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It’s not what I expected to say, but it’s the truth.
“Then get on your goddamned knees and learn to beg for forgiveness,” he growls, pulling out a gun.
“Why do you all have guns?!” I yell, my hands shaking as my chest heaves. Damn, even my stomach hurts staring down the barrel of his gun.
“That’s what the mafia is like,” he says, shrugging. “As I said, you’re fucking with the wrong family and I’m the more cool-headed of them all. Liliana? She’d enjoy making you watch her remove your skin slowly and painfully. We don’t fuck around, and you’re treading heavily on my patience.”
“I didn’t know she’d be here,” I confess. “Coach wanted to see me and it’s a small fucking town, sir. I’m leaving. As soon as I graduate, I’m out of here. The only thing that’ll change that is breaking something I’ll need to play hockey.”
“I bet you won’t need your dick to do that,” he says viciously. “Leave Noor alone and tell your friends to do the same.”
He doesn’t give me time to say anything before he makes the gun disappear and he returns to looking like a respectable business man in a very expensive suit.
They’re all fucking criminals.
“Dad?” a deep voice asks from around the corner.
Ignacio’s father places a finger on his lips before he turns and walks out of the alley as if he just happened to decide that he needed to take a detour. I wait a few seconds before I pull out my phone and keys, my feet already moving to get me the hell out of here.
Me
I have news. Meet at my house as soon as possible.
The message is sent to the group chat I have with Draven and Ci. I need to get home to work on some homework, and there's not a hockey practice today. Coach said we should take the weekend off. It’s well needed with how hard we’ve been working, and I’ll still get a run in tonight.
Maybe I can convince Draven and Ci to go with me and then spend the night. Ci spent the morning at the library to get some schoolwork done, and he’s unofficially moved in with me. His parents aren’t stable enough to take care of a dog, much less their son.
Come to think of it, Noor’s home life as a kid mirrors Ci’s in many ways. I think he might hate the fact that in another life, they could have been friends. I’ve even heard the jealousy in his voice when he talks about Noor and her foster family.
It’s not every day you’re held at gunpoint after breakfast. Fuck me. How is this my life?
Blowing out a breath, I leave the alley to hear Ignacio’s father speaking to Noor.
“Hey, do you remember how I told you to hold out on your high school degree? I rescind that suggestion. Get your GED, mija.”
The thing is he’s not speaking loudly. They’re parked where I’m passing by, which gives me a front row seat to their conversation.
“Really, Emil?” she asks excitedly.
Fuck me. I suppose we’ve made high school truly unpalatable for her, and now she can’t even attend in person. There’s no reason for her not to get her GED and be done with us.
Emil just checkmated me. There will be no reason for me to see her if she won’t even be our team’s mascot.
Emil’s heavy gaze feels as if it’s searing my skin, and I glance over my shoulder as I cross the street toward my car. He’s hugging Noor as he sneers in my direction. Ignacio notices his father’s mood, and turns around to find what he’s looking at.
Ducking my head down, I lose all my pride and book it to my car. Noor hit the lottery with her foster family.
They’re fucking scary.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWO WEEKS LATER
NOOR
Sitting on a stool, I chew on my bottom lip as I listen to the painting tutorial on my laptop. I took Emil’s suggestion to take the GED exam, and pushed everything else off my schedule outside of art classes to study.
