34. Chapter 34
Chapter thirty-four
Lucy
Retrieving the paper out of the wall was more challenging than I’d anticipated, but eventually my fingers found the edges, and I was able to position my body in just the right way to pull it out.
I used my feet to spread the folded piece apart, Phoebe watching me reprehensively.
The guard hadn’t come back yet, and I didn’t want to waste any precious minutes I had until he did.
When I finally got the piece of paper spread out, I sat back on the cement to inspect it.
My dearest Domenica,
It’s been seven years since you left us to become an angel in heaven.
Today is Dominic’s sixteenth birthday. We barely talk anymore, and he spends all his time either studying or at that mixed martial arts studio.
I’m worried for him, but I don’t know what to do.
I’m afraid he’ll lose himself to his ambitions and forget where he came from.
I wish you were here. You’d know the right thing to do.
Ti amo,
RF
Chills spilled down my spine. This was all the confirmation I needed. I had been taken to the place that used to be Dax’s parents’ deli. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with this information, but it felt like I had just found a connection to him outside these walls.
“What’s that?” Phoebe’s whisper shot toward me, but I ignored it as I sprang to my feet and made it back to the wall.
My eyes snapped to another brick that looked like it was sticking out further than the rest, and I made my way over to it.
I maneuvered myself against the wall and pulled at the brick, this time having a better idea of how to do it.
It slid out and thudded to the floor with an echo.
“You’re making too much noise. What the hell are you doing?” Phoebe didn’t hide her frustration. That didn’t mean I was gonna stop.
“There’s notes hidden in the bricks,” I panted as my bound hands fondled inside the hole, searching for paper. They found something, and I latched onto it. “Go look and see if there’s any on your side.”
Phoebe eyed me with suspicion, but after a moment curiosity evidently got the better of her, and she made her way to the wall on her side of the bars.
I found another loose brick and pulled it from the wall.
At the same time, Phoebe seemed to find one of her own and mimicked my process.
She flinched when the bricks clamored against the concrete.
We both stilled, focusing on the darkness to see if we could hear anything.
When we didn’t, we started back up again.
By the time I dug out every loose brick I could reach, the floor was covered in a layer of dust and dried chips of black paint. I was sweating profusely. I used my feet to slide the notes across the floor into a pile, when my toe pressed on something hard and sharp beneath the paper.
I crouched down and sat on my ass, lifting my feet in front of me to spread the note open. A sharp breath caught in my lungs.
Beautiful Domenica,
I found this today when I was cleaning out one of the drawers behind the deli counter. I remembered how much you loved wearing it.
I miss you more everyday.
RF
Folded between the yellowed piece of paper was a long, U-shaped French pin with a butterfly at the top. Its sharp points had poked two small holes in the note, and I used my big toe to drag it toward me, the metal scraping against the concrete.
At that exact moment, the reverberation of footsteps rose through the damp air, and I squinted into the darkness, my pulse shattering in my throat.
Phoebe sprang away from the wall and hid herself in the corner, meanwhile I piled myself on top of the notes, shifting myself backward so I could grasp onto the pin and slide it into the waistband of my jeans behind me.
The sharp pricks poked into my side, but I didn’t want to risk drawing any attention to it, trying my best to cover the notes with my legs.
My heart hammered against my chest as the shadows of several figures started to appear in the dim light outside my cell.
“Hey! How did you get that off?” Chase was both the first one I identified and the first to speak.
I clenched my mouth shut and swallowed the dryness down in my throat.
Behind him was the same guard from earlier, and another burlier one with an even bigger gun and a bandana masking the lower half of his face.
“You idiot, you didn’t strap it on tight enough!” Deana’s nasally voice bellowed against the hard surfaces of the room. Chase moved to unlock my cage, but she stopped him. “Forget it, we’re gonna start soon anyway. Go find the tripod and get the kit ready.”
The kit? Fear plummeted through my chest, and I fought the urge to start yelling. Instead, I took a steady breath and locked my eyes on Deana’s underneath the black felt of the cowboy hat propped over her head.
