6. Rian And Dahlia Make Amends #2
“I already told—”
“For not telling you about Li.”
Rian’s mouth snaps shut and he finally looks at me.
I take a few careful steps forward and close the distance between us.
When I reach for him he doesn’t shy away from my touch and I place a hand on his shoulder.
I meet and hold his gaze, forcing him to witness the sincerity pouring out of me as I speak.
“I was wrong. For lying to you, using you, and keeping secrets from you. Last summer, I wasn’t myself.
I know it may be a little difficult to believe because this is the only version of me you’ve ever met but I promise.
I’m much better than this. When Morales came to me and told me what Li was planning, I shouldn’t have tried to play the hero.
I should’ve put my pride and feelings aside and told Alex.
Who knows. Maybe things would’ve been different if I had.
“Time passed and I grew to love you without realizing it. It made me want to save you both but I couldn’t. The truth is my life was—is…spinning out of control. And helping you felt like the one thing I had power over. In the end, I caused more harm to you. Because now Li’s dead and it’s my fault.”
I catch my breath at the end when the weight of this realization finally hits me.
“He was your best friend and you deserved closure. A chance to be angry with him. To fight and scream and cry and demand answers. But you never got that because of me. I’m sorry for all the ways I hurt you and I’m sorry I took Li from you.
No matter how things ended, you’ll still mourn the friend you loved and not the one who betrayed you. I’m sorry, Rian. I’m so, so sorry.
“And if you could find it in your heart to forgive me, I promise I will spend the rest of our lives proving I’m worthy of a second chance. To be your friend or at least a cordial acquaintance. But I’d much rather be your friend.”
The urge to dissolve into a puddle of tears overwhelms me but I gnaw on the inside of my cheek to keep the emotion at bay. Rian lifts his hand to my cheek and I hold my breath in anticipation of his answer, knowing he has every right to turn me away but praying he doesn’t.
He leans forward and presses a chaste kiss against my forehead. Somehow, it feels worse than being hated. I know his forgiveness is sincere but I feel so deeply unworthy of it. I almost miss when he was ignoring me. At least then I was being rightfully punished.
Rian pulls away and calls up toward the mezzanine. “Come down.”
Damiano swings his head over the railing. “I’m surprised no one die—” he bolts upward and spins around, clutching the back of his head. “Ow!”
“Idiot,” Lyss murmurs.
The four of them make their way downstairs and Alejandro is last. Our eyes meet but it’s brief.
“We don’t have a lot of time.” Rian says. “We need a plan.”
Alejandro addresses Sasha. “I’ll call my lawyer as soon as we’re done here. I’ll have the paperwork drawn up for the sale no later than tomorrow afternoon.”
Sasha gives a curt, definitive nod. “Fine.” He looks at his brother. “What’s next?”
“Once the sale goes through, Narvaez and I will sit down to talk. Shares in the company were how we maintained our partnership in the past and we can’t afford to lose our support in Barcelona.
Not now, at least,” he says then turns to Alejandro.
“We’ll come to a new arrangement. One that’s beneficial for us both. ”
Alejandro bows his head in silent approval.
Rian continues, “As for this police investigation, we need to get our story straight. Which is where Alyssa comes in.”
Lyss perks up. “Me?”
“Yes, you. You’re the one who figured out we could track Dahlia by her glow up pendant.”
“Friendship necklace.” She corrects.
I almost smile.
“The police are going to try and question you again. We need a linear account of the evening and it’s going to start with you.”
The six of us sit down and construct a timeline starting from when Lyss got home that evening up until the moment she called 911 in the park.
All of our police interviews up until this point have been truthful but vague and borderline useless, which means if the FBI gets involved, we won’t be able to skirt by with half-baked responses anymore.
We’ll need something concrete and consistent.
Something they can’t poke holes in. Or at least, tight enough that they don’t bother trying.
“If they pull our phone records, it might be a problem saying Lyss was the one who got the call from Li.” Damiano points out.
“I’ll have my cousin Arias handle it,” Alejandro says. “He’s in Miami taking care of something for my aunt. He won’t mind a brief trip up here.”
“We still don’t have a motive for why Li wanted to kidnap Dahlia in the middle of the night and lure us all out to Central Park.
” Lyss counters. “If we’re going to retract the part of our story where we all claimed to be in the right place at the right time, then we need to make the next story we’re selling them convincing. ”
“Simple.” Sasha gives a light shrug. “Tell the truth.”
