Chapter Forty-Five #2
He watched me, brows drawing down a little, not in confusion, but in a frown that told me how frustrated he was with me, how he didn’t want to be here but, for some reason, had to be.
He momentarily looked away from me to a spot on the wall before shaking his head.
“I was sitting on my flight today, thinking about what to do to you,” he said, looking back at me.
“I asked myself, what punishment could I give to this woman? I scrapped anything physical because, frankly, that would be too boring and a waste of time and energy.”
I had a retort at the tip of my tongue but held back as he took a step closer and continued talking.
“And then I thought … how about something mental—something that would have her spilling all the truths she guards so fiercely, but I figured that would hurt me mentally more than it would hurt you, and I was at my last straw, so I scrapped it. I thought about it for minutes before deciding there was no point to it. I asked myself why I should dwell on something that might not matter in a few days.”
He took another step towards me, and I had to raise my head a little to look at him.
“Some things, Zahra, just do not deserve my attention, but then I had the burning need to get answers to my questions, and that’s the only reason you’re here.”
Another retort pushed at me, but I knew it wasn’t time to joke around and mess with him; he was barely hanging on by a thread with his anger.
I might be tough, but I knew when poking the tiger needed to be suspended.
“You already know I plan to let you and your friends go. I just need to know why you did some of the things you did.”
“Ask.”
His jaw clenched at my tone, his eyes sweeping between mine, withheld anger shimmering in the gray of his irises, pupils dilating and constricting.
If anything, I just wanted him to lash out, yell at me, and let out the anger brewing inside him; maybe then I would feel less … guilty.
“For days, you kept someone like Chika in a house with my brother; you staged a kidnapping, fooled your whole team, and kept it from Angelo, whom I put in charge of Street affairs; why?”
The scream I did internally had me wincing.
Fucking saucy bitch!
I gritted my teeth hard, wondering what Elio had done to Chika to have him reveal that information.
“I—”
“When you answer me, Zahra. You do not answer with a lie, a dismissal, or a half-truth. I only want the truth.”
I gulped down. No lie … no dismissal, no half-truth.
I was screwed unless I told the truth.
He might not carry a gun, but I didn’t doubt the ability of his hands to snap a neck. My neck.
Fuck.
I cleared my dry throat, stepping back a bit before answering. His eyes followed my every movement like a hawk, praying for me to slip up so he could attack. Not today. I would surrender to fight another day.
“Fine,” I started, “we were behind on finding the painting, and I was agitated. I knew I had to do something, so I contacted some of the people that worked for—for Manuel.” Saying that name out loud had me shifting uncomfortably, wishing I could bring Chika back from the dead and kill him again for putting me through all he did today.
“I asked them for help because I knew they were also looking for the painting, and I know how easy it is to bribe out information from his people.”
When he didn’t respond, I took that as my cue to continue.
“They told me about Chika, and then I contacted him; he was on edge because some people had already caught wind of Arturo having an adopted son. I offered him protection if he would help us get the paintings and tell us everything he knew. I swear to you that he told me he wanted nothing to do with the paintings and Arturo’s business; he said the same thing to Street.
I was so focused on the information he would give that I—I didn’t listen when Street told me it was a bad idea. ”
“Continue.”
I sighed. “The only reason I staged Chika’s kidnapping was because I couldn’t answer questions on how I learned about him, seeing as I don’t want them to know anything about Manuel, or that part of my life.
And I didn’t tell Angelo because he would tell his team, and I didn’t trust anyone with that information; a lot was riding on it. ”
He remained silent after I finished talking—just looking at me, his thoughts hidden from his face.
“And the risk you took, getting onto that bus—”
“I didn’t think he was going to pull that. If I had known, I would have asked Upper and Milk to contact Angelo’s people immediately.”
“That’s not right. According to what I heard, you still had a few minutes of communications with the rest of your team when you got on the bus.”
“Yes. But I am not dumb enough to call your people when shit hits the fan. I had the kids to worry about, and I knew the media would be involved in no time; if your people had come to rescue us, your name would have been caught in the crossfire—”
He took a sharp step towards me, crowding my space, scaring me for a second. “Do I look like someone who cares about some crossfire? You put my brother’s life in danger; I could have lost him today.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I almost did!” His voice rose.
“He’s alive.”
“What if the bomb had gone off, hm?” His jaw clenched, his gaze burning into mine. “What if something had gone wrong, and the bomb was set off.”
“It didn’t; I stopped it.”
“But what if you hadn’t? What if you failed? One simple fucking wrong decision, Zahra. That’s all it takes.”
“I know that!”
“Do you!” he yelled in my face, and I flinched back. “Because when you act without thinking like you did today, it begs the question of whether that was your plan all along.”
I scoffed with a glare. “Yeah, because I’m some sociopath who loves to kill little children and herself while she’s at it, nothing unusual, just the Sunday fucking special.” I turned to step away from him, but his hand came around my arm and pulled me back to face him in one hard tug.
“Don’t fucking walk away from me.”
“Listen here, motherfucker; I have had the worst damn day in all of this year combined, battling with stupid trauma while I tried to stay alive; the last thing I want”—I gestured between us—“is this.”
“Oh, sorry, Zahra, I genuinely apologize that you put yourself in a situation that had you battling childhood trauma. Do you want a shoulder pat?”
I was vibrating with anger when I gritted out a “Fuck off” and tried to tug myself free of his hold. “Let me fucking go, or I swear I’ll be the one doing the fucking punching.”
