That didn’t make anything better. In fact, the fork was trembling in her hand now. “And you’re Russian?” It was a half-question, half-statement, as if she already knew the answer.
And I already knew what she was going to say next.
Nobody moved. All three of us sat there quietly and watched her cheeks turn crimson until the little dessert fork clattered loudly on her plate, and Jade leaned back on her chair, her eyes wide and full of mild panic.
“I know who you are.”
There it was—out in the open now.
“I know who you are very well!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God! You’re The Nightcrawlers!”
Jade’s eyes were on fire and she was smiling, but also very visibly flustered, neither of which gave me any peace.
"The what?" Andrei and I spoke over each other, hungry for more details.
“The Nightcrawlers!” she repeated the odd word, and pointed to both of us, speaking with energy. “That's your nickname. Because no one knows your names and what you two look like, and—and every car you take vanishes without a trace!”
I’d never seen Jade this animated. Her hands shook and she looked between us, trying to get all the information out. “It’s also very difficult to catch the men who do it—no one has really caught them on camera either. Until recently.”
Jadetransformed.I’d seen it before—the way she could go from relaxed to meaning business in three seconds, but this was earthshattering.
“Everything began to change for you. Just recently, right? Did you send your shipment earlier as planned?"
And with this little unexpected remark, my heart skipped a beat. Neither Andrei nor I could respond. We both just stared at her, the understanding that she knew way more than we had ever anticipated trickling in like honey into a bowl.
It was impossible for Jade to hide how strongly this information had affected her. She was shaken, looking around the table as if there would be some remedy to whatever calamity was unfolding in her mind.
"Oh my God, why thefuckdidn't you tell me earlier?!" Jade slammed her palm on the table, her eyes blazing with accusation.
"Why the hell would we tell you?!” Andrei exploded at her. “Do you recognize how messed up this whole situation is now?" He turned to me, ready to rip me apart, but Olga placed her hand on his, stilling his anger.
"Alright. Let's just start from the beginning here." Olga was his voice of calm and reason. "Jade, why don't you tell us what's on your mind?”
I was breaking out in nervous sweat. Jade wasn't just kidnapped leverage. I was in love with her, and that wasbulldozing through every smidgeon of logic I possessed, but her reaction was stirring wild turmoil inside me.
"You two are really out of your element," Jade began urgently. "You kidnapped me to put pressure on my dad to stop investigating?" she asked the obvious, and both Andrei and I nodded like bobbleheads. "It's too late for that. Maybe a few months ago, it would've worked but...he's too close now."
"What are you talking about?" Andrei pretended like he wasn't shitting his pants from the information she was telling us.
Jade chewed her lip, evidently trying to calculate her options. I waited. We all waited silently, all of us descending into hell in our own minds.
"I need...I need to think about what to do," Jade admitted quietly after a few minutes of all of us looking at each other. "The problem is...if I tell you what I know and you act on it, my father will figure out you’re the ones who have me. And either you've tortured me for the information, and I may be dead or...we've had this conversation over dinner.”
Jade’s eyes sparkled with fear, just like the first time I saw her. Just like the time at lunch. Just like that time we made the video. Every time her father was mentioned, Jade was visibly distraught.
“But my father knows you're not the torturing types. We've all talked about you guys at length.” Jade looked at me, an apology shining in her eyes. “Dissected and analyzed all your actions and your past. So, he’ll know it's the latter, and then he’ll just continue on his way. And you’ll be arrested. The timeline’s about two months out. He’s just waiting for a few crucial details."
Jade dropped a bomb on all of us.
Andrei and I sat in silence, both realizing we had grossly underestimated Sebastian Moretti.
"T-two months out?" Olga asked, now looking just as disturbed as Jade. "Until they get arrested?"
"Yes." Jade nodded slowly, looking only at me. "He almost has you."
Quietly, Jade annihilated all our worlds with one simple sentence.
19
