In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(114)
“How did you… What?” she wheezed, her hand pressed to her chest.
Mr. Espina gestured toward her recently vacated seat, and she managed the few steps back to the table and plopped down on the bench. Her knees had gone wobbly, and she knew she had to sit before she fell.
“As you said, you could’ve made it worse for my brother. I appreciate that you didn’t.”
Her stunned brain didn’t register the words for a minute. Confused, Jules stared at him. “Then why aren’t you helping me?”
“I am helping you.” He pulled out his cell phone and tapped at his screen. Even the way he did that screamed aggression. Jules’s cell chirped from her purse. Instead of checking the text, she kept her gaze fixed on Mr. Espina. “Call Dennis Lee. I just sent you his number. He’ll get you what you need to take your family…elsewhere.”
“Take?” she repeated, knowing that she sounded dazed. The conversation felt surreal.
“Ms. Young.” His gaze sharpened as he leaned forward slightly. It was the most engagement he’d shown for the entire meeting, and she mimicked his posture before she realized what she was doing. “Your brothers and sister are not in a good place. You need to fix that.”
“But…” Her voice lowered until barely any sound escaped. “Kidnapping?”
“Sometimes you have to trust what you feel in your gut to be right, even if others are telling you it’s wrong.”
The idea was overwhelming, terrifying, and wonderful, all at the same time. For years, through countless frustrating, futile, expensive custody battles, Jules had followed the rules. It had gotten her nowhere. Her siblings were still stuck in hell, and Jules was broke and desperate enough to work for criminals. Maybe it was time to change the rules. Maybe, if she started playing dirty, her family could win for once.
Maybe instead of working for criminals, she should become one.
“Ms. Young.” She was jerked out of her thoughts as Mr. Espina pushed a laptop case across the table toward her. Jules’s gaze bounced from the bag to his face and back again as she tried to figure out what he was doing. “In thanks for what you did for Luis. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s my brother, and I love him.”
“But…”
“Consider it a bonus that Luis never got around to giving you.” After dropping a few bills on the table, Mr. Espina picked up her crumpled ten and held it out to Jules. With numb fingers, she automatically accepted it. He slid from his seat and moved toward the exit. Jules stared at his back, too bewildered by the entire meeting to call after him. Instead, she watched as he walked out the door.
Refocusing on the laptop bag, she cautiously pulled it to her. It was lighter than she expected, and she lowered it to her lap before tugging open the heavy zipper. Inside was a bulky envelope.
Her teeth closing on the sore spot where she’d bitten the inside of her cheek earlier, Jules unfastened the clasp without taking the envelope out of the bag. The unsealed flap opened easily, and she tilted the envelope so that she could see inside.
Catching a glimpse of the contents, she restrained a gasp that would’ve carried through the bar and down the street. Instead, she made a small sound, part squeak and part sigh, touching the stacks of twenty-dollar bills with a disbelieving brush of her fingers.
Her heart was racing as thoughts ran through her mind, too quickly for her to make sense of any of them. The first thing she was able to grab hold of was the idea that she’d just been given a whole lot of money—most likely dirty money. Jules thought she’d accepted her decision to dive into a life of crime, but the sight of the cash shocked her.
I can’t keep the money, one part of her brain kept telling her. She barely knew Mr. Espina. For goodness sake, she still called him Mr. Espina. Who handed off stacks of cash like that to a near stranger?
Apparently, Mr. Espina did. She supposed that was one more thing she knew about Mr. Espina, then.
A hysterical giggle bubbled into her throat, threatening to escape. She swallowed, holding down the laughter that would only draw curious stares. Jules did not want any stares, curious or otherwise, right now—not when she was toting a bag full of dirty money.
Should she keep it? Could she keep it?
For her family? Yes. Yes, she could.
Mr. Espina’s words rang in her brain, cementing her resolve. She’d wasted enough time, left her siblings in that hellhole for too long. It was time to do what she had to do, no matter how badly it scared her.
She resealed the clasp and zipped the bag with hands that trembled even more than before. Jules was surprised her entire body wasn’t vibrating with nerves. Gathering the precious bag and her purse, Jules stood and hurried for the door as fast as she could go without looking like she was rushing to leave the bar with a bagful of money.
Once she was in her elderly Camry with the air conditioner running, the windows up, and the doors locked, she called the number Mr. Espina had texted her. Dennis Lee. Jules knew that if she didn’t contact him immediately, she would talk herself out of it.
As the line rang, Jules tapped a still-shaking finger against the steering wheel.
“This is Dennis.”
The smooth tone took her off guard. Maybe she’d been watching too many movies, but she’d expected a “disappearance expert” to answer the phone with a barked “What?!” or even just a surly grunt. Dennis sounded like a college professor answering a call in his office.