Chapter 23 Ember
EMBER
This might be the first time since I’ve been meeting Rastelli at this diner that it’s been busy.
The parking lot is full of cars and from here it looks like every table is full of people.
I get out of my car, and something tells me to take a look around just in case.
I don’t see any familiar cars or faces. I’m pretty sure no one has followed me.
Like I said, I got out of there too quick for Ares to follow, and thank God. I don’t even want to know what happens if he finds me here.
I walk into the diner and a cacophony of sound hits me. A dozen conversations, the sound of food frying from the kitchen, plates and silverware clinking together. And the smell of sweet pancakes and bacon hovering over the room.
I look to my left at where we usually meet. She’s sitting there with a cup of coffee in front of her, smiling at me expectantly. My stomach roils the moment I see that motherly smile. I wish I had a knife to cut it off her fucking face.
I walk over and sit down. “What the fuck did you people do?”
She gives me a surprised look with a little smile and says, “That’s a nice way to greet someone. I thought your father taught you better manners—”
“You raided my club,” I hiss, leaning into her. “I tell you that I want out of this arrangement and your response is to mess with my livelihood? Are you insane?”
She looks at me, her smile faltering slightly. “Your livelihood? You mean your job? Weren’t you the one who called it that? ‘It’s just a job’, right?”
“There was nothing there.” I do my best to say it in a low enough tone so that we’re not overheard by the neighboring tables. “I told you that nothing was happening at the club. I told you that I didn’t know anything. Why can’t you just let me go and drop this?”
“Because, as it turns out, there’s plenty going on at your little club. At least there was last night.” She takes a sip of her cup, her eyes narrowing, then she reaches under the table and pulls out a manila folder and opens it.
“Have a look,” she says, spreading out crime scene photos in front of me. Shots of the back alley with bodies lying in pools of blood. Most were in tactical gear with bulletproof vests. One had a bullet hole in his head as his dead eyes looked up and into the beyond.
I cringe and try to turn away. She slides another right up to me. A large man in a business suit, face down on the concrete, shiny dark red pool of blood underneath him.
“Wow, look at that,” she says. “Looks like there was quite a bit happening at your club, after all. This one, That’s Joseph Anthony Abate. He was one of the bosses of the Cantinelli family. Caught a bullet to the throat. Probably courtesy of your boyfriend.”
“How do I know these are even real?” I say through clenched teeth. “You’ll do anything to scare me back into giving you information, won’t you?”
She tilts her head as I lean back slowly, trying not to show the sickening realization on my face, but it’s too late. She sees that I’m rattled. “How is your boyfriend doing this morning? Must be pretty pissed that we broke up the deal he was making with Abate.”
So. She did know all along. I don’t know if that makes things better or worse. Especially since she didn’t get this information from me.
“Well,” I say, “You don’t really need me, do you? How did you find out he had a meeting with someone?”
“Little bird told me.”
“I never told you about it.”
“I didn’t say the little birdie was you,” she says with a laugh. “You poor, naive thing. You were very clear in your position. You no longer want to help us, and as it turns out, that’s just fine by me. You asked to walk away and you can. Turns out, we don’t need you anymore.”
I just stare at her in confusion. “What are you even talking about? You said—”
“You didn’t think you were the only person we tapped, did you?” she asks with a little laugh. “Oh, dear. Planting a honeypot for a gangster is only one way to skin a cat. Informants come in all shapes and sizes.”
Someone else. Someone else ratted him out. “Who? Who was your informant?”
She sips her coffee in silence, still staring with an all too pleasant look in her eye.
“Who was it?” I hiss. “Tell me.”
“Why would I tell you that? To save you from the certain prosecution you’re going to face when your boyfriend finds out that you’ve been having these little chats with me?” She leans into me and sneers. “I don’t have any obligation to you, Ember. You quit.”
My knees are starting to shake with either fear or rage. I can’t tell in this moment. “If Roman finds out one of his people is the actual mole, do you know what he’ll do to them?”
“Yes. I know exactly what he will do and that’s why I’m not about to let you run back and tell him.
You’re the enemy now, honey. You got yourself dickmatized and decided to align yourself with the devil.