“Why are you doing this?” I rasped. I noticed Phoebe’s face shoot to mine out of the corner of my eye, but my gaze didn’t sway from Deana’s.
Her lips twisted into a menacing smirk. “Why does anyone do anything, silly girl?” She glowered down at me. “Money. Power. Revenge. Considering the reason you’re here is for all three, let’s just call it a trilogy.”
“You’re fucking sick. You’re a woman. How can you do this to people? Aren’t there other ways to achieve money and power?” I didn’t mention the revenge part. If anything, that had been the one thing I was after.
Her bone chilling laugh sent my teeth grating together.
“Oh, you really are dumber than I thought. Did you really think you could just hook up with Dominic Ferraro and sabotage my operation? Think again. I’ve been keeping tabs on CIPHER for years, and they’ve gotten sloppy.
You were nothing more than a pawn in my game, one I’ve been playing longer than your little brain can imagine. ”
Furious dread hooked its claws into my nerves, and I wrinkled my face in disgust. I shifted my legs a little and felt the hair pin poke into the skin of my hip.
An idea struck me, and I glanced over at Phoebe, who looked at me like I was downright psychotic for having the nerve to talk to Deana. Frankly, I was wondering where it came from, myself. My mind raced over everything that happened to Tara because of her, and my anger took precedence.
“Why go through all of this, though? And what’s with Echelon Developments? Is it nothing more than a front for your fucking demented livestreams?” My voice was starting to gain some composure, though it was plagued by loathing.
Deana lifted her brow at this. “Echelon Developments is a completely legitimate business. It wouldn’t be wise to keep all my investments in one place, would it?
Besides, it’s more than an architecture design company.
It focuses on property development and investment portfolios in the real estate market.
Imagine my surprise, though, when these two worlds collided.
I certainly wasn’t expecting one of my marks to apply for an internship at the firm. You made it far too easy.”
One of her marks? I was gonna be sick. How long had she been tracking me, planning on destroying my life?
Chase returned from wherever he went with a large folding tripod.
Behind him, he dragged a black pop-up wagon that looked like it was filled with different things.
I couldn’t make out what was inside, but I assumed this was the kit Deana had referred to.
Fear slid through my muscles as I thought about what might be hidden in there.
Adrenaline pulsed inside me, and I carefully dragged my hands behind my back, hoping that Deana couldn’t tell what I was doing. The papers beneath me rustled, and I realized I needed to try to mask the sound by distracting her.
“You chose Dax’s family’s deli to set this up inside.
It seems a little personal, don’t you think?
And the date at his restaurant with me and Tara, that all seems a little too coincidental,” I said louder than necessary.
Behind my back, I’d taken the pin and lodged it in between my clasped wrists until it hooked along the base of the zip tie.
I started to twist it, struggling to keep hold of it between my clammy thumbs.
Deana’s eyes narrowed at me, and I stilled my movement.
However, she didn’t seem to notice what I was doing with my hands.
“Well, well. Take a look at who’s putting it all together.
Dismantling CIPHER and taking down Dominic Ferraro has been on my agenda for a long time.
The setup at his restaurant was more of a matter of convenience, two birds, one stone situation, if you will.
I certainly hadn’t anticipated your little alliance forming, but that will just make what I’m gonna do to you taste even sweeter. ” Her voice was pure evil.
While she’d been talking, my movements resumed behind my back. I twisted the pin so the zip ties sank impossibly further into my wrists, the circulation pulsing slow from the pressure. I wrenched the pin and twisted the zip tie around it, feeling it strain against the tightness.
“What did Dax ever do to you? It had to have been something bad if you decided to make this the place you set up shop. And bombing his restaurant too? That’s pretty theatrical.
” I tried not to grit my jaw, but the pain from my wrists was becoming unbearable.
I took a deep breath in through my nose and continued twisting.
“Oh, let’s see…aside from starting a vigilante group that works against everything I profit from? Hmmm…” She tapped her long fingernails against her jaw like she was pretending to think, but her eyes were vicious. “Oh yeah, I remember. He killed my father.”