Page 142 of Cruel Lies

Or, conversely, who's to say that there aren'trealfeds who are trying to get after Ronan?

I can't say for sure. But it seems clear that somebody is looking.

And they got to Todd before they got to me.

"Questions about what?"

"About Akov." Todd's mouth twists as he says it. "They wanted to know how I found him, who introduced us, what he said, what I signed. Everything. They had copies of my retainer agreement, Cali. They knew things I never told anybody."

I don't say anything. I'm trying to stay rational and dispassionate, so that I don't lose my head here. But the more the pieces arrange themselves into a few very obvious conclusions, the less I like it. In fact, I hate it so much I want to slam the door and go back to bed and pretend none of this is happening.

But I don't. Because that's Old Cali, and Old Cali got eaten alive.

"Why are you telling me this?"

This is the part he came for.Because I need your help. You have to help me, I love you, you're the one that got away.Blah blah fucking blah. I'm braced for it, because if there's one thing Todd knows how to do, it's make everything revolve around him.

He doesn't do that, though.

Instead, he says the worst thing possible.

"Because your name came up."

I nearly drop the knife.

"They asked about you," Todd continues. The words start to come faster, tumbling out, like he's been holding them behind his teeth for days, weeks. "They know you built a tool that can find things no one else can find. And they know Akov's been circling you."

"They said that?" I ask. "'Circling'?"

He shrugs helplessly. "They didn't have to say it in those words. But that's what they meant. Cali, listen to me. They laid out the important part pretty clearly, and it paints you in one of two ways." He holds up a finger. "One, you're a victim. Some poor, innocent woman whose ex sent her to a mob lawyer, and now, she's tangled up in something she doesn't understand. If she's smart, she flips and helps them and they go easy on her in the aftermath." He holds up a second finger. It's quivering. "Or number two. You'reinit. You're a participant. You built the machine that moves the money, or hides it, or finds it, and that makes you as guilty as Akov. And if that's the case, then they'll squeeze you until you break."

I stare at him.

"Th-that's insane," I stammer. "I work insupply chain fraud,for God's sake. I've never touched Ronan's money! I didn't even know about the— I found out an hour ago. I have never?—"

"I know." He reaches out to placate me, but I back away because I do not want to be touched. "Iknowthat, Cali. But it doesn't matter what's true. That's what I'm trying to tell you. They're feds, and the truth is irrelevant to them. They want bad guys in jail and they aren't picky about which ones or how they get them. So the only thing that matters is what kind of story they can build. Right now, they can build either one. The one they pick depends on who talks to them first and what they say."

I look down at the knife in my hand.

Just a few minutes ago, I heard a knock and grabbed a blade and got ready to fight for my life. I stood in my own hallway certain that someone had come to make me disappear. I thought it was Ronan's people. It never once occurred to me that there was awhole other set of hunters out there, ones with badges instead of guns, and that they already had me in their sights.

People vanish over this.That's what I thought upstairs.People like me.

I didn't know the half of it.

"Why are you here, Todd?" I ask again, because I truly want to know. "You hate me. You wanted to take everything from me. Why on God's green earth would you drag yourself over here at nine in the morning to warn me?"

He looks down at his shoes. They're the good ones, the Italian ones, but they're scuffed to hell.

"Because they're going to come for the kids, too," he croaks. "Not to— not like that. But if this thing goes the way it can go, it splashes on everybody standing close. I've done enough to them already." He looks up. I'm shocked to see his eyes are wet and red-rimmed. "I stole from their mother. I lied to them. I was going to take them just to hurt you. I know what I am, Cali. I've had a lot of time to sit with it lately. Nobody wants to have a drink with me. Nobody returns my calls. Paula won't look at me. It's very lonely, being me right now. Gives a man a lot of time to think."

I don't say anything. There's nothing in me that wants to comfort him, and I'm not going to pretend there is.

"I can't fix any of that," he says. "But I could tell you this. So at least you'd have a head start. If it all goes bad, at least our kids can say their mother saw it coming." He wipes his face with the back of his hand, embarrassed by his display of emotion. "That's it. There's no angle. Honestly, I don't have anything left to angle for."

Against all odds, no matter how sick it makes me… I believe him.

I don't like him.