A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(56)

She half turned my way, stopped, thought about it, and her head turned the rest of the way.

I felt better, seeing her eyes on me. I felt even better seeing there was no condemnation there. Just curiosity. “She killed herself. I was in California at the time, but my sister was here. She was a freshman in high school, and it messed her up.”

“Why’d she do it?”

“She didn’t leave a note, but my guess—my dad fucked up enough, and she’d just had it? He’s a piece of work, if your report didn’t have that either.”

“It did about your dad, not about your mom. Or your sister.”

“Remmi. She won’t talk about those days. No one will, so I don’t really know myself what happened. I knew my mom was torn down by my father. Every year, every month, every day. She was a shell of herself by the end, and not in a good way. She was bitter, angry. I got my fair share of phone calls taking her anger out on me. I can’t imagine what Remmi went through.”

“Are you sharing that thinking I’ll feel even more of a connection to you?”

“I’m saying that I have some awareness of how shitty it is to get woken up to a phone call from a mother abusing her child. That’s all.”

She didn’t reply, only staring hard at me until I felt a shift in the air.

A wall split open for me.

“My mom’s mistake was choosing my dad, but if she hadn’t, then my brother wouldn’t have been born and . . . I can’t fault her for that. What happens after is whatever happens after.”

“She had you too.”

Her head lifted again, her jaw firmed. She reached for the door handle. “Yeah, well. Maybe that was her other mistake.” She opened the door and was gone, not bothering to shut the door.

I got out, looking up and down both sidewalks, but she was truly gone. A ghost.

“Your uncle just called. He wants to know where we are.” Demetri had gotten out behind me, going to shut her door.

I nodded, resignation taking place in me. “Tell him we’re coming now.”

I got back inside, readying for this meeting, but I did not miss what just happened. Something that had changed the game.

Jess had come to me.





CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE


JESS


Kelly was off.

The moving had started this week. Most of her stuff was gone. Her clothes went on Tuesday. Her kitchen items, her photos went on Wednesday. Her bed and couch went yesterday. She didn’t have much else at the place. But considering they were doing the move, I thought she’d talk more with me than she had. She’d been quiet all week. It had me wondering if Justin had said something about seeing me with Trace. Either way, I was working at Katya and keeping my eye on him in the section next to me.

So far, he was normal. He gave a chin lift to me in greeting and came over, shooting some small talk bullshit before the first wave of customers came in. We had some breathing room today, but that’d only last for one more hour, and it would be customer after customer after that.

Maybe that was why he came over ten minutes later, leaning with his back to the counter, watching me work. “So . . . can we talk?”

Here it was.

I gave him a small nod. “Sure. Here?”

“Yeah. I mean.” He gestured behind him and toward his section. “Both of us can’t leave.”

I knew so I kept working, casting him a sideways look. “This about last weekend?”

“Um.” He drew in a breath, raking his hand through his hair. He stood up but moved closer to me. “Listen, I know who you left with.”

Right. This was the talk. For a brief moment, I’d hoped it was about him taking my roommate from me.

I was still eyeing him, still working. “Yeah?”

“I’m aware of who he is, you know. Our families . . . there’s a connection there, and I figured out what Viv did. She never told me, but she used me to try and get in with Walden.”

“Right. Okay.” I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“My, uh, brother, you know what he does.”

I stopped taking orders and straightened up.

So did Justin, putting a little bit of distance between us, but not much. He indicated farther back so the customers couldn’t overhear. I went, and he dropped his voice, his head bending toward mine. “I don’t know the reason why a West would be giving you a ride back to the city, or why you lied to Kelly about it, but I can only imagine, and I’m hoping I’m getting all of that wrong. I did talk to my brother more about West and Walden. Look, all cards on the table? I mentioned this job to him, and he said if I happened to overhear anything, let him know. That was it. I’m not here snitching for him. I don’t want you thinking that.”

It was more alarming that he was explaining he wasn’t a snitch to me.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is that I don’t have a good feeling here anymore. Tonight’s my last night. So’s Kelly’s. I had a long talk with her about who the owners were, but I kept it quiet about who your ride was with last Saturday, though I’m not sure why I should keep that quiet. Since you’re the one who lied, and since you’ve always been up and up, I’m assuming you had your reasons. My brother told me that there’s another family trying to move in on New York. That means they’re going against our bosses, both of them. I don’t know the specifics of how involved our owners are with their families, but I know they are involved. That’s enough to worry me. I want you to resign with us. All of us can go somewhere else. Kelly would love that. She’s been upset all week, thinking about leaving you behind. It’s double since she’s moving out and now quitting here. I know someone at Octavia. They can put in a good word for us—”