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But here we were.
So while Chase and I were brought up in very similar upbringings, we had different needs. While he craved the respect of The Brotherhood, I craved freedom.
“I don’t know how to explain it to you, man,” I said. All the money and shit meant nothing if it could be taken away just like that. I didn’t even see it as mine.
They owned me.
And I had to keep playing monkey for The Brotherhood and keep doing what they said so they didn’t come for my businesses.
Meanwhile, I wanted something that was solely mine and that no one could take away. And at forty years old, I was ready to do just about anything to get it.
Even disappear.
“I don’t want the position,” I told Chase again. “I don’t want to stress, and I don’t want the cops on my ass. So, if you have any news about the murder of Ramoni, let me know. But if you’re calling about this bullshit again, I really will kick your ass the next time I see you.”
“Alright, alright, jeez, I was just checking in.” Chase sounded amused, so I knew I had soothed whatever anxiety was driving him to call me up. I hung up the phone with a shake of my head and drove into my condo.
I had several homes in Pennsylvania alone, but when I needed to think, I drove up to this one, a little cabin on the hill near the backwoods of the city. I thought about going for a run once I was there, but instead, I went into my home gym, deciding to indulge in a boxing session instead.
About an hour in, I was interrupted by another phone call.
“I’m not done yet,” Ansel said by way of greeting. “But I found something that might be of interest to you.”
“What is it?”
“The woman spent some time in juvie,” he said. “It seemed to have been wiped from her records, but I was able to dig it up from old databases.”
How unexpected.I paused, cracking my neck. “Well, that’s interesting.”
“Yeah.”
“What did she go in for?”
“Theft,” he said. “She was working at this hardware store and stole from them for a year straight before anyone caught on.”
That was even more interesting. “Alright, sounds good. Keep digging.”
“Roger.”
I thought about it. I knew she was hiding something, but I never thought it would be this. She looked so clean and prim and proper, almost a goody two shoes. Was she overcompensating for her criminal record? Did she care about it? Would it be something she wanted to hide?
And even better, could I use it to my advantage?
One thing was for sure, though.
Emily Jane was even more of a mystery than I thought.
7
EMILY
I distinctly remembered the day I got myself into all this mess. The day I realized my father’s handsome friend was, in fact, a violent and cruel man. A murderer.
It had been a few seconds from sitting in a jail cell myself.
I was crying my eyes out in the interrogation room, trying to convince my then-boyfriend, Angel, that I didn’t commit the crime he was accusing me of.
An hour before that, I’d poured my heart out to him and told him of my past with the Morano brothers, thinking he would help me. The Moranos were now breaking into my home, so I’d immediately gone to Angel to report it, believing at the time that I was doing the right thing.
