Chapter 21 #2
I know how she feels. I clutch the ledger tightly, struggling against the urge to slap myself awake. This can’t actually be happening. There’s no way Brotherhood killers are chasing us through a fancy private bank. There’s no way we took a woman hostage and Brenden threatened to kill her.
But my husband seems calm. That’s the only reason I’m not losing my mind. His lack of apparent fear is holding me together and I have to believe that he knows what he’s doing.
He shoves the exit open and instantly alarms begin to blare.
Brenden doesn’t slow as he rushes into an alley behind the building.
I stay close, nearly tripping twice on my absurd shoes.
“I shouldn’t have worn heels,” I say, which is an insane comment considering we’re going to get killed at any moment.
I keep picturing the greasers rushing through the door behind us, aiming their guns, shooting until we’re bloody smears—
The end of the alley is straight ahead. I cry out in relief as we reach it right as the greasers come careening after us, the man in the lead shouting for us to stop.
Brenden speeds up and I race after him, kicking one heel off awkwardly and flailing as I get off the other, but I’m faster in bare feet.
“This way,” Brenden says, sprinting down the block.
People stop to stare at the two lunatics running full-tilt in what must look like the sort of clothes normal humans would wear to a freaking wedding.
This was such a stupid idea, such a dumb, stupid, no good, insanely world-ending idea, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it now.
We weave wildly. The men chasing yell after us. One draws a gun and I strangle a scream but he doesn’t fire. There are too many people around and I’m guessing he doesn’t want the attention, but I have no idea. Brenden cuts down another street, vaults over a fence, and pauses to help me over.
I fall on top of him in some random yard. He drags me up, breathless. “We have to keep going.”
“But they have… they saw…”
“Come on!” He pulls me after him as the men shout for us to stop again.
“They have security cameras. They’ll know we were there, even if we’re caught!”
Brenden stares forward grimly and runs to the front gate. I follow, gasping for breath, as we burst into the front of the building. Ahead is a quiet block, residential and lined by cars. Brenden pulls a key pod from his pocket, hitting it several times, until a Jeep parked ahead beeps in reply.
“Get in.” He dives into the driver’s seat and throws open my door. I climb in beside him.
“Where did this come from?!”
“Always have a backup plan.” The engine roars to life. “Hold on.”
Tires scream as he peels out. The men chasing tumble out onto the sidewalk as Brenden pulls into the street.
One gets down on a knee and opens fire, the bullets smashing through the back windshield.
I scream as Brenden shoves me lower, leaning down himself, the Jeep careening side to side.
We swipe a parked truck as more bullets hit a nearby sedan, but then we’re turning wildly, nearly tipping over, the back swaying with momentum as Brenden pulls us into traffic.
He drives like a maniac for five minutes, getting distance, and only slows down to pull into the parking lot of a small gas station. He kills the engine and gets out. “This way.”
“Wait, where are we going?”
“We’re disappearing.” He storms over toward what looks like a pickup truck wedged in beside some dumpsters like it’s been abandoned.
“Stop for one second!” I pull back, glaring at him. “What the hell is going on, Brenden?”
“We need to keep moving. Those Brotherhood thugs are going to find us if we stop.”
“But where are we going?!” I want to be sick.
The magnitude of what happened back at that bank is starting to truly sink in.
I stagger and lean against a twisted, gnarled old guard rail.
“Oh god, they know it was us. Arsen’s going to see, he’s going to know, and oh my god, he’s going to hurt my family—“
“Tallie, you’re losing it.”
“Of course I’m fucking losing it!” I shrug him off when he tries to touch me. “Arsen’s going to see the security camera footage from that bank and when he does, we’re screwed. It’s over, Brenden.”
“That manager talked about privacy—“
“Which you know doesn’t mean a god damn thing!
” Tears stream down my face. The worst-case scenario plays through my head: Annie, Sam, and Davit marched from their home, my parents steaming corpses, my siblings soon to follow, the whole of my life burned to ashes, all because I wanted to steal from the most powerful man in the whole damn city.
This was always stupid. Hell, it was childish. I never should’ve thought I could go up against my cousins and win, and now here we are, at our lowest, with only more of a drop to go.
“Listen to me Tallie.” Brenden takes my arm in his and leans down. “It’s not over. We have the ledger.”
I grip it tightly against my chest. “So what?!”
“Arsen knows what that thing represents. He knows we can use it against him. He’ll want to make a deal, but first, we have to disappear and get somewhere safe.”
“How? How will that help? He’ll hurt the people we care about—“
“He won’t. Trust me, Tallie. He doesn’t want this to get out of hand any more than we do. Right now we go to ground, regroup, and come up with a better plan, but you have to trust me. Can you do that? Please, baby?”
I wipe my face with the back of my hand. This is all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I wanted to save myself—maybe save Sam in the process—but now I feel it all spiraling.
Brenden’s my only chance.
If anyone can get us through, it has to be him. No matter what happens I want to believe he’s competent and clever enough to find a solution, but he can’t do that if I lay down and give up here in this stupid parking lot.
So long as we’re still alive, there’s always a way out.
I reach down deep, straight into my core, and I find a hidden well of strength. I didn’t know it was there, but I grab onto it and hold it tightly. Not only for me, but for my siblings too, for my whole family, and maybe for my husband.
“Which way now?” I ask, doing my best to take deep breaths.
Brenden leads me to the truck. He produces another key and we pull out, leaving the Jeep behind.
He drives slowly and carefully through the city then down south, past the limits, and out into the suburbs, stopping only when we reach a nondescript brick apartment building in a town I’ve never heard of before.
My legs feel heavy trudging up the echoing steps in a cinderblock stairwell. Brenden doesn’t speak as he takes me into a grimy apartment, barely furnished, the refrigerator empty.
“What is this place?” I stare around, numb and shellshocked, my world falling apart.
“This is one of my best safehouses. This is where we’re going to figure out how to fix things. And we’re going to do it together.”