Twenty-Four

Despondent and unable to function after very little sleep, we crashed in a hotel for a few hours before starting the long drive home. No one spoke once we hit the road. What was there to say? Clare had the diamond. Our time was almost up. I’d messaged the number on the card Angelini had given me to see if negotiation was an option and received no response.

“We’ll have to leave the country after all.” Emma finally said the words we’d all been thinking after Jack pulled over at a rest stop to step out and make a quick call on Gage’s phone.

“If we run, Cristian dies,” I reminded her.

“If we don’t run, we all die.”

Gage had his arm around Chloe in the back seat of Jack’s truck. “We have to find Clare. We’ll make her give us the necklace.” He cracked his knuckles in front of Chloe’s face, and she pushed him away.

“Knuckle cracking isn’t going to stop Milan from giving you a chest full of knives.”

Gage gave an indignant huff. “You have that little faith in my skills?”

“I’ve seen her in action, and if she doesn’t get you, Vito will.”

“Amateurs.”

“She threw a knife into your shoulder.” Chloe’s lips grazed his shirt over the injury.

He stroked her cheek, his gaze softening. “Barely a scratch.”

“Clare is back in Chicago.” Jack climbed into the driver’s seat. “She’s meeting Mr. X to hand over the diamond. I’ll pay him a visit when we get back to see if we can work something out.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. What could he possibly work out with a man who wanted to torture and kill him and a woman who had just locked him in a container to die? What deal could be made that didn’t involve a cost that I could feel in my bones would be too high?

“I’d like to meet Mr. X,” Emma said. “After what he did to you in that meat freezer, it’s payback time. I’d start off by kneeing him in the nuts and then I’d go full throttle on his ass.”

“That’s only if I didn’t get to him first,” Gage said, his voice rough. “And if I did, there would be nothing left for you.”

“That’s very selfish.” Chloe folded her arms and shifted away from Gage. “Maybe other people would like to have a go at him. After what he did to Jack, I’d like to hear him scream.”

“He was…is my boyfriend.” I shot Jack a sideways glance. We hadn’t talked about our relationship since leaving the container, but he’d shown me through his actions what I hadn’t believed in words. “If Jack goes after Mr. X, I’m going with him.”

“If you’re going, I’m going,” Chloe said.

Gage growled in frustration. “If Chloe’s going, I’m going, too.”

“I’m not missing out on the fun. Count me in.” Emma lifted her hand, but no one slapped her palm. “Where’s Anil when you need him?” she grumbled. “He was always up for a high five.”

“Where do we meet this former boss of yours?” I stretched out in my seat, already stiff from our drive. “Your friends and contacts all seem to like to drink in seedy bars. I’m hoping he has some class, and we can meet him in a fancy restaurant or some swanky hotel lobby bar with expensive cocktails.”

Jack didn’t even crack a smile. “I’m going alone.”

“Have you got backup from your secret government organization friends?” Emma laughed when a startled Jack caught her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Do you think we don’t all know you work for the CIA or the FBI or some off-the-books institution? We’re not idiots.”

“I didn’t know.” It hadn’t even occurred to me that Jack might be totally legit. I’d always assumed he’d just left one criminal organization and joined another with a more Robin Hood–like ethos. “Are you a government employee?”

“No.” Jack’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Let’s just drop the subject.”

“He has to say that.” Emma mocked a whisper. “If we knew the truth, he’d have to kill us.”

“Maybe he’s in organized crime,” Chloe mused. “He knew all about how the Mafia torture people and cut off their toes and fingers.”

“Speaking of missing fingers,” Emma said. “Who here thinks the dude we met in the mountains was hot?” She raised her hand. “Now, that was a real man.”

“He was the kind of man who eats people like us for breakfast,” Chloe said. “Have you forgotten he followed us and tried to run us off the road?”

Emma licked her lips. “He could eat me anytime.”

There was an awkward silence and then Chloe said, “I miss Anil. He wouldn’t have understood Emma’s joke and then she would have had fun explaining to him, and Gage would have told him he had to get out of his parents’ basement.” She sighed. “He said Clare made him feel valued in a way we didn’t. Maybe he didn’t like to be teased.”

“Clare identified him as our weakest link and used him to drive a wedge between us,” Jack said. “It’s all a game for her. She’ll ditch him as soon as he outlives his usefulness.”

“I still can’t believe he’d betray us that way,” Chloe continued. “He’s not as naive as he was when we first met, and he’s got a genius IQ. He has to know she doesn’t really care about him.”

“Intelligence IQ isn’t the same as emotional IQ,” I pointed out. “Even a genius can be blinded by love.”

Chloe shook her head. “I still can’t believe he would have left us to die.”

“Hey, we’re coming up to Bloomsburg,” Emma said. “Maybe we should find a certain autobody shop and make sure the truck’s running the way it should. I’ve been hearing a suspicious rattle…”

“If you wanted to see the mountain man again, you should have given him your number.” Gage made a derisive grunt. “Also, you shouldn’t have let us send a canoe through his windshield. That ship has sailed, my friend. You let him get away.”

“Probably just as well,” she said. “We’ll probably be dead by the end of the week or hiding out in some faraway place.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. I’d been trying not to think of what lay ahead when we reached Chicago. “We should probably say good-bye to our friends and families when we get home. I’m surprised my parents haven’t sent the police out looking for me. I haven’t contacted them in three days.”

“I don’t have anyone to say good-bye to,” Gage said. “The only people I care about are right here.”

“Same.” Emma caught Jack’s gaze in the mirror, and he nodded in agreement.

