“What?” Aiden growls.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Carlo shouts.
Dax explains. “When Franz is done questioning her, he’ll have his men break her in and then he’ll send Jules to Hanson’s to work as one of his whores.”
“Fuck! No fucking way!” Aiden bellows.
Carlo shakes his head, muttering all the while. “Half those girls are strung out. Franz and Hanson own them. They pay them inlines of coke and heroin wraps. Is that what he means? Is that what they are planning to do?”
“No one is going to do anything,” Dax insists.
“You are all missing the fucking point!” I yell over the top of them. “He. Traded. Something! Eric Feelan doesn’t have anything of value, so what has he given them? Information? Gresh told him you were at the bar, so they know about that. Can they take the bar from Carlo?”
“Yes. Force him to give it up or get rid of him and forge the paperwork,” Aiden agrees.
Could that be it? “Okay, but property isn’t…it doesn’t guarantee Carlo will hand the kids over.”
“No, but property is what this war is all about. Diverprop wants Harrison, Vale and all. One more property in its portfolio might not sound like much to you, but it’s another square on the chessboard for Franz.”
“Still, it doesn’t feel like enough, and Eric can’t ‘sell’ that…” My mind stumbles over anything that might seem worth trading, but nothing fits. Not the information he has or the access to my schedule or the places Mum and the kids might hide…wait, Dad knew all about Carlo. He knew Mum’s secret mobile number and where she would be…Could he know this address? Could they be coming here next? “Mum, didn’t you say Dad threatened you while you were staying here?”
“He’s not your father!” Carlo barks.
“Yes, he said he’d kill us all,” Mum confirms, ignoring Carlo’s outburst.
“Then he knows this address,” I assert, staring helplessly from Aiden to Dax.
Aiden steps forward and lifts Casey from the window. He pops her onto his hip and smiles at the boys. “Ten-hut!” The boys jump down and stand at attention. They are tired and a little uncoordinated after today at the zoo, but I suspect there is nothing they wouldn’t do if Aiden asked. “I’m taking the kids to the car. Youand Mara grab anything you might need and meet me out there.”
“What are you thinking?” Carlo asks.
Dax sighs hard and fills us in as Aiden wrangles the kids. “We’re taking you into protective custody. We’d hoped for more time. We wanted to talk to you and give you the choice, but Jules is right. He sold them information. He didn’t have Jules to hand over, so he gave them the next best thing. This address, the bar, the girls. Look, it doesn’t matter what he gave them. Either way, men are coming. We all need to leave now.”
Mum grabs her purse and shoots to her feet. She follows Aiden out to the minivan and helps him strap the kids in. Carlo bounds up the stairs, three at a time. I watch from the doorway unsure what I do now.
Aiden races back in and shouts upstairs to Carlo. “Blankets?”
“Cupboard at the top of the stairs! Jules?”
Aiden dashes up the stairs three at a time.
“Yeah, Cue-ball?”
“Kitchen cupboard over the oven, get out the coffee container tucked in the corner. Use a stool if you have to.”
“Got it.” I run to the kitchen and drag a stool over to the cupboard. Everything is so tidy and huge. The fitted cabinets are top-of-the-range and the appliances gleam. I try not to get distracted but see touches of my mum’s influence everywhere. Have they been building this home together? When were they planning on making the move?
I reach into the cupboard and pull down the can. I can’t stop myself from pulling up the plastic lid and spying inside. After all, who takes coffee with them when they go on the run?
Fuck. My family are going on the run, and it is all my fault.
The can holds rolls of cash. More than I’ve ever seen, even after cashing the tills at the end of a busy night working the bar. I dart back out, snapping the plastic lid back on securely, and hand the can to Carlo, who waits for me at the bottom of the stairs.
“Do you have everything you need, kid?”
“Do I…?” Is he suggesting I go with them?
Dax steps forward; a refuse sacks full of the kid’s belongings in his hand. “Jules stays, Carlo.”
