40. Accomplice
Chapter forty
Accomplice
With her arms wrapped around the box and Tae-Tae sitting on top, Jolie showed up at the door of her parents’ house. Over her shoulder, a black SUV remained, ever watchful. She didn’t know how she was going to explain anything. After all, her mother had warned her about Adrik, and she had ignored it. Now, being back here felt ridiculous, and she almost backed away.
Heather opened the door. She looked over at her for a moment, noticing the black car, before she waved her hand. “Come on, baby, come here.” Heather took the box from her and set it down before she wrapped Jolie in her arms. Her daughter’s tears were instant, and Heather gripped harshly, cursing Adrik and everything that’s happened to her sweet girl. But this was the moment she was waiting for, as terrible as it sounded. She finally had her daughter back.
Waking up in her house, with the smell of coffee, hearing everyone’s footsteps and low talking, was a familiarity ingrained in Jolie. Her bedroom had been untouched. Panda posters lined the wall. A small desk sat in the corner; with a pink light she used to do her homework under. She had picked out her white-and-purple-flowered blankets on her sixteenth birthday. Nothing matched in her room. It was a collection of thrift store items and random gifts, most from her mother, but a couple from Vincent. It was messy and overstuffed, but personal and all hers. Only old memories were allowed in this safe space, ones that brought happiness and nostalgia.
But reality banged on her door.
Jolie curled into herself, staring straight at Vincent’s face. She had found an old photo of them at seventeen. He was in his football gear, getting ready for a big game. His arm heavy on her shoulder, she bared the weight of it, struggling but laughing. When that picture was taken, she already had their wedding planned, their future decided. She was going to work at a veterinarian’s office while Vincent began his lawn service business. They were going to buy a trailer down the block from where their parents lived and go to college part time. Jolie had every intention of getting pregnant right away, the desire for kids more important than education or financial relief. Their lives were going to be boring, but perfect.
It was a childish fantasy. One she acknowledged even then. Vincent showed abusive qualities, and if she was honest with herself, the future didn’t look nearly as pretty as she painted it. But she was naive then, thinking that love could fix it.
The image of Vincent’s face was altered. Blood soaked his neck, cuts riddled his face, the misery was visible in his eyes. Everything about him was destroyed. Jolie closed her eyes to shield herself from the image, but it only amplified in the dark. She could see his lip piercing, tattoos on his temples and cheek, and hear his horrified screams.
Jolie sat up. She should call the cops. She could save him. But what if it was too late? What if he was already dead?
A knock on the door spooked her, and the cat, but her mother poked her head in. “It’s just me.”
Jolie fell back against the bed, running her hands through her hair. She swallowed the nausea and the rush of adrenaline. Her mother sat on the bed beside her.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Jolie shook her head. Words weren’t possible. It would make it real, but Jolie wasn’t ready to accept that it happened. She kept asking herself why Adrik had gone so far, but the answer was already there. It was who he was. Adrik was a monster. There was no making excuses. He had always been, and now, there was no pretending he wasn’t.
The pain of that realization was more potent than she wanted, and Jolie ended up sobbing and burying her face in her mother’s arms again. She felt cheated, like she had been given a rare, delicate flower, and before it could bloom, Vincent stomped on it. The potential Adrik and she once had was destroyed, and there was no undoing it.
It was dead.
And so, she mourned the loss of what could never be.
It was Sunday, and though Jolie had spent the last four days in the house, unwilling to step outside even for a breath of fresh air, her mother was determined to bring her to church. “You need it,” she said. “God will heal you.”
Jolie dressed like a slow-moving sloth, standing in front of a mirror. The bruising on her face had healed, but the scar would remain as a constant reminder that she was not the same. She didn’t know how to pretend. The light in her eyes was gone. The color drained from her face and hair. She was a washed-out newspaper sitting in the driveway with tire tracks.
Jolie assumed by now she’d feel better. She thought she’d move on. But she found herself stuck in a loop, reliving the conversations with Adrik. Because the man she met before prison and the man she met after didn’t add up .
It made her believe in a terrible hope. What if she could find the man he used to be?
‘Do you know what a man becomes when he has nothing to lose?’
Tatianna had known what was going to happen. She had warned Jolie, and Jolie in her innocence, thought she could heal Adrik with a hug and kiss. But that wasn’t the kind of love that healed much of anything. She told herself she would fight for him, but she hadn’t realized how difficult it would become and how weak she really was. Loving Adrik wasn’t a rainstorm that she could walk in with just an umbrella and adore the sound of distant thunder. Loving him was a catastrophic hurricane with devastating damage.
Nothing was worth that.
Jolie got out of the car, barely feeling the rays of sunlight on the first day of December. She was ready for winter, if only so she could have a reason to stay indoors.
“Miss Bell.”
Jolie turned to find Agent Mally approaching in a dress that made her awkward. Jolie didn’t depict Mally as feminine, and it showed in the sneakers she wore, the earrings that didn’t match, and the makeup that didn’t fully resonate with her bone structure.
It was biased, Jolie acknowledged. She hated the woman and everything she stood for.
Heather tucked her arm in Jolie’s side and glared, and the silence dragged on as people carried on around them, heading into the church. Children’s laughter and cries disturbed the quiet, and Jolie’s eyes lingered on a little girl with blonde curls as she held her mother’s hand .
“Was there something you wanted, Agent?” Heather started. “Aside from keeping the secrets of my daughter’s whereabouts to yourself?”
Mally bowed her head, perhaps a momentary lapse of guilt, but then she straightened. “It was for your own good. You would have challenged a cartel.”
“Someone has to,” Heather bit back. “Don’t stand here and act like you—”
“Mom,” Jolie interrupted, detaching her arm. “I’ll be in just a minute.”
