Chapter 60
CURITIBA PARANá
Adria and Eric navigated the winding highway. The boys had stayed behind to rest, which was probably for the best given her uncertainty about the upcoming meeting.
“After we pick up Cole, I need to swing by the local church,” she said.
Eric’s eyes remained fixed on the road ahead. Minutes passed before he broke the silence.
“Bryson okay with this plan?”
“He says he is, but I’m not sure he understands the implications.”
“He understands,” Eric replied without hesitation.
Adria turned to face him. “How can you be so sure?”
Eric shook his head with a soft laugh. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
She rolled down her window, letting the hot jungle air rush in. “See what?”
“How completely gone that kid is for you. All of them, actually.”
“We’re figuring things out,” she said, looking at him. “After everything they’ve been through, we’re taking it slow.”
Eric glanced over, his expression suddenly serious. “Slow? Adria, they’re in love with you. Haven’t they told you?”
The words caught in her throat. “I—They—We—”
“Christ, Adria, have you not told them?” Eric said.
Adria clicked her jaw shut. “Why should I? We could be dead in a week? What’s the point? Why ruin it?”
Eric wrenched on the wheel, and dirt and rocks clicked against the vehicle as it came to an abrupt stop.
He turned, putting an arm on the dash. “What is the point of any of it, Dri? You could die today. Right now, an armored car could pull up and fifteen of the Nine’s men could come pouring out and we would be dead in seven minutes and fifteen seconds.”
She shifted.
“That’s the life. Your life. You didn’t choose it, but it’s the truth.
And frankly, it’s not much different from anyone else’s.
Everyone is scared to love someone. Scared to put themselves out there.
Scared to lose it, scared it won’t be what they wanted—what they thought.
Everyone is just fucking scared. Fear isn’t the problem, because when you live your life scared like that you aren’t really living.
You could die at any moment, but don’t live your life frozen because that’s not living.
Living is knowing the bad shit is going to happen, being afraid of it, and going on with your day anyway.
It’s telling the once-in-a-lifetime souls that you found that you care about them.
That you don’t want to lose them, that you need them, even if it scares you.
“That’s life, Adria. There is no point in running from it.”
Adria just sat there, mouth open. The heat from the desert mingling with the cool car air.
“Who knew you were so deep?” she said, a smile growing on her face.
Eric sighed, his lips pressing into a line. He turned, putting the car in drive, muttering, “I don’t know why I bother, none of you take anything seriously.”
And then quieter. “A bunch of children.”
“I love you,” she said. “You know that, right? No matter what happens with me and those three. I always want you in my life.”
Eric opened his mouth to say something but stopped. “You don’t know how you’ll feel in a few years. And, Adria, you will have those years. We are going to get you through this.”
“I do know how I’ll feel in a few years. And if you are too scared to see it, too afraid to see you have found a family here with me, then you can take your little life speech and shove it up your ass.”
He laughed. “Touché.”
It had only been a short time since Adria had seen Cole at the auction, but Adria thought he looked a lot older. His hair was still cropped short, like at the auction, and his smile as always was beaming, but there was a newness to him as she approached. It was the way he carried himself.
“Adria,” he said, pulling her into a bear hug.
She cupped his face. “Look at you. You look so grown up.”
He just smiled and pulled her into his embrace again.
She buried her face in his neck. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess.”
He released her. “Are you kidding? I was excited to help. After the auction, I thought I might never see you again.”
She offered a small smile. “Cole, we’re friends. Friends see each other.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I hope so.”
The sadness she’d glimpsed months ago seemed to be lifting. Adria loved seeing him but hated that he was here, putting himself in danger for her sake—especially when she couldn’t offer what he wanted.
“I’m glad we’re friends,” he said, catching her eyes. “I really am, Dri.”
Adria sat in the back with Cole, catching up on all the things he couldn’t tell them over the phone.
“I brought hard copies,” he said, pulling out a folder. “Financial records, stuff that they tried to hide but couldn’t.”
Cole looked up at her, his eyes filling with mischief. “There is always a paper trail.”
Adria raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
He flushed. “Not everyone is into this stuff, but I’m good at it. It’s like a giant puzzle just waiting to be solved.”
A vibrating sound came from his pocket. Cole looked at his phone and frowned, putting it down.
“What is it?” she said.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just a work thing.”
“Cole, if it’s work related you should take it. I don’t want you to get in trouble,” Adria said, catching Eric’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
Cole shook his head. “It’s not like that. There’s this guy, he’s not even on my team. But suddenly he has this interest in me.”
“Interest how?” Adria said, feeling worried.
Cole pressed his palms into the top of his legs. “I dunno, it’s almost like he’s been watching me.”
A cold sensation grew in her gut. “What is his name?”
“Maxim,” Cole said, just as his phone vibrated again.
Cole reached for it, but Adria was quicker.
“Maxim,” she said, answering.
The line was quiet for a long time before he said, “Adria?”
“Why are you interacting with Cole at all?”
The phone shuffled, and Adria thought it sounded like he was walking. “Hold on, I need to go somewhere more private.”
After some additional sounds, Maxim came back on the phone quieter. “I got word Cole was traveling to Brazil. I was hoping to talk to him. There are a few things he needs to know about the person he has been talking to there.”
Adria gripped the phone. “And how would you know who he has been talking to?”
There was a long sigh, before Maxim swore and said, “Because she reached out to me first.”
Adria almost dropped the small object against her ear. “She would never. You betrayed her,” she whispered.
“Is that what she’s telling you? Adria, you cannot trust her. She’s—”
Adria hung up the call.
Tapping on Cole’s phone, she blocked the already calling number. It was a small fix. Maxim could call from another.
“Don’t talk to him, understand?” Adria said, her mind already swirling about what this might mean for Cole.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cole said. “I can handle it.”
Adria cared about Cole deeply, and she had no doubt he was good at his job, but one thing was for sure, Cole could most certainly not handle it.