Consuela
I get home exhausted and craving Chinese food. The apartment is dark, the curtains drawn. He is here.
My eyes find Dan on the couch, his eyes glinting in the shadows. He holds up the Faraday box. I cross to him, my coat still on, and pull my phone from my pocket, slipping it into the padded box.
Dan closes and locks it. He stays seated as I stand over him—his face at my chest height. I want to drop into his lap, but I hold myself up. “You are plotting to take down Robert Maxim,” he says, his voice low. “With Sydney.”
“She told you?” What the hell?
“No.” Dan frowns. “I don’t need to be told things to know them.”
“Of course you don’t, you’re the king of inappropriate boundaries.”
“Boundaries?” His voice is low. Dan reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone.
“Hey,” I say, “No fair.”
“Take off your coat,” Dan says. “We are calling Sydney.”
“Isn’t she on her honeymoon?”
“Yes, but this can’t wait. I have to tell the rest of the council but I’m telling her first, so she knows what’s going to happen.”
“The council?” I say, pretending I don’t know what he is talking about.
“Stop it, Consuela.” He looks up at me, his eyes hard. “Don’t play dumb with me. It’s unnecessary and hurtful.”
I press my lips together, holding back anything I might have to say about that. Instead I turn, shrugging out of my coat, and hang it up, then return to the couch. I slip off my suit jacket and sit down next to him, turning on a lamp so that we are no longer in darkness.
Sydney answers on the second ring, her face filling the small screen. “Good timing,” she says with a smile. “I was just taking the dogs for a walk before bed.” Wind brushes up against the microphone, blurring her words a little. She tilts the screen so that we can see her three dogs playing under the moonlight on a Caribbean beach—the white sand glows, the gentle waves shimmer, the dogs bound around each other, their pure joy bringing a smile to my face.
Maybe I should get a puppy. I almost laugh out loud at the idea because, yeah, what I need right now is something that pisses all over my house and needs a ton of attention. Clearly, I am losing my mind.
“I’m calling as a courtesy,” Dan says.
“Well that sounds ominous,” Sydney says, turning the camera back to her face. Wind plays with her hair, drifting the shoulder-length locks around her face. Her lips are turned down in a frown, and the moonlight hits the scar under her eye, highlighting the pale ridge.
“You’re alone?” Dan asks.
“Just me and the dogs,” she answers.
“Fine. I know what you and Consuela are plotting.”
“Plotting?” Sydney laughs. “Executing is more like it.”
I smile, enjoying the way Sydney blows off Dan’s concerns.
“This could get you and Consuela killed. How could you not tell us?” Dan asks.
“I think you put it perfectly there, Dan.” Sydney’s voice is harsh. “It could get us both killed, and, to keep you from being next on the list, I needed it to be believable that you didn’t know. How did you find out anyway?” She tilts her head in a way that suggests she knows his personal boundaries are completely out of whack.
“You know I have access to your phone at all times. For safety.” His voice is gruff, annoyed he has to defend himself. “It’s ridiculous to suggest I could not keep this a secret,” Dan says. “You put us all in danger with your lies.”
“Omissions,” Sydney says quietly, but her eyes glitter through the screen.
“You didn’t think I could help?” Dan changes tacks. “You’re not exactly qualified to go through mountains of paperwork looking for evidence.”
“I am,” I interrupt their argument. “That’s the point, Dan: Sydney sends me the paperwork, I search through it, looking for evidence of malfeasance.”
“A name in the running for my son, by the way.” Sydney laughs. The sound melts some of the stress in my shoulders.
“You two think this is funny?” Dan asks, his voice high—as if he is horrified by our cavalier attitude.
“I think you’re funny,” Sydney says. “You’re so pissed off, Dan.”
“Because you two lied to me.”
“Please,” Sydney says. “First of all, I did what I had to do. I didn’t want you and the rest of the council trying to kill Robert to protect me—I had to make you believe I was going through the marriage of my own free will. Second, now that you know my plan, don’t try to kill him, I’ve got this.
“Third, I assumed you’d figure it out, so this call is no surprise. Let me know if Robert finds out, but don’t tell anyone else. You know Mulberry will go full mass shooter on him. Frank! No!” Sydney lowers the phone as she runs a few steps. “Stop drinking it! Jesus, this dog.” She holds the phone up to her face. “Dumb as a rock.”
“I don’t like being lied to,” Dan says.
“Dan, you are the king of keeping secrets from others—let’s just move past the outrage here and onto the working together to keep Consuela and me safe, while also taking down Robert Maxim.” A dog barks and Sydney looks past the phone. “I’ve got to go,” she says, then disconnects and the screen goes blank.
Dan lets out a low hiss of an exhale.
“She certainly told you,” I say, sitting back into the couch feeling way too satisfied.
Dan turns to me, uncertainty creasing his brow. “I don’t like this, Consuela, it’s playing with fire. Robert Maxim is dangerous.”
“More dangerous than the cabal of cartels we took down?” I say, my tone implying that I don’t agree.
“He helped you take them down.” Dan puts a hand on my knee. “He is the most dangerous man I’ve ever known.”
I wet my lips, nerves jumbling up in my stomach. “I can handle myself.”
“I know, it’s one of the things I love about you, but…destroying Robert Maxim is going to be near impossible.”
The way he casually acknowledges his love for me is stunning and I don’t say anything for a long moment. Dan’s brow raises with an unasked question. Why so quiet?
“You sound like Declan,” I say, clearing my throat.
“You told him about this?” Dan’s eyes go wide. “He can’t be trusted.”
“We’ve worked together closely before. I trust him not to get me killed.”
“When it comes to Robert Maxim, there is no one you can trust.”
“Except you.”
“You can always trust me,” Dan says.
“Trust you to watch me inappropriately.”
He shrugs. “I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
His words relax the rest of the tension in my shoulders—and I hate myself for it. “You need to leave,” I say, standing, his hand slipping off my knee.
Dan follows my lead. “I understand that this all seems to be happening quickly to you—”
I cut him off. “That is not the problem, Dan. The issue is that we are not compatible. At all. For us to be together, I would have to give up my entire life. I wish you would just admit the reality of the situation here.” I clamp my mouth shut, teeth clicking.
Dan sighs and steps into me. His arm is around my waist and he’s pulling me up into a mind-melting kiss before I can fully register that he’s even touched me. It goes on for an indeterminate amount of time, the pressure of his body against mine, the sweet exploration of our mouths and hands, the way we fit together. A low thrum stops any other thoughts from entering my consciousness.
When Dan pulls back his eyes are glassy. “I love you, Consuela, and I always will. Trust that if you trust nothing else in this world.”
He releases me. My lips sting from the kiss. I raise a hand to touch them. Dan heads for the door. I do not stop him but my heart speeds up, my body begging my mind to do something. But I clutch at the strands of my life swirling in the wake of his wreckage.
I can fix my life, put it back together, I just have to ignore all the feelings I’m having.
Dan turns to look back at me before opening the door and winks. Then he steps out of the apartment.
I miss him instantly. Shit.