34. Zira
ZIRA
This is it.
Everything’s in place.
The only thing left is to make sure I don’t mess up my lines, and Harris will meet his end once and for all. Then, everything he’s done to my brother and me, to my entire life, will finally be paid for, and I can move on.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I sit in the arranged car, idling at a stop sign with no traffic preventing me from moving off.
But, for some reason, I can’t. It’s like something’s taken over me and I just can’t bring myself to start driving.
If I do this, it means the end. The end of everything.
Does that include Bradley?
Will he drop me by the side of the road when all this is over and thank me for some good sex? Will he get me an apartment as an apology and then wave goodbye as he returns to his life of crime and keeping the city safe from dangerous, greedy men?
I don’t want it to be over.
I don’t want to say goodbye.
“Zira?” As if on cue, Bradley’s name crackles softly in my ear. “Zira, is everything alright?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You haven’t moved in ten minutes.”
“Oh.” Gripping the steering wheel, I squint up and down the road. “Sorry, I was just… thinking.”
“If you don’t want to do this, we can think of another way. Valentina has a couple of other plans that will work—”
“No,” I cut in quickly. “I want to do this. I need to. I was just… thinking.”
“Anything I can help with?” His voice softens slightly, and even with the electronic hum warping his tone, it’s like he’s right here beside me, his hand in mine, his lips against my ear and his words sweeping through my soul.
“If I do this,” I say quietly, “all of this will be over.”
“That’s the plan, yes.”
“All of it.” The words almost catch in my throat. “I’ve been caught up in this for so long that I haven’t thought about what comes after. What I do next.”
“You can do anything you want,” Bradley replies. “If it’s something we can help with, then we will. A home, a job… anything.”
“Anything?”
Even you?
I can’t say that out loud. The last thing I need is to admit my growing feelings for the man who saved me only to be met with rejection right before I go face the tyrant in my life.
“Anything,” Bradley repeats, and my heart aches to hear more.
Even me.
“Okay.” Breathing deeply, I press on the accelerator and turn the car to the right. “I’m okay. I’m sorry.”
“No apology needed,” Bradley murmurs. “We’re with you every step of the way.”
Hard to believe when the road in front and behind is completely empty.
Harris ordered me to meet him on some abandoned farm on the outskirts of the city, one that looked to me in the middle of nowhere when Valentina brought it up on the map.
I sat there and listened to them planning how they were going to secure the tree line that was so far from the house, they’d barely be able to see anything, how they’d try and use a distant water tower as a point of advantage, and how the surrounding dead fields would make any sneaky approach terrible, so no one would act until I was out safely.
Through the discussions, all I could see was how long it would take someone, anyone, to reach me if I ended up in danger.
They’re with me, but I’m alone.
Harris likely chose this place for that exact reason. He knows I have help. After all, he traced the car, killed those men, and attacked poor Raven. He knows I’m not alone, so he’s done everything to make sure I approach him alone.
Fuck, I hate him.
I hate him so much.
That hatred burns in my chest just under my ribs for the rest of the drive toward the middle of nowhere, and all too soon, I’m turning onto a winding gravel path that leads down to the lone farmhouse in the middle of untouched, empty fields.
They stretch for miles in either direction, and the tree line plus the water tower look even further away than in the pictures.
My heart races, so I grip the steering wheel tighter and force deep breaths to steady myself.
With the farmhouse in sight, I remove the contact device from my ear and toss it out the window as instructed.
Valentina wants us to take no risks with communication, but they’ve given me a necklace that holds a tracker and a small mic, so everything will be recorded.
Also, as advised, I stop the car a distance from the rundown farmhouse and turn off the engine.
The building’s pretty fitting for Harris as far as he’s concerned.
A rickety porch frames peeling white walls, slatted wood that’s seen one too many rainstorms, windows with missing glass and crumbling shutters keeping the world out.
Every metal fitting is rusted orange with age and the roof’s lost a few tiles over the years.
It’s a shithole.
I climb from the car with the metal case in hand containing the diamonds and Bradley’s promise of protection ringing in my ears.
All I need to do is confirm Harris is really there and whether he has the rest of the diamonds.
Then I’m supposed to leave and let the others take care of everything.
A simple role given to me only at my insistence to be involved, but as I walk the gravel path and toy with the pendant hanging from my necklace, I want to do more.
I want to see the exact moment Harris realizes he’s lost on his stupid fucking face.
A few feet from the house, a familiar voice yells out from inside.
“Stop!” Harris barks. “You stop right there!”
I stumble slightly as I obey and quickly scan all the windows searching for him, but the inner house is shrouded by darkness and I can’t tell if Harris really is here or if he’s remote-linking in from somewhere.
“Not coming to say hi?” I call back. “Figure you owe me at least that.”
“I don’t owe you shit.”
“My brother’s dead because of you,” I snap back. “You owe me everything.”
“He’s dead because he was too chicken to kill you earlier,” Harris remarks. “No way you’re mourning someone who wanted you dead.”
“He was still my brother. The shit he did doesn’t erase that overnight.”
“Women,” Harris scoffs darkly. “Too fucking emotional.”
“And yet without this woman, you wouldn’t have those diamonds, would you? Sounds like you’re not all you make yourself out to be.”
Harris is silent for a long moment and my heart pounds up into my throat. Did I say too much? Is he gone? If he’s here remotely, maybe he lost signal.
