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Part of me thinks maybe he’s glad that Julian is dead and his business has been disrupted. Maybe part of being in a position like he is as an FBI agent means picking the lesser of two evils sometimes. And compared to Julian and all the shit he was up to, the Kings and I are definitely the lesser evil.
“We need to be careful where he’s concerned,” Gage is saying, drawing my attention back to him. “He’s poking around a lot, and I definitely get the feeling he knows more than he’s letting on.”
Priest nods. “He doesn’t seem like an immediate threat, but we should be watchful.”
“And if he becomes a threat…” Knox cracks his knuckles ominously and grins.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I tell him. “I think trying to cover up offing an FBI agent would be a big thing. And we’ve got enough on our plates right now.”
“Exactly,” Gage agrees. “Speaking of which, we should go pick up Cody.”
We get ready and head out, getting in the car to make the drive to the school Julian shipped Cody off to.
It’s hard to know how to feel now that we’re on the way, but I try to shove those mixed feelings down. I’ve killed two of the Maduro men now, and I hope that has interrupted the cycle of them turning into cruel, manipulative assholes. Without Julian’s influence, hopefully that won’t happen to Cody. I’ll make sure he doesn’t end up like that.
He deserves better than that, and Hannah deserves better than to have her son, who she cared so much about, turn into someone like Julian or Lorenzo. Both men who abused her and treated her like shit.
Having Cody be happy with Hannah would have been the best thing, but having him safe with me is the next best plan, and it makes me happy to think about it.
Getting vengeance, ruining Julian’s empire, and taking his money is one thing. But this is the true thing I was doing for Hannah. Protecting her son. That overrides any weird feelings I might have about all of this because that’s what it’s about. It’s about helping Hannah rest in peace, knowing her son is okay.
We reach the school where Cody is, and it’s a big, sprawling campus.
Ash lets out a low whistle, glancing around. “This is a swanky place. I guess at least Julian didn’t ship his kid off to some shit hole.”
“He wouldn’t have,” I tell him. “Because that would have looked bad on him. He had to make sure his son was somewhere nice if he wasn’t going to look after him himself.”
We get ready to get out so we can go inside and look for the kid, talking about maybe splitting up to cover more ground. Ash points out that of all of us, I’m the only one Cody really knows, so it’s probably better for him to see me there than one of the guys, who are all still strangers to him for the moment.
It feels weird to be the one Cody knows, but it’s a good point.
Before we can get out of the car, we see two figures come striding down the lawn, moving quickly.
One of them looks like a woman, walking briskly, with a child behind her. As they get closer, it’s clear the woman is almost dragging the kid along, trying to get him to walk faster and keep up with her.
Then they get close enough for us to see their faces, and my heart stops.
It’s Natalie.
She beat us here. And she’s trying to take Cody away.
