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Dante
“Remember when you said that there was something I wasn’t telling you?”
“Yes,” Charlie said, her knees curled up under her on the sofa. She stared from me to the fire I’d made in the fireplace.
“You were right. I brought you here – I brought you here to tell you everything.”
“Why now? Why here?”
“Because I can no longer bear the look in your eyes. Your fear. It scares me,” I said honestly.
“It scares me too,” she said, sighing.
“Stefan ... he’s an addict,” I said.
“I know that,” she said calmly.
“How did you know?” I asked, surprised.
“I could smell the meth on him when he was choking me,” Charlie explained, one hand slowly rubbing her throat. The bruises were very faint now; almost gone. And the second time we met, I could see the wild look in his eyes. I know that look only too well. Been around enough junkie. Seen that look a hundred times. My mom was just starting to get into drugs when I left home. I think that’s why she turned on me like she did when I told her what her boyfriend tried to do to me. At least, that’s what I tell myself to make it make sense. Anyway, now that I look back, I was almost relieved when she kicked me out. Even though I was scared, there was too much in that house that I couldn’t control. Too much madness.”
I reached out for her hand. Thankfully, she didn’t resist my touch. “So you know what it’s like to see someone you love disappear as the person you’ve known them to be.?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I knew Stefan had a problem, but I didn’t think it was as bad as it apparently is. That changed the day he assaulted you the first time. But it was more than the drugs that made him dangerous, which is why I was so adamant about keeping you under lock and key.”
I looked out the window at the darkness of the forest, remembering when Stefan was about ten or eleven. He’d encountered a black bear – a baby cub. Instead of being afraid, he’d wanted to go find something to feed it; to lure it closer. I’d made him come inside and stay inside until the bear disappeared back into the woods.
To this day, Stefan was still chasing danger. Only this time, I might not be able to save him.
The forefinger of Charlie’s right hand circled the rim of the cup of tea she held, as if the rest of what I wanted to tell her was there in the bottom and would somehow reveal itself.
“I told you that Stefan and I had different visions about how our organization should be run. That was true; a partial truth. Remember when I told you that my outfit didn’t deal in drugs?”
“Yes.”
“Well my brother has apparently decided that now we do. And the way he gets them is ripping off local dealers.”
“That never ends well,” Charlie said ominously.
“True, and it just did for him. Much worse. And much more dangerous.”
“How?”
“At first, he was taking stashes from small time dealers. He made the mistake recently though of stealing from someone a little higher up the food chain, boosting a shipment of cocaine from a Colombian cartel member. They want it back, and his head on a platter beside it.”
“So that’s why you’ve been looking for him. You want to get to him before they do.”
“Yes. I know that if I found him, I find the stash. I’ve set it up so that if it’s returned, he can escape unharmed.”
“And you believe whoever told you that?” Charlie said skeptically.
“Yes. I have a few trusted connections, and I happen to know they don’t want an all-out war on the streets here. They just want their merchandise back, and a guarantee that I will handle my brother. And I will.”
“If you get to him first.”
“Exactly.”
“So that’s why he was asking me what I overheard? He thought I knew about his little lick, or should I say, big lick.”
“Yes. The junk he’s putting in his body have made him paranoid, turning him into someone I don’t know. When I saw you tied to that chair, him hitting you. I didn’t recognize that person. Stefan ... he was always spirited. But he was a protector. Certainly not someone who put his hands on a woman. Our parents are rolling over in their graves, and I just feel like I failed him.”
“You didn’t fail him Dante. He failed himself. Sooner or later, we all have to take responsibility for our own lives.”
“I suppose,” I said. “But I’ve always taken care of Stefan.”
“He’s a grown man Dante. You can’t help those who don’t want to be helped.”
“I probably should have realized that a few years ago.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Stefan has always had grandiose ideas. I got into this business with an exit strategy from day one. But him; the more our organization grew, he changed. He wanted to get into things that were never an option. Drugs. Prostitution. Counterfeiting. If it made money and it was illegal, he wanted a part of it. Fast money. Easy money. Lots of money.”
“That’s kinda why you become a criminal, isn’t it? To make money.”
“That’s not why I did it. It was an easy way to make a living as an uneducated sixteen-year-old with some size on him. But I always knew I never wanted this life full-time, which is why I had an exit strategy. I thought we were on the same page, but Stefan went off like a loose cannon. For the last two or three years, I’ve been trying to keep him on the straight and narrow. But with these Colombians ... I have one shot to make it right. Get them their merchandise back, and get Stefan into some kind of rehab, far away from here.”
“And if the doesn’t go?”
“He will.”
“But if he doesn’t. Then what Dante? How much time do you have to find him?”
“Four more days,” I said on a slow exhale.
“And then what?” Charlie asked.