I rub my temples. “Aren’t we trying to avoid that?”
“Everyone knows you and Li didn’t get along. The police will be able to get plenty of interviews to corroborate that,” Sasha explains. “We tell them Li took Dahlia because the enmity between them reached a breaking point.”
Rian shakes his head. “They’ll never believe that.”
“They will if you tell them it’s because she came into possession of the gun that killed Amy Walsh.”
I almost fall off the barstool. “You can’t be serious.”
“Think about it,” Sasha has his hands shoved into the pockets of his black slacks as he walks the perimeter of the dance floor.
“You’re at a poker game and the weapon is on the table but you don’t know what it really is.
It looks antique and you assume it has great value.
After you win the game and come into possession of it, Li is…
increasingly hostile and threatening toward you.
He demands to have it back but you refuse because you quickly realize it’s leverage against him.
He either approves of your relationship with Rian and leaves you in peace or you take it to the police. ”
The five of us exchange uncertain glances. Sasha continues his walking.
“Li can’t outright kill you because Rian is protecting you.
But having the weapon poses a threat to him.
It all comes apart after your fight at The Empress the week before the shootout.
There’s too much bad blood between you and he decides he wants the pistol back.
A week later, you go missing for several hours, Lyss can’t get a hold of you, and then she gets a strange phone call from Li.
” He stops and spins on the balls of his feet to face us. “The rest unfolds from there.”
Lyss stares at him a minute. “That’s almost exactly how it happened.”
He lifts a finger. “Tochno, krasivaya devochka.”
My friend frowns. “What does that mean?”
“If we tell them about the gun, then we’ll have to hand it over.” Damiano says.
“I don’t see how that’d be a problem. Li’s dead and Dahlia no longer needs it as leverage against him.” Rian lifts his good shoulder. “We don’t need it anymore.”
Lyss presses her lips together. “I don’t know…this feels a little complicated.”
“If we go with that story, they’re going to pin those other bodies on us.” I say. “Or did everyone else forget?”
“Don’t worry about the other bodies,” Damiano pulls out his phone. “I think I know a guy.”
Sasha squints. “You know a guy?”
Damiano throws his arms open with a sigh of exasperation. “Look at our line of work, we all know a guy.”
Alejandro frowns. “Why do we have to use your guy?”
Both Sasha and Damiano look his way.
“I know a guy too.”
Damiano lifts a disbelieving brow at Alejandro. “You know a guy?”
“Yes.”
“In New York?”
“I was born here you know.”
“But you weren’t raised here.” He parries.
“Which makes you a fake New Yorker,” Sasha adds.
Alejandro turns to face him. “You were born in Moscow.”
He gives his head a shake. “Not the same. It’s different.”
“Oh really? How’s it different?”
“Well, for one, I actually know how to take the train without ending up in New Rochelle.”
“That was one time—”
Lyss’s brows pull together and she leans over to whisper, “How the Hell did he end up in New Rochelle?”
“I don’t know…are there even trains up there?” I reply.
She shrugs in response. “Beats me. I’ve never been anywhere a MetroCard couldn’t take me.”
“All right,” Rian interrupts. “Enough. Are we all on the same page here? Because I have work to do.”
Sasha grabs his coat from the back of Lyss’s barstool. “I’m heading to the office. Do you need me to drop you off at work?”
“Shit,” Lyss grabs her phone and hops down from her seat. “Do you mind? I took the morning off but I need to be there before my boss gets back from lunch.”
My head snaps around so fast that when I find Alejandro, he has to fake a cough to hide his laughter. Either we’ve stepped into The Twilight Zone or something’s going on between Lyss and Sasha because this is the first time I’ve ever seen them exchange more than a handful of words.
“I can take you,” Rian says but his eyes are on his brother.
Before Lyss can respond, Sasha already has his hand on the small of her back as he leads her out the door. “Didn’t you just say you have work to do?”
Rian opens his mouth to respond but Sasha gives his back to him and opens the door for Lyss to pass through. With a bewildered, almost vexed expression on his face, he turns to Damiano who throws up his hands and beelines straight for the mezzanine stairs.
I tsk as Alejandro holds out my coat for me. “Algo está pasando aquí,” I sing-song.
He kisses my temple. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way home.”