Chapter 9
It was bullshit. It had to be. Not in a million years would my straightlaced, valedictorian brother ever have done what that jerkwad insinuated yesterday. I was one hundred percent certain of it.
Noah was the type of guy who stood up to let an older person or a pregnant woman take his seat on the light-rail.
He was the guy who called out people who littered.
The type of brother who read me stories before bed and did character voices.
The thoughtful brother who always gave me the last cookie in the package.
Noah would never work with sex and drug traffickers. It just wasn’t possible.
“Where are we going?” Lou tugged on my hand before giving our joined hands a large swing as she skipped for a few steps. She pointed back toward the street we had just crossed. “The Hayes house is that way.”
Even after having stayed in that house for two months more than me, Lou couldn’t call that place home.
“I know. We’re just taking a detour.”
“Where?”
“To the post office. A real quick stop, I promise.”
I only settled on how to handle Renzo Iannelli while waiting to pick up Lou at the community center summer camp. Luckily, I still had some change from yesterday’s failed grocery trip.
My anonymous tip was hastily written, but I doubted the cops would care, as long as it was useful to them.
It was the best I could do right now. Going to the police station was out of the question.
Not only would the mob boss asshole find out somehow, but I didn’t want to risk the tip being discredited because I was underage and a foster child to boot.
“Won’t Marlene get mad at you again?” The concern in Lou’s voice hurt, almost as much as the bruise on my shoulder where our foster mom jabbed me with a pan handle last night for arriving late to pick up Boyan from daycare.
I kneeled down in front of her. Her tiny hands slipped into mine, and I smiled up at her brown, pudgy-cheeked face.
She looked absolutely adorable with the double afro puffs I’d managed to wrangle her hair into.
Nothing too fancy, but enough for her to look as cute as a button and happier for it.
In time, I hoped to manage some different types of braids.
I was still learning how to take care of her hair since Marlene refused to.
“I don’t want you to worry about that, sparrow. My job is to keep you safe, not the other way around.”
She twisted from side to side. “But I want you safe too.”
“I know, sweetheart. Now, come on.” I stood back up while playfully catching her nose between my index and middle fingers, just like Noah used to do to me.
“We do this, then we’ll skedaddle back to the Hayeses’, drop off our stuff, and head over to pick up Boyan from daycare.
I promise we’ll be back before Marlene and Charlie arrive. No frets. No worries.”
With her hand in mine, we headed toward the post office a few blocks away, only to smack head-on into someone large and heavy. I rebounded to the sidewalk. Lou fell down with me.
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Lou mumbled in a panic between heaved sobs. She sniffled and rubbed at the few scratches on her knee under the new hole in her pants.
I snapped back upright, ignoring the twinge in my tailbone, and dusted her off. “It’s nothing. We’ll fix it.”
I had no idea how, but I would. No way was Marlene going to see this new hole. I glared behind us.
The giant we’d run into still stood there like a pillar—tatted up from neck to jawline and around to his ears, all the way down to his crossed arms that just bulked him up further.
Round sunglasses hid his eyes. They looked almost comical on his long, tense-jawed face, if it weren’t for the furrowing of his brows and the snarl on his lips.
“You couldn’t watch where you were going?” I snapped at him. “She could’ve been hurt.”
“You think I care, kid?”
The hoarse crush of his voice sent shivers down my spine.
He continued to loom, still as a statue, the smell of an ashtray wafting off him.
We weren’t on a busy street by any means, but a few people were walking along the residential sidewalk, and some cars drove past, enough that I hoped it meant he wouldn’t do anything.
I shifted in front of Lou, holding her behind me.
“We get it. You’re big and tough. Feel free to get on with your day.”
“I’m here to ensure the boss’ safety. From any threats. By whatever means possible. You get my drift, kid?”
I gulped slowly. I should’ve guessed Iannelli would send people to watch me after yesterday. Considering how easily he let me go, I assumed he thought I was inconsequential.
“We weren’t doing anything.”
He huffed, his lip curling slightly where a scar cut down his nostril to his misshapen Cupid’s bow. The slightly discolored skin stood out against all his facial tattoos, making him look downright feral.
“Home is that way.” He pointed backward. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head back now.”
I stared him down, unwilling to give him my fear. Stupid, fudging Renzo Iannelli. I dealt with bullies enough at school to know that showing a chink in your armor was the best way to make a situation worse. The strong only responded to the strong, while the weak got stomped on.
“We’re just taking a detour for some snacks at the shop two blocks down. Not that it’s any of your business,” I snarked, crossing my arms.
“What of the six shops you’ve passed since you left your little club?”
My eyes widened, but I tried to keep my cool. “That one has better candy.”
He hedged closer to us, placing the street at his back. Lou and I walked backward quickly until our backs hit the brick wall behind us.
Lou whimpered, and I shoved her between me and the wall. He kept on advancing, flicking open a knife, until we had nowhere left to go. The cool press of metal dug into my skin. I hissed through the sting, my neck going hot as I tried to hold my breath.
“This is how it’s going to go. You’re going to go home. You’re going to forget you saw me and everything you know about Mr. Iannelli. If you don’t…” The knife trailed down my neck as I bit down hard on my lower lip to contain my trembling. Lou sobbed softly into my bruised arm, gripping it hard.
Why was no one on the street calling him out? A woman in her thirties locked eyes with my pleading ones and just walked by. A man in his twenties turned his head in our direction but kept strolling past us.
“Is that clear?”
Sudden pain sparked through my collarbone, and I gasped out a sob. Then the tip of the brute’s knife flashed in front of my eyes, stained red. Lou’s tears quietly soaked the back of my sleeve and shirt.
“Don’t make me say it again, kid.”
I wasn’t going to give in and let go. Noah deserved more than that, but I wasn’t stupid either. I nodded slowly, glaring into my own reflection in this asshole’s sunglasses.
“Good, see that it stays that way.” He wiped his knife off on my shirt. “Or the next time you see me, I’ll make sure to leave a much more permanent mark. On you and on whoever’s with you.”
His knife angled toward Lou’s exposed side. I nudged her further behind me.
“Point made,” I gritted out. “Now, leave us alone.”
“You know, I don’t like your attitude. Maybe I should—”
His phone rang, and he pulled it to his ear. “Yeah,” he grated. “I’ll be there.”
With one last grim glance at us and a twist of his knife in front of our faces, he strode away with a bounce to his step. We watched him cross the street and turn a corner. Only then did I breathe again, slumping against the wall.
I pressed a hand to my chest and gulped bile reflux back down. The little nick against my collarbone stung. My ears were ringing, and my legs were shaking, but I clutched Lou’s trembling little body against me and tried to forget the rest.
“We’re okay. I got you. We’re okay.”
She barely made a noise in return. She’d long ago learned that the best way not to attract attention was to stay quiet.
The way I saw it—silence might not attract the monsters, but it certainly didn’t keep them at bay. It wasn’t good enough to leave the monsters be. They needed to be slain, even if their deaths were slow and painful, cut by little cut. I just had to start somewhere.