Heather sighed and nodded. She glared at Mally as she passed.
“I had my reasons—”
“What is your reason for being here, Agent Mally?” Jolie crossed her arms and waited.
The agent shifted in her sneakers. “I wanted to see how you were doing. You don’t look well.”
Jolie scoffed and fell back against her car. “Yes, being kept against your will can do that to you.”
“I told you the Morozovs—”
Jolie pushed forward. “The Morozovs? You think the Morozovs are the problem? I was safe with them! How could you leave me in Vincent’s hold? Why didn’t you get me out?”
“Anything I could do to get you out would have put you in more jeopardy.”
“Bullshit!”
“What did you want me to do?” Mally continued. There was enough guilt on her shoulders already, but she wasn’t about to expose any of that. She was not here to hash out her mistakes. “If I told your parents, and they went to the police, Vincent would have killed them. I had no jurisdiction to get you. I tried, Jolie. I did try. But you were in the center of a snake pit. I knew your past history. I put faith that Vincent wouldn’t hurt you. Was I wrong?” With Jolie’s eye roll, Mally deduced she wasn’t. “I’m not here for this. I need to find Vincent Ortez.” When Jolie’s body stiffened, Mally knew she was in the right place. “I know Adrik has him. Tell me where he is.”
“What makes you think I know?”
“You know,” Mally hissed. She pointed down the road to where a very obvious black SUV sat. “Adrik’s got you tangled up in this. You are a fly in his web. But let me tell you something. Vincent is a novice compared to Adrik’s skills. You think because he’s nice to you and gives you gifts, there isn’t a black hole where his soul is? He is a psychopath, incapable of normal emotions. Just like his father.”
“Adrik is nothing like his father.”
A little giggle breached Mally’s lips. “You can’t possibly be this stupid.”
Jolie ground her teeth. She hated this woman, because she had been right. Jolie was in over her head. She could never fully comprehend what Adrik could do. “You know what’s stupid? Going after the same man when you failed to put him away the first time. You tell me about Adrik’s power, yet you keep going after him.”
Agent Mally paused as she struggled with a reply. “Even I don’t know how far his power reaches. One of his uncles is a very successful lawyer with a high reach. He put holes in my report, dug up stupid shit, and got the whole thing thrown out of court. Nearly destroyed my career to do it.” Mally wasn’t about to mention how she was on probation and that she wasn’t allowed to be within fifty feet of anyone associated with the Morozov family. Mally hid her shaking hand in her coat pocket, where she wrapped her fingers around a container half full of pain meds. She cleared her throat. “I won’t stop. His family killed my brother. The month they moved here, drugs went rampant, devouring along the way. Bad batches tainted with fentanyl. Killed hundreds. Destroy families. Over his grave, I vowed to take out the Morozovs. Whatever it takes, I’m gonna do it.” Mally leaned in, desperate to get Jolie to understand. “Vincent promised you wouldn’t get hurt.”
Jolie’s eyes widened, and she didn’t know what to say for a whole minute. She stared at the woman in front of her. “You partnered with him.” The words were hollow, and she couldn’t fully grasp the meaning behind it.
“Vincent swore he could kill Adrik in prison.”
“Who’s the fucking idiot now, Agent Mally? Adrik’s better at this game than you are. He’s been trained since birth. You can’t defeat him.”
“I never thought I could.” Mally smiled a catlike grin that Jolie found frightening. “But I’ve screwed up his life enough that I won’t have to anymore. He’ll fall apart for me. His brother and father are dead. His family is toppling like a building, one pillar at a time. He’ll grow careless. And all I have to do is stick around and wait. You can make it easier and just tell me where Vincent is…unless he’s already dead.”
“I don’t know.” The lie came out quickly, thoughtless, and Jolie stared at the ground, wondering why she didn’t say it. Adrik was no longer going to be in her life. She didn’t need to cover for him. And chances were that Vincent wasn’t going to make it much longer. But the denial was instinctual. This was a lie that didn’t spare her life. That didn’t help her in the slightest. It was a lie that now would be judged. She was an accomplice to kidnapping and torture. And if Adrik ended up killing Vincent, she’d be an accomplice to murder.
Jolie stared at the church, wondering if she were to step aside, would she burst into flame?
“There have been dozens of murders in the last week. All gang-related. Adrik is cleaning house. He’s killing everyone that defected, that helped Vincent keep his spot.”
“Where’s your proof?”
“He’s a killer, Jolie!” she snapped harshly. “Does he have to murder someone right in front of your eyes for you to stop lusting after him?"
Jolie bowed her head. That's exactly what it took.
"Ask him. Ask him and see if he’ll tell you the truth.”
“He doesn’t trust me, because of you. We broke up.”
This news devastated Mally, and she stood silent, trying to figure out what she could do. “Well, you must be heartbroken.”
The sarcasm made Jolie sick. She wanted to smack Mally with an open palm.
Mally continued. “Vincent’s father and cousin are also missing. Their deaths will be on your hands, and I will put you away for years, Jolie. If you think being held captive at a nice house in the country is hell, wait till you go to prison. All in the name of love, right?” Mally stepped back, waiting, wanting the words to come from her lips to keep Jolie safe and get her out of this mess, but the girl remained silent. There would be no helping her after this. But Mally wanted to try one last time, desperate to save a naive, ignorant girl. “I’ll take you into protective custody. You and your family can disappear. No one will find you. Not even Adrik. ”
“I’m sorry I can’t help you, Agent.” Jolie crossed her arms. Her response was spiteful now. There was no belief that Mally knew how to do the right thing and no faith that she could protect her at all from the power of the Morozovs.
Mally nodded. “Me too.”