I’d never thought about the fact that except for Chloe, no one else in the truck had people waiting for them at home. No one to talk to about relationship troubles or problems at work. No cozy kitchen chai time. No big Sunday dinners. No meddlesome aunties and marriage-obsessed parents. I had a sea of love waiting for me in Chicago, but for everyone else, the crew was family.

“I haven’t called Simone,” I said abruptly, realizing we’d left someone out of our impromptu love-in. “Someone give me a phone. I have to tell her the bad news.”

“Simsim!” Simone’s cheerful voice lifted my spirits despite our dire predicament. “I’ve been trying to get in touch. I must have left a dozen voice messages for you.”

“We’re on our way home. Clare has the diamond.” I quickly updated her on our situation and Jack’s plan to talk to Mr. X.

“I’ll help, of course, in any way I can,” she said. “But something terrible happened while you were away that I have to deal with first. It’s Richard. He was utterly distraught after we were interviewed by the police at Vera’s place. I told him the police were talking to all the guests, but just the idea that we would have had anything to do with a murder…it was too much for him. I suggested we take the helicopter to New York and go out on the yacht to get away and I invited Vera to join us. Poor thing is a wreck and it wasn’t good for her to be in that house with the police running around with their yellow tape and rubber gloves. They still haven’t cleaned Peter’s blood off the garage floor—”

“Simone, what about Richard?”

“Oh, Richard.” She sighed. “We flew out to the yacht and had a lovely time on the water. Richard got very drunk as he often does when he’s stressed, and on our way home…” Her breath hitched. “Oh, Simi, he went overboard.”

“Oh my God. Is he okay?”

“No, darling. He was eaten by sharks. I need you to organize his funeral.”

---

We pulled over at a truck stop for gas and snacks midway through our journey. Jack motioned me around to the back of the brick building where the grimy exterior, filled with garbage cans and empty oil containers, gave way to a dark forest of trees. The air was cool and damp, and the smell of diesel hung heavy in the air, mingling with the scent of burned coffee. As soon as we were alone, he pulled me into his arms. I could feel his heart beating strong and steady in his chest, his breath warm against my ear. I leaned closer and his lips brushed over mine.

“Are we going to have some secret sexy times while everyone is grabbing something to eat?” I nuzzled his neck. “I was kind of disappointed we didn’t get to do it in the container. Did you see all those ancient erotic toys? It would have been fun figuring out how to use them.”

“I’m leaving you here.” Jack squeezed me tight. “I don’t know when…or if I’ll see you again.”

My good mood faded faster than the pounding of my heart. “What are you talking about? You can’t leave. We still have to find Clare and get the necklace. We have to rescue Cristian. We have to save Anil. We can’t do it without you.”

“Simi…” His voice cracked. “You are a great leader. You’ll be able to handle it without me.”

My bottom lip trembled. “You are not doing this again,” I said. “You are not leaving me. And you are certainly not going to throw yourself on your sword. You are not alone, Jack. Were you not listening in the car? We are a team. A family. Don’t you understand what that means?”

After a long, heavy pause, he said, “No, it’s been too long.”

I took a step back, studying him closely. “When we get back to Chicago, the first thing I’ll do in the morning is go and see my parents because I know they will be frantic with worry. Nani will already have been on the phone with the family gossip network asking if anyone has seen me. There is nowhere I can go in Chicago without a cousin or an uncle or an auntie or a family friend spotting me—and I have been spotted in some very compromising situations.”

Jack gave a half-hearted chuckle, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d found us in the container,” I continued. “Certainly, they would never have stopped looking. They are always there for me no matter what. I hold that in my heart every day. It makes the hard times easier. It gives me strength. That’s family, Jack. That’s what we have with the crew. It’s a bond that means we care what happens to you. It means you never have to be alone.”

Jack’s eyes flickered with pain and something else I couldn’t quite identify. “I don’t want to leave, but it’s the only option. I won’t put anyone else in danger.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “Especially you.”

I studied his face, saw the resolve in his eyes. “I don’t want to go back to where we were when you left me in the dark. If you are going to leave again, then respect me enough to tell me why.”

For a moment, I thought he would just walk away, but finally he said, “Mr. X…His real name is Xavier Braithwaite III. I’m going to offer to return to his crew in exchange for the necklace.”

My heart sank into my stomach, but I wasn’t surprised. Despite his past, he was an honorable man. Without any leverage, he had only one thing to offer to get us out of this mess—himself. It was why I hadn’t told him that Angelini had made Jack part of the deal.

“Why won’t he just keep the necklace and kill you?” I didn’t see any point in beating around the bush.

“He wants me back. He thinks I still owe him a life debt. That’s why his men haven’t ended me already. He’ll torture and humiliate me until he gets bored, and then he’ll kill me at his leisure.”

A shiver ran down my spine. Between Angelini and Mr. X, it was an impossible situation. All I could do was keep my secret and hope I could figure out a way to save him. “All the more reason not to go alone.”

Jack cupped my jaw, his thumb brushing over my cheek as he tilted my head back for a searing kiss. I breathed in the smell of him, the scent of soap mixed with coffee and something that was purely him. It was different, that kiss. Soft and gentle but filled with love and longing. And regret.

Finally, Jack pulled me into a tight hug. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, our bodies entwined, until finally we broke apart.

“Simi. Jack. Let’s hit the road.” Emma’s voice rang out over the hum of the traffic, the blare of air horns, and the rumble of semitrailer trucks pulling on and off the highway. “I bought out their entire supply of beef jerky, so make sure you roll all the windows down when you get into the truck.”

“We’d better get going.” I took a few steps, and a soft breeze made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I turned and Jack was gone.