The Fall(49)

I fought the urge to tell him he was wrong, that he had no part in his mother’s death, but I didn’t. Partly because I knew that no matter what I said, it wouldn’t change what he thought, and because I felt like that was a scab I wasn’t ready to lift.

“Do you know who she was?”

“I know enough.”

And just like that he shut down, the conversation about his mother finishing before it even really began.

Small steps but progress nonetheless.

His eyes stayed on me, waiting for me to say something else. Like he knew I wasn’t done. But I surprised us both by not pushing it further.

“Well, goodnight.” I rolled onto my side, my words so benign they were almost ridiculous.

“Goodnight.” I felt his body shift on the mattress but he didn’t move closer. “It’s going to be okay,” his voice rasped, softer than it ever had been. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Something had changed that night. Whether he chose to admit it or not. When this all ended—and it would eventually end—both of us would be walking away different people.

Both better and worse.





I wasn’t sure what was more surprising.

That she’d found me or that she’d dragged my ass back here. We both knew that if the roles had been reversed, I would have been long gone. Taken my chances and tried to make it to the border. I still wasn’t entirely sure I knew why she hadn’t. The cross around her neck probably was a clue. Like maybe saving me would give her extra credit for an afterlife that didn’t exist.

She didn’t move, her body coiled on its side facing away from me, but I could tell she wasn’t asleep. She was analyzing the situation just as I was; knowing that sooner or later our lucky number was going to be up.

Franco wasn’t the kind of man who just left unfinished business. And if he hadn’t been watching the whole thing unfold from a distance, I’d be very surprised. Which meant he probably knew exactly where we were.

She should have left me.

Whatever had been pumped into me was slowly wearing off, my head starting to gain the clarity it missed after the many hours I’d been out. Unfortunately, my recollection of those hours was still sketchy.

I remembered getting hit; the goose egg at the back of my head was a nice souvenir. But after that it was a bunch of not-really-sure, the mental piece-by-piece probably not going to happen either.

No bones felt broken, so I assumed it had just been drugs. Smart really. I’d taken beat downs in the past and they’d achieved jack shit. It would take more than a ball peen hammer crushing my hand to make me sing. Been there, done that and my left hand still had the kink at the top where the bones hadn’t mended right.

Nope, Franco and his crew were more efficient than that, and probably figured they’d save themselves the time and energy. Just shoot me up with what felt like enough sedatives to tranquilize a horse, and hope I hallucinated into opening my mouth.

Desperation will make you do stupid things.

And Franco didn’t like losing.

I didn’t want to sleep, needing to keep alert in case shit went down, but biology took over and the next thing I remembered was waking up alone.

Sofia was gone, the bed beside me empty as I sat up and looked around. The dull thumping at the back of my head reminding me it hadn’t all been a dream.

“Hey, I thought you might be able to eat.” She waltzed in, her hair wet from a shower I hadn’t heard her take. “This stuff is pretty nasty, but if you are hungry enough it will suffice.” She held out a steaming brown bag of Beef Stroganoff. “If you eat all of that I’ll let you have the M&Ms as well.” She grinned, shaking a smaller bag in her other hand.

“I must have hit my head a little harder than I recall, because last I remembered, I was telling you what to do.” I took the MRE and started to chow down. “And if you are going to stand between me and M&Ms, I hope you have more than just a smile to back you up.”

“Oh good, you’re back to being an ass again.” She sat down beside me, her smile widening. “Looks like you are going to live after all.”

“Looks like it,” I mumbled between bites. “But all jokes aside, Sofia, this isn’t a game.”

She might have woken up with a positive disposition, but absolutely zero had changed between last night and this morning. The hailstorm of shit was still going to rain down on us; it was just a matter of when.

“I know.” She nodded, her smile fading a little. “And I was thinking about that.” She took a deep breath. “I know you aren’t going to like it, but I need to go public. The things on that drive, they would assist federal prosecutions. It would lock lots of men away.”

Clearly, we both had varying ideas about what keeping alive would actually entail i.e. getting the f*ck out of Dodge and keeping her mouth shut.

“Firstly, I’ve never been a rat and I sure as shit ain’t starting now. So, if your plan is to go live on CNN, forget it.” I turned and faced her. “And secondly, I may not have a fancy education like you do, but I am assuming the reason you hadn’t gone public yet is because you didn’t have enough shit for an actual conviction.” Her face paled as I spoke. “Close enough only counts in teenage sex, and DAs aren’t going to waste their time or reputations on it sorta looks bad. Don’t kid yourself, sweetheart. Those men you are so keen on locking up have deep enough pockets to bury all of that and you unless your evidence is rock solid.”