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Noelle just stares back at me, confused.
“Are you serious?” I ask. “You really think I should break into a Bratva don’s house and try to steal his son?”
“That’s why you were staying with him in the first place, is it not?”
I can’t believe these words are coming from the more level-headed, more rational of my two best friends.
“I was staying with him because I thought I could gather enough information on him to have him thrown in prison. I was going to let the authorities deal with him. Plus, he was paying me enough money to pay off my debts at the same time,” I admit. “But I was also only there because he threatened you and Ashley and my family. I would have left a lot sooner if I knew he wasn’t going to hurt you all.”
“But he is!” Noelle spits.
“What do you mean?”
She shakes her head. “It’s nothing. I’m just saying… I think you should consider making another try for Benjamin. That was the goal. He isn’t safe there.”
“I really think he is. I know Timofey’s world is dangerous, but he has so many resources. Benjamin is going to be really well taken care of there.”
“Well, that makes one of us,” Noelle blurts. She slams her drink down on the table so hard a bit of soda shoots out of the straw.
The girl working the front counter glances our way, and I smile back at her before I duck my head and hiss at Noelle. “What is going on with you? I was the one who wanted to meet and vent, but you’re acting weird. Is something wrong with—”
“Everything is great.” She shoves her half-eaten sandwich to the edge of the table and grabs her purse. “Everything is amazing. I’m peachy.”
She slides out of the booth, and I just watch her for a few stunned seconds. I haven’t eaten all day, and I really don’t want to leave my sandwich here. But I also can’t let Noelle storm out like this without figuring out what is going on.
I toss a five-dollar tip on the table and hurry after her. I run halfway down the block before I can grab her arm and pull her to a stop.
“Noelle,” I gasp, breathing heavily, “slow down. Where are you going?”
“Home. While I still have one.”
“What does that mean?”
She holds up a hand to quiet me. “Nothing, Piper. I’m just disappointed. I thought you were going to do the right thing and try to get that innocent little boy away from that monster you were shacking up with. But you must have Stockholm Syndrome or something. Because you are going to abandon him there.”
The words coming out of Noelle’s mouth are so absurd that I have to laugh. “Are you—You’re serious. I can tell you’re serious. But this doesn’t make any sense. You do understand I could die if I go back into Timofey’s house and try to kidnap his son, right?” I lean forward to catch Noelle’s eye, but she crosses her arms and looks away from me. “He could kill me. Literally, not figuratively. The fact that you don’t seem to care is honestly beyond me. I’m not sure when you started caring more about some baby you don’t know more than your own friend, but—”
“Around the time that my ‘friend’ ruined my life!” she yells.
The moment her anger peaks, it dissolves. She drops her face into her hands. Her shoulders shake with sobs.
I lay a hand on her shoulder. “Noelle? Noey, talk to me. What’s going on?”
When she looks up, her eyes are dry, but she looks haggard. I’m not sure how I didn’t see it before. She isn’t sporting her usual cat eyeliner and her hair is greasy. It looks like she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in days.
“Wayne and I are in a lot of trouble, Piper. A lot of trouble. And… it’s kind of your fault.”
97
PIPER
And it’s kind of your fault.
I’m baffled. “How did I get you and your boyfriend in trouble?”
“Because you got involved with Timofey Viktorov,” she explains. “You popped up in his life and his enemies started trying to figure out how to get to him.”
“The Albanians?” I guess with a creeping sense of dread.
