41. Helen
Molly is young, but not quite as young as her voice sounds. It would put her in her early twenties, but she also might just have one of those faces that will always look a little childish, with her big brown eyes and round cheeks.
Molly is also very, very pregnant. Like, ready-to-pop-at-any-moment pregnant.
I stare at her, then at Dean, my eyes widening. I don’t know whether I should be aghast or thrilled at this development. Aghast because Dean can barely take care of himself, much less a partner and child. Thrilled because…a baby! A little niece or nephew to cuddle and buy cute baby clothes, and honestly, Dean might have been a pain in my butt when we were children but even I have to admit he was the cutest little thing…
Molly must read at least some of what’s on my face because she shakes her head. “It isn’t his.”
“It is mine,” Dean protests, putting a protective hand on her belly. “I don’t care whose DNA is in that baby. I’m gonna take care of both of you.”
“Whose baby is it?” I ask, a growing sense of dread filling me at Dean’s bravado and the haunted look on Molly’s face.
Dean locks eyes with Thad, as if it’s easier to explain things to him. “You know Eddie Cadorna?”
Thad swears, running a hand over his face. He looks to Molly, putting two and two together. “That’s his?—?”
“Yeah,” Dean confirms grimly.
“And you?”
“Yeah.”
I glare at both of them. “Care to include the rest of us in this conversation?” I guess by the rest of us, I really mean me, since Molly clearly knows what’s going on, but still. Rude of them to use that shorthand.
Thad turns to me, taking my shoulders like he’s about to brace me for something bad. “Eddie Cadorna is one of the big bosses of the Chicago mafia. And Molly is his daughter.”
I really thought he was going to say child bride, so at first I’m relieved, until it sinks in. His daughter. I think of the lengths my mother would go to keep Dean safe, and she doesn’t even have mafia connections. Something tells me that a mafia boss, accustomed to getting everything he wants, is not going to just calmly accept someone running off with his pregnant daughter.
And speaking of pregnant… I look down at Molly’s bulging belly. “Whose…?”
“Nicky Gallo,” Thad tells me grimly, like I should know the name. Because, yes, we librarians spend a lot of time keeping up on the who’s who of Chicago mobsters. At my shrug, he elaborates, “Cadorna’s right-hand man.”
“We got married ten months ago.” Molly’s voice is so quiet that I almost don’t hear her. “He wanted to get me pregnant right away, so I couldn’t keep begging my dad to get it annulled. I was sneaking birth control, but he found it and made me flush it down the toilet. When I got the positive pregnancy test, it felt like a life sentence. But at least after that he left me alone.”
I watch her uneasily, not wanting to prod, but reading between the lines well enough. I’m not sure what all Molly’s marriage entailed, but I can tell by the rigid set of her jaw and her small-framed shoulders that it was deeply unhappy.
Frowning, I look at Dean. “How did you get involved in all of this?”
Dean won’t quite meet my gaze. “I was Nicky’s driver, and I ran some other errands for him. That’s how I met Molly.”
Again, reading between the lines, I can guess that Dean didn’t just get the job off Craigslist. If he was working for a higher-up in the Chicago mafia, chances were very good that he was trying to become a member himself, get in the boss’s good graces. My first instinct is to scold him for being so stupid and reckless, but I realize I’m not really sure I have the right. He’s a grown man, and one I barely have a relationship with. And anyway, I doubt he’ll get very far with his mafia aspirations now, seeing as how he “kidnapped” the wife and daughter of two of their most prominent members.
“We fell in love,” Dean continues, taking Molly’s hand and stroking it. “I couldn’t see her suffer anymore, I just couldn’t. I know that Mom’s sacrificed a lot for me, but what choice did I have?”
I, for one, feel like there are quite a few choices between being a law-abiding citizen and breaking bond to flee to Mexico with a mafia boss’s pregnant daughter, but apparently I’m naive.
And…I’m also not insensible to Molly’s plight. Dean might have his faults, but I believe him when he says he couldn’t just stand by and watch her suffer. Dean was the kid who would steal a teacher’s car and fill it with rotten eggs, but who also would rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health.
The thing was, though, despite his good intentions…the wounded animals usually died. And even though I believe he really wants to keep Molly and her baby safe—he’s Dean.
I exchange a glance with Thad, seeing in his gaze that we’re roughly on the same page. We must not be too subtle about it, though, because Dean bristles defensively. “We’ll be safe once we’re in Mexico.”
