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I ignored his question. There were places I wasn’t willing to go yet.
“Have your guys meet me in New York on Saturday. I’ll text you the address.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll try to call one more time, to talk to Lilly and Ma, but I can’t guarantee it. Gabriel, if anything happens—”
“Nothing’s going to happen. You’ve spent weeks planning this. I’ve got your back. I’ll take care of it.”
“Sure, but just... Noemi...”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her, too.”
We hung up. It was the first time in my life that I had doubts about what I was doing. Not whether Bailey deserved it. Not whether I could accomplish it, but whether I had made the right decision to leave her. Maybe she was right. We could run off together. I could buy us a fucking island like Michael had. We could build on, live our own lives. I had enough money to turn it into our own tropical paradise. Fuck. We didn’t have to ever surface again... if it weren’t for the other people in our lives.
Ma. She was starting to have health problems. She still had years left in her, but she wouldn’t live forever. I couldn’t disappear for years. It’d break her heart. And mine.
And Lilly. She was immature and spoiled, but she was fun, and light-hearted. When I came home from doing things good men don’t do, Lilly’s smile was one of the things I looked forward to the most.
And Gabriel - the best friend a man could have when he was otherwise friendless. I owed him after this, and I couldn’t repay him by permanently dropping off the face of the earth.
Then there was Willis. I’d be fine if I never saw him again, but I couldn’t ask Noemi to give up her best friends either. If she couldn’t see Lilly or Willis, she’d lose another piece of herself. I’d always be there to pick up the shattered pieces, but she wouldn’t be the same. I couldn’t do that to her. I’d already done enough.
Gabriel was right. I missed her. I put this plan together in half the time it usually took me because it was the only thing that kept me from thinking about her. I couldn’t sleep. I only ate because I had to. A year without her would kill me. Fuck.
I was wrong. The whole damn situation was wrong.
I picked up my phone and hit redial.
When he answered, I didn’t wait for him to speak. “Listen to me and don’t argue. I have a change of plans.”
***
THE FAT FRAUD WALKEDinto the garage like he owned the fucking place.
“Nice,” he sneered, looking around at the machinery, tires and cars like a working man’s life was beneath him. Bailey glared at Willis. “This was the best you could come up with?”
Willis played it cool like he always did.
“Does the atmosphere really matter?” he said as he shrugged.
Bailey stopped a few feet away from us. “No. But a man’s word does. Who the fuck is that?” He jerked his head in my direction.
“Nobody,” Willis said, pushing away from the large toolbox he had been leaning on. “Who the fuck are the four guys you have surrounding the place? You agreed to come alone.”
Bailey shook his head. “I’ve been doing this longer than you have, kid. Never, ever, go anyplace alone.”
“Good advice,” Willis winked at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.
I nodded but kept my eyes on Bailey. He wasn’t armed, but the men outside were. Heavily armed from what Gabriel’s men whispered in my earpiece.
Bailey threw up his hands. “Fine. You have your guy; I have mine.”
“You have four,” Willis pointed out.
“It’s just a number. Besides, we’re just here to talk, remember? So, what does it matter who I brought with me?”
“It matters,” I said quietly, “because it means you’re not a man of your word.”
