” That was one reason I had stayed away from Audri for so long, not wanting to complicate my friendship with Grayson, but I couldn’t resist what my heart wanted. “I feel the same about her.”

“Have you told her?”

It was hard for me to say those words, but I was finding the courage to do so.

To keep her, I had to tell her the truth. “She’ll know soon.” I slid into my car.

Before I drove off, I sent Audri a text message.

R:Need to run out. BRB. Do you want me to bring you any food?

A:Ok. Anything is fine. I’m being discharged. Stop by my place.

R:(Smiley emoji) (Heart emoji)

* * *

I stoodwith Maria a block away from the destruction, watching the firefighters stop the flames from taking the other half of the restaurant. Her eyes were puffy, and her shoulders sagged, mimicking her soul.

Maria had returned to the restaurant from an errand when she found Slash slouched against the door with a gunshot wound in his chest. The fire had already started in the kitchen area. She tried to drag his body out of the restaurant, but he was too heavy. A passerby yanked her to safety right before the flames grew monstrous.

I didn’t know what to say to comfort Maria. Her husband was dead, and her business was in ashes.

Even though I didn’t know her well, her husband had given me something priceless. I never forgot that. In life, it was important to remember the good things people did for you because those gestures were few and far between. Slash had bent the rules to let me and my friends go. That action was monumental to me.

I always wondered what the consequences were for him. What loss did he take? Or rather, what punishment would he receive if his organization found out?

From what I gathered, Slash was part of a powerful and discreet organization, so secretive even my PI had trouble digging up information.

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