AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t think you can take out Peabody. I don’t think he can know you know.”
“Not my—”
“Don’t give me jurisdiction crap. If this is trafficking, then it’s a big operation. It always is. It’s not just one person doing it. There’s going to be a network and to get to the root of it, the people behind it, you have to be careful. Take out Peabody, send him a message, then you’ll alert whoever it is.”
I turn, and she’s dressed. I can see her nipples through the thin T-shirt. I scowl. “I’m trying real fuckin’ hard not to let you go out in that.”
“You’re not the boss of me and where am I going?”
That’s the bitter pill, isn’t it? I’m not. She’s not mine, I’m not hers no matter what the heart might think. “You’re right, about Peabody. But you can’t . . . you can’t take matters into your own hands.”
“Are you going, Diego?” she asks after a short pause.
The bed’s between us. It might as well be an ocean.
“Yeah,” I say, “I think I am.”
“I can’t ask you to stay.” The choked sound in her voice kills.
“You have a life, so do I.”
Her hand curl into fists. “Are you going to ask me?”
“No.”
Nadia looks at me like I hit her, and she nods. “You should go, Diego. Now. It’s better this way. Get Tizio or Nicolo to call when it’s time to get Jay.”
I’m about to say I meant no because it’s futile, I already know her answer. But I don’t. Instead, I pull on my boots and grab my jacket.
She follows me to the edge of the hall. “Diego?”
I look at her.
“Go see your father before you go.”
A bitter smile rises. “Because I owe him?”
“No. You owe yourself.”
* * *
The ride out to the old place is slow, mainly because I ride well under the speed limit.
Last thing I want is to see the old man, how he’s deteriorated. I send him money, isn’t that enough? If I knew where my mom was, I’d send it to her too. But she left me behind with Dad for a reason, one I probably won’t ever know for sure. But I’ve made my peace with that.
I guess, after this, I’ll all make peace with him. As much as I fucking can, anyway.
The first thing I note is the place dilapidates, not done up, not with newer places now around it. Fuck, even the yard’s mowed. The house was fixed up and painted.
Maybe the fucker didn’t spend all the money I gave him on booze.
I sit on my motorcycle for about five minutes, trying to get up the courage to go in there and not start something.
The front door opens, and a small kid whizzes out, followed by one about ten and a pretty blonde who’s older than she looks as she approaches with the kids. She’s maybe mid-thirties. She stops and stares at me.
Recognition in her eyes.
But she doesn’t introduce herself, simply says, “He’s inside.”
