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Emilio looked mildly interested.
Viper pulled several folded pieces of paper from inside his leather jacket and placed them on the desk. Dornan went to reach for them, but Emilio was faster. ‘The fuck am I looking at here?’ he asked impatiently.
‘If I’m right,’ Viper said, ‘you’re looking at sixteen years’ worth of money being wired from John to Stephanie.’
Dornan felt like he’d been punched in the heart. ‘Come again?’
Viper looked deeply troubled. He was implicating the man who, until this week, had been his club president, the man he’d sworn loyalty to.
‘John knew where Stephanie was the whole time. He sent her money every single month. Plus extras. Doctors’ bills from her pregnancy. From Jason’s birth. School fees.’
Dornan snatched the papers from his father, who scowled but didn’t say anything. Heart racing, fire in his veins, Dornan swept his eyes down the columns that didn’t really mean anything – until he started to focus on the titles of each column. There were dates and times and . . . Holy shit, John had really kept Stephanie from him for the better part of two decades. John had kept his son’s existence from him.
Dornan made a growling sound in the back of his throat, charging for the door. Viper cut him off. ‘Move or I will rip your head off,’ he strained.
‘There’s more,’ Viper said, blocking Dornan’s path. ‘It’s about your wife.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MARIANA
It was weird going to our weekly meeting on a Friday instead of a Sunday. Sunday was ‘church’, after all, even if the Gypsy Brothers’ church had nothing to do with God or religion. It was a tradition, one they never broke. I was betting that the new president was keen to get his hands dirty, and he sure as shit didn’t want to wait until Sunday to start throwing his weight around.
John and I had a plan: as soon as the meeting finished we were going to head back to the strip club, grab the money he’d hidden there, collect Juliette and Jason from John’s house, and get the hell out of town. John assured me he’d organised a car for us, a Chevy Tahoe. He’d arranged for it to be parked outside the clubhouse, down the block a few hundred metres, the key to be taped behind the licence plate.
Once we got out of town, there was a car switch, several states to pass through, and then a private jet that would take us the last part of our journey. Colombia beckoned with open arms and the promise of my Luis. And once we had my sonsafely in our custody . . . we could literally go anywhere in the world.
All we had to do was get through our respective meetings – John with his fellow club members, and me with Emilio and Dornan. We did this every week. We could do it one more time. Right?
I was on edge. Jittery. My stomach was tied in knots and I kept feeling like I might throw up. But I could act. I could poker-face my way through anything. I’d been acting my way through the last ten years of my life without ever getting caught.
We were going to make it.
Only we were screwed before we even got a chance to head into our meetings.
We arrived at the clubhouse early, as was custom. I arrived with Dornan, as usual, and John strolled in at 11:47 a.m. Thirteen excruciating minutes until we could get this over and done with and then disappear into the wind. Our new life taunted me relentlessly. I wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.
Dornan had already peeled off somewhere, and Emilio was nowhere to be seen. John was talking to another Gypsy Brother, and I leaned against the wall and tried not to attract any attention – easier said than done when you were the only woman in a club full of men. It didn’t matter at any rate, because while I was trying to remain inconspicuous, the doors to the club burst open, and FBI officers started streaming in. I saw Lindsay across the room, before he could see me. I acted on autopilot. I locked eyes with John, gestured to the fire escape at the back of the club, and we ran.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
DORNAN
Dornan backed up and let Viper speak.
‘After I found these transactions, I decided to take a look at John’s house . . .’ he trailed off.
‘Don’t get shy now,’ Emilio said. He seemed intrigued, but it wasn’t his money. It was John taking pity on some girl and sending her some of his cash. Dornan could tell that his father thought this was no big deal.
Viper placed a cellphone on the desk. He looked like he was about to have a damned heart attack.
‘Whose is it?’ Dornan asked. His head was throbbing. He almost didn’t want to know. He definitely didn’t want to be blindsided while his father was standing beside him.
‘I found this phone in John’s garden shed,’ Viper said. ‘It was hidden thoroughly. When I unearthed it and turned it on, guess which number was first on the call list?’
Dornan closed his eyes briefly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He already knew the answer. The phone in front of him was a cheap burner phone. He’d seen one exactly the same.
‘He’s been calling your wife,’ Viper said, his eyes darting around as if he didn’t know where to look. ‘Or rather, they’ve been calling each other.’