“You think they can’t send people to follow you there?” Thad counters. “This is about honor to them. If they let you get away with it, then they can’t hold absolute power. They’ll kill you if they get the chance. They might not kill Molly since she’s Cadorna’s daughter, but you better believe she’s gonna live the rest of her life under lock and key once they find her.”
“They won’t find us,” Dean insists. “I disappeared once, and I can do it again.”
Dean the ghost. I think he must have had his usual luck on his side, to go undetected for so long, but now the people who are following him will know his tricks. They’ll know to keep an eye on Mom, and Aunt Linda, and most likely me. He won’t be able to drop off the radar again through sheer dumb luck.
“I found you,” I remind him gently. “And I’m just a librarian. These people are relentless, Dean, and they have resources. You need to let Thad help you.”
“Thaddeus Hughes, the Bama Bounty guy?” Dean scoffs. At Thad’s surprised face, he continues, “Yeah, I recognize you. Took me a minute without the mohawk, but I’ve seen the show.” After a beat, he adds, “Do you think I could get your dad’s autograph?”
This time I do roll my eyes. Leave it to Dean to focus on the least important detail when his life is literally in danger.
But if Thad is thrown by this, he doesn’t let it show on his face. “I’ll do you one better—I’ll let you talk to him on the phone, if you like. Maybe you don’t believe me, but he’s seen this kind of shit before, man. He can tell you why going into custody is your best option.”
That’s a big concession from Thad, since I know he hasn’t spoken to his dad in years. That’s how high the stakes are, and how important it is to him to convince Dean.
I can see the war on Dean’s face—getting to talk to Darius Hughes! But also maybe going back to jail. He glances at Molly. “What will happen to Molly?”
The thought comes to me before I fully intend to vocalize it. “I know some guys. Really important guys, who are connected, and can help Molly start life under a new identity.”
Dean looks at me skeptically. “Monks?”
“Quinn Sullivan and Dan O’Malley, the heads of Cipher Security. Ever heard of them?”
Dean’s face looks blank, but Thad does a double take. “How do you know Quinn Sullivan and Dan O’Malley?”
It’s a little too complicated to explain all in one go, so I summarize it as succinctly as I can: “They’re friends from church.”
“Huh.” Thad looks a little stunned, like I’ve just told him I know Brad Pitt or George Clooney, or something. Actually, to someone in the security business, saying I know Dan and Quinn is probably a bit like saying I know the security versions of Brad and George. “Those guys are seriously the best at what they do. They have this hacker who works for them, Alex Greene?—”
The memory of a tall, quiet, dark-haired man I met in passing pops into my mind. “Alex—dark hair and glasses, right?”
Thad stares at me. “You know Alex Greene?”
“Not very well,” I tell him. “We bumped into each other at IKEA one time. I know his wife.”
Thad blinks at me, hard. “You mean this whole time we could have just shot Alex Greene a text and asked him to locate your brother?”
I shrug. “I guess so?”
With a sigh, Thad turns back to Dean. “Alex Greene is basically the best hacker in the entire world. If he agreed to do so, he could get Molly a new ID, new social security, a whole new identity, in a few minutes. I don’t care who her father hires, he’d never be able to track her down.”
Molly and Dean exchange a hopeful look. “Do you think hed do that?” Dean asks me.
I really have no idea. But then, if he works for Dan and Quinn, and Dan’s and Quinn’s mothers have anything to say about it, then… “Yes. Definitely.”
Molly and Dean retreat to the corner of the room to exchange fervid whispers. I look at Thad, who gives me a grim smile, an appreciative nod. “You did good. Who knew you were so connected?”
Grinning, I shrug back at him. “I’m full of surprises, baby.”
I meant it to sound a little over-the-top cheesy, like a schmoozy Hollywood agent, but Thad’s face softens as he looks at me, in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. “You sure are.”
At the sound of a loud, mechanical clicking at the door, we all stop talking, turning to stare.
It takes my brain too long to process that it’s someone opening the hotel door with a key card. By the time the thought has entered my mind, Thad is already stepping in front of me, shielding me with his body as he motions for the others to move back.
From where we’re standing in the room, the view of the door is obscured by a wall, so for a few moments we wait—until a man steps into view.
Shane.
Holding a gun.
“Dean Flanagan,” he says, with a steely focus that is as foreign to his features as it is unsettling. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to meet you.”