His hand dropped from my arm. “You think you were the only one who had a bad day? Do you know the detestable things I had to do today? The damage control I had to take care of from your immature decisions while fucking worrying about that bus blowing to bits?”
I shot him a sweet smile filled with malice. “I was only doing the job you paid me for.”
“Agh,” he groaned, raising both his hands as if he wanted to strangle me, his fists clenching and unclenching as he turned away from me, loudly trying to control his breathing, which shook with anger as he kept his distance.
After a few seconds, he turned back to me. “Admit your mistake.”
I breathed out a strained laugh. “What?”
“Say that your actions weren’t the right ones to take. Say that you could have done about a thousand different things to change the outcome of today; apologize for fucking making me worry about you and my brother.”
I blinked, watching him before grinding my teeth together in a clench and standing taller. “I did what I thought was right, and as always, we survived.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“If you’re looking to break me, you might as well get back out there and get a gun to finish me off because I stand by my actions. It might have been a wrong call, but as long as I survived, I know damn well that I didn’t make a mistake.”
He didn’t like my response. It did something to him, something that had the anger leaving his eyes, replaced with a question.
“Why are you really here, Zahra?” he asked calmly.
“You brought me here.”
“I know I did,” he said with a tired frown, one that resembled disappointment.
“But I didn’t care when my people found the location of your studio apartment.
When they saw the little device in that anklet, and they thought your team was as dumb as they came, leaving something as delicate as that behind.
I didn’t care what motive you guys had. At some point, I thought Elia wanted me to find him, but then—I got to know you. ”
His gaze searched my face. “I started to see that this wasn’t Elia’s doing.
It was yours. I was wary at first, but I shoved it aside because I had my goal set, and whatever you and whoever you work for were planning to do to me and the empire wouldn’t matter because there would be nothing left to take. ”
My frown hardened. “I don’t work for anyone, and if you really want to know, I’m only here for the gold.”
“We both know that is a lie, and I honestly don’t care to know why you’re really here; or if you choose to remain boneheaded and deny your mistakes from today, I just need to understand why you were fucking with me.”
I paused, the glare on my face vanishing. “What are you talking about?”
He narrowed his eyes, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Zahra.” His voice was like coal: dense, yet solid. “If all you wanted out of this was the gold, my shelter, and the protection my name provided, why were you playing with me?”
I was confused. “Playing with you … what are you—”
“You lied to me, told me you and Elia didn’t have anything to do with each other. You knew I wouldn’t have crossed that line if I knew, and you fucking lied to me, Zahra.”
Gears were turning in my head very fast, spinning, spiraling. “What? No, what are you talking about? I didn’t lie … there is truly, most definitely nothing there—”
“The kids from the bus had something very different to say about that.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, oh shit, that was—Elio, they’re kids, they see two people kiss, and they imagine they are both in—”
“You knew.” He ignored my explanation. “You knew how rocky my relationship with Elia was, yet you lied. You made me touch you, and like you; you fooled me, for what? Hm? Because I shot you when we first met or because I tried to drown you?”
“Elio—”
“You ruined every chance I had of ever building any relationship with him, and that’s fine. It’s also why I want you all gone. Ever since Street arrived, my life has been inconveniently eventful.”
This was going downhill so fast that I couldn’t catch the damn rope. “That kiss wasn’t—it didn’t mean anything; I promise you, it was nothing like that—”
“I already made my decision.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” I snapped. “We were supposed to be here to find the original painting, the gold, and your stupid fucking flash drives.”
He took a step back. “I can handle my business. If you want the gold that badly, I’ll have people send it to your preferred location when I find it. By morning I expect you and Street to be out of my compound.”
“Elio”—fuck—“can we please just double back and talk about this? You’re angry, I am angry, and we both can’t be hotheaded at the same time while we try to find common ground.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“It does.”
I watched him, and he watched me. For seconds, minutes, I don’t know how long we stood there.
I could say many things to fix this, clear his doubt about Devil and me, but I didn’t know how to say them. I didn’t know if I wanted to say them.
But I didn’t like this. Not one bit.
When he spoke next, it was in Spanish. “You can mess with me all you want, Zahra. I will take it, but involving Elia, the only family I have? That is something I won’t take.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“I can’t choose between you and my brother.”
I took a step closer to him, switching back to English. “It really wasn’t like that, Elio. I wouldn’t purposefully ruin your relationship with your brother; what the fuck would I gain from separating family when I don’t even have anyone of my own, nor will I ever?”
“I don’t care how it was, neither do I care what your intentions are. This thing between us shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and unlike you, I am willing to admit when I have made a mistake.”
“That mistake being me?” I asked quietly.
He hesitated seconds too long before he said, “Yes.”
I looked away from him, biting inside my lips, feeling like someone had dropped a weight of emotional baggage in my chest and ripped it out along with my heart.
I nodded. “Right.” I swallowed, unable to look at him. “When am I—when am I allowed to leave here?” I asked.
“Anytime you want.” He gestured to the file. “That’s the contract. Whatever clause I didn’t fulfill, you can take it up with Angelo; he will pay for it.”
“Elio—”
“I wouldn’t want to apply force when you and your team do not leave the compound by tomorrow, so make sure to do what’s needed,” he said without looking at me before he turned and left the cell without a second glance my way.
I let out a shuddering breath, returned to the bed, and sat down when the door closed behind him.
One would think I would jump at the opportunity to be out of this cell, and many would think I did precisely that the moment he left. But no. I sat there for two hours, knowing there were a thousand ways this day and this conversation could have gone, but with the result at the end of the day …
I knew I had taken the wrong path.