And how this works is that I protect my source…
not the criminals we need to lock up. Sorry, my dear, but you’re going to have to fend for yourself. ”
I can’t believe this. I have nothing. As I sit here in angry silence, she finishes her coffee.
“This place is pretty full,” she says. “Lots of people who might recognize one of us, right?”
A cold fear runs through my body as she says that. I glance around quickly. I don’t see anyone from Roman’s Bratva. Then again, I haven’t met every single one of them. I don’t know what Kostromo’s numbers really are or how far his reach is.
“You look scared,” she says, her face in all seriousness. “I can’t blame you. I would be terrified. I guess that’s the price you pay for choosing the wrong side, isn’t it?”
I don’t respond. What a bitch. What a horrible, horrible bitch. And she’s just sitting there with this fake sympathetic look on her face. Fucking Psychopath.
“I’m not completely cold hearted,” she says with a sigh. “Listen, all jokes aside, we can still protect you if you want. If you leave with me, right now, I can put you under witness protection. All you have to do is—”
“No,” I say simply.
She blinks, stunned by my response. “No? Seriously?”
“You’re a vile, awful person,” I say, my voice shaking as my eyes start to burn with tears. “Even if I was stupid enough to actually take you up on that, I can’t trust you. Roman was right. The law is filled with vipers. You’re the worst one.”
“You really should learn who you can trust in this case, Ember.”
“I’m just supposed to trust you?” My voice is high and wild and on the verge of yelling or laughing hysterically.
“I’m just supposed to believe that you suddenly have my best interests at heart?
What if someone actually sees me today and runs back to him?
I’m fucked, and nobody knows that better than you do. ”
The facade drops. She’s no longer sympathetic or motherly.
She’s not even sneering evilly anymore. She just stares at me with dead eyes as if someone’s pulled the battery out of her back.
“It would be a real shame if word got back to him that we had met today,” she says blandly.
“But if you’re insistent on staying on that side of the line, what can I do?
” She pulls out her wallet and pays for her coffee, then she gathers up all the photos and puts them back in the envelope.
“Oh, well. Best of luck to you, Ember. Try to take care of yourself, hmm?”
She leaves and suddenly, I feel like I’m hanging off the edge of a branch, twisting in the wind and waiting for the one big breeze to push me off and into oblivion.
What do I do? How do I do this? I just bolted from the house. They’re all bound to be looking for me. What do I even tell Roman when I get back? Can I ever tell him the truth?
I’ve asked so much of him in terms of being honest with me, and now I have to hold onto the biggest lie I will ever tell. This is not something he can ever forgive.
I get up from the table. I’ve got an hour to figure it out, I guess. All I know is that for now, anyway, Roman can’t know about this. I don’t think he’ll understand or even trust me again if he ever finds out.
What I do know is that there is most certainly someone out to get him within the brotherhood. Maybe I can find a way to tell him that much.
I walk out of the diner and head for my car, oblivious to my surroundings. He’ll be there when I get back, I’m sure of it. I kind of hope he’s not—
My arm is grabbed and I’m suddenly being pulled along. I look and see it’s Ares walking against me, pulling me as we walk side by side.
“Ares? What—”
“Just keep walking,” he says. “I’m taking you back to Roman’s.”
Shit. Oh, shit. I go to look behind me and he yanks my arm, pulling me forward.
“Don’t do that. Just look forward, okay?”
“Listen, I wasn’t doing what you think. Let me explain—”
“Nothing to explain,” he says with a smooth shake of his head. We’re walking to his car and he ushers me to the passenger’s side and opens the door. “Get in.”
Oh, fuck. Oh, shit. He’s seen me talking to Rastelli. Oh, fuck. He glares at me when I don’t move.
“You gonna make this hard for me?”
My knees start to shake. I’m so fucked. I get in the car. The second I’m in the passenger’s seat, the locks engage. I watch as he walks around to his side and unlocks the driver’s side door.
As he gets in, my eyes start to sting. At least he’s taking me back—no doubt on Roman’s orders. I think that if Roman wanted me dead, I would be by now.
But is this any better? Jesus. How do I get out of this now?