“Those the diamonds?” He finally speaks, and the sound of his voice is enough that a flinch darts through me.
“Yup.”
“How’d you get them?”
My brows twitch. “What?”
“I tracked that fucking car. You’re telling me the people you’re working with just let you walk away with the diamonds?”
“You’re kidding, right?” I scoff. “You’re so fucking stupid.”
“Keep talking, bitch, and I’ll give you another hole to talk through!”
Does that mean he’s here?
“I took the diamonds out of the car after the cops killed Peter, who I thought was you. They swiped the car not long after, but I’d already run.
I figure they’d pin it on you and Peter, and I would get away with the diamonds.
Luckily, they spent so long on the car that I was never even a suspect.
” I pause and force a smirk. “I figured if you really tracked the car, you’d walk right into the cops and end my troubles and get what you deserved. Guess not.”
Harris doesn’t reply, and silence follows for long enough that tension starts to tighten in my calves as I stand there. After a few more long seconds, I take a step back.
“Show me,” Harris barks suddenly. “Show me the diamonds.”
“Alright.” Setting the case on the ground, I lower to my haunches and unlock the claps, then swivel the case toward the house. “See?”
“Look on the porch. You should see a glass of water. Pick it up and throw some of the diamonds in. A handful, not one or two.”
“And what will that prove?” I ask as I step over the case and head toward the porch. My heart races faster and faster as I approach, half expecting the door to fly open and Harris to drag me inside, but nothing happens. I climb the steps and spot the glass sitting near the door.
“Just do it,” comes Harris’s voice, louder now.
Picking up the glass, I glance around the windows and the door, then head back to the case. As per his instructions, I scoop up a handful of the diamonds and trickle them from my palm to the glass. All of them immediately sink to the bottom.
Holding the glass upward, I turn back to the house and grit my teeth to stop my arm from shaking. “See?” I’ve no idea if this is right or not and it suddenly occurs to me that I only have Bradley’s word that these are the real diamonds. If they’re fake, would this weird test show it?
I wait, my heart in my throat, and tense as anything from agreement to a gunshot could follow.
Harris drags on the silence once as if he enjoys toying with me this much, and my shoulder starts to ache by the time he finally speaks again.
“Bring the case to the porch, set it down, and then get the fuck out of here.”
Did I pass? I hope that means I pass. Lowering the glass, I tip it, water and all, into the case and slam the lid shut. Locking it, I obey and carry the case up to the porch, but as I set it down, something stops me from walking away.
I should.
Bradley was so strict in making sure I knew I was to leave as soon as I could, and this is the perfect time for exactly that.
Return the diamonds and leave. But I can’t say for sure that Harris is even here and even if Bradley and the others have a plan, why can’t it be as simple as dragging Harris out and killing him right here?
He deserves it.
I should walk away. That’s what was agreed, but I can’t.
Staring at the case, my thoughts run over one another.
Walking away means I don’t get to take my revenge, and I want that more than anything.
I want to be the one who tells Harris he’s lost. I want to see the realization on his face.
I want him to know that it was all me who’s taken everything from him, and I want to be the one who holds his life in my hands.
Why does it get to be them?
It’s my life that’s been ruined, my family that’s been destroyed.
“Leave!” Harris barks, and I imagine Bradley has the exact same thought in his mind right now.
But I don’t.
“Come and talk to me,” I say, straightening up and crossing my arms across my chest. “Too scared of a face-to-face?”
Harris doesn’t reply.
“Unless you’re not really here, which is exactly what I would expect from someone like you.
Y’know, I used to think you were so cool?
I thought you were so slick and funny, and then all this shit with my brother happened and you know what I realized?
I’ve spent my entire life weighed down by other people.
Weighed down my expectations after my parents died, weighed down by taking care of my brother and living up to other people’s demands of me. ”
The lies flow easier and easier as I talk to the closed door.
“And you know what I realized? The only time I felt alive was during those heists. I was in charge. I was scaring people, I had the power, and then I walked away with the loot.” Nudging the case with my foot, I sigh dramatically.
“Loot I nearly lost because of you… or Peter. It was all… exciting once I let go of the expectations of my old life. It was even exciting setting you up with the cops.”
“Setting me up?” Harris asks.
Ahh, so that got his attention.
“Yeah,” I reply as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“Did you really not ask yourself why you were able to trace the car but found no diamonds? Sure, I removed them, but I activated that GPS to lure you out. I wanted to test you. One, you’re obviously greedy, but I wanted to know how far you’d go for the gems. See if you’d be willing to do anything to get them back.
And you did. You killed for them, which surprised me.
I thought you were too chicken. Didn’t you even ask yourself why I came here? ”
Silence greets me but the more I bullshit, the more confident I become.
“I could have run with these diamonds and there’s nothing you could have done because you have nothing on me.
No way to hurt me or control me now that Peter is gone, so I could have run.
But I didn’t. I came because I realized we’re the same and I have something else in the works.
Something worth way more than uncut diamonds. So if you’re interested… Call me.”
I turn on my heel and make it to the top of the porch steps before the bolt on the door thunks open and hinges creak. Spinning back, my heart punches against my ribs as Harris comes into view with an assault rifle in his hands, aiming it directly at me.
Sweat warms my shoulders and I bite the inside of my cheek, using that pain to keep myself calm.
“Something… worth more?” Harris asks and his eyes glint with greed. Then he lowers his rifle. “Maybe we should talk.”