Jade

---

I had never been more grateful to hear a doorbell than I was in that moment.

This man, the one who still hadn’t told me his name, was putting the hard-press on me, and as embarrassed as I might have been to admit it, it was taking a toll.

I knew exactly what he intended by crowding me into the corner, demonstrating without words his physical dominance of me. Further demonstrating without words how much it would be in my best interest to comply, to not make trouble.

Unfortunately, making trouble was one of the few things in the world I was good at. And that skill intersected with my tragic flaw, the inability to be cowed or bullied.

No, Jade Green was many things, but she took no shit from anyone, not even the massive mob henchman in front of me.

“Whoever it is, get rid of them and don’t say a word about me,” he said.

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to try to hide the look from him, and certainly not caring if he saw it. Then I ducked under his arm and out into the living room to answer the door.

It was only when I was halfway there that my relief at being away from the intensity of the kitchen became something else.

Confusion to be exact.

I wasn’t expecting visitors, and never got them unannounced.

I walked to the door and looked through the peephole as I called, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Jade,” Patrick said, confirming that it was him I saw through the peephole.

“One minute,” I said as I reached for the lock.

But I didn’t rush to open it. Instead I tried to figure out what was happening, specifically why Patrick was here.

I’d seen him once today, and it certainly wasn’t like him to make a surprise visit. And then of course, there was what to do with the stranger hiding out in the kitchen.

I didn’t know why he was here, so I decided to play it by ear.

“Patrick,” I said calmly as I opened the door.

“You mind if I come in?” he asked.

My instinct was to tell him no, but I didn’t and instead pulled the door open and stepped aside.

As far as I could recall, Patrick had never been inside my house, and that showed in the way he gave the place a once-over, taking it in. But his perusal was brief and he soon turned and refocused on me.

“Sorry for dropping by like this unannounced,” he said.

I didn’t speak, and for once it was because I wasn’t sure what to say. Then I decided that saying nothing was probably the best bet and maybe this would be over with soon.

“I just wanted to…” Patrick trailed off and I looked at him, confused.

In all the times I had seen him, the years I had known him, he had never been anything but certain, and I wasn’t entirely sure what was behind this.

“Is everything okay, Patrick?” I asked.

I had no doubt that it was, and if it wasn’t, there was no way he would come to me, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

He nodded quickly.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. But I don’t think I said all that I intended to today.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He still stood by the front door, and I stood in front of him, resisting the impulse to look over my shoulder, wondering if I should say something about my visitor.

“I just don’t think I made myself clear. I know you and I might never completely see eye to eye, but you’re important to Nya, and you will be important to Siobhan, so I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, I’m here for you,” he said.

I was momentarily taken aback.

I studied his expression, and didn’t see anything but truth and honesty in it. And that made me feel even worse. He really meant that, and was showing me a side of him that I hadn’t seen before. But I couldn’t let myself get sucked in. Patrick might mean well, but that didn’t change who he was, and I couldn’t let myself forget it.

“Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate it,” I finally said.

He nodded.

“And just so you know,” I continued, “the same goes for you. We both know how important Nya and Siobhan are to us, so any issues between us are nothing. Less than. We don’t even have any issues,” I said, lifting my arms and shrugging.

He gave me a smile.

“No, we don’t. And I mean it, Jade. You need anything at all, you say the word,” he said.

I nodded quickly and then Patrick went to the door and left without another word.

I locked the door after him, and then leaned against it, wondering what the hell I was doing.

I hadn’t expected him to come here and say that, and now that he had, I was in an awful conundrum. I should have just told him about my visitor in the kitchen, but I couldn’t do that. I didn’t know how Patrick would respond, and I didn’t want that on my conscience.

And there was the not-small fact that as sincere as he seemed, I still didn’t trust him completely. So telling Patrick hadn’t been an option.

But now I had to figure out what my next move would be.

---

Fisher

---

I had listened to their conversation, not sure of the specific dynamics of their relationship, but knowing that something of importance had been unfolding.

When Patrick left, I took the few seconds between the time I heard the door close and the sound of Jade approaching to try to figure out what I had heard.

If I looked at it objectively, something that was difficult to do when one of them was involved, something I struggled to do nonetheless, it seemed to me that he had been offering an olive branch of sorts.

The question was why.

I had observed them all, but didn’t understand the full dynamics. So, because Jade had been such a frequent visitor, seemed so enmeshed in their lives, I had presumed that all was well with them.

It appeared that presumption was mistaken.

No matter how close they seemed on the surface, overhearing that conversation had left me no doubt that there was distance between them. I hadn’t caught even a hint of that in the year that I had watched, which made me rethink my impressions of Jade. She was much, much more than she seemed.

The question was, now that I had that information, what would I do with it?

It was something I considered as Jade returned to the kitchen. She looked no worse for wear, perhaps a little bit stressed out, but I could imagine the reason. Even without knowing the exact nature of her relationship with Patrick and the others, I could presume that him showing up at her home, apparently unannounced, would be something of note.

“You didn’t tell him I was here,” I said.

I watched Jade, studied her reaction to my words, or rather lack thereof.

“You told me not to. What was I to do? For all I know you could have a machine gun, use it to turn us all into tomato paste right there in my foyer,” she said.

The words were outrageous, but her delivery of them was lacking. She was saying what in her mind seemed appropriate, though I questioned that conclusion, but not exactly what she thought.

The curiosity that had been there before came back full force, even more intense.

Perhaps I had misjudged this.

Perhaps Jade Green could give me even more than I had hoped for.

“I don’t believe you,” I said, turning to face her as she stood still.

I noted that she kept herself in the doorway, but didn’t point that out. She was a wild card, and I had no idea what she might do, but I didn’t doubt my ability to chase her down if it came to that.

I hoped it wouldn’t.

“I’m supposed to give a crap what you believe?” she asked.

But even that question was not delivered with the same level of indignation that I had come to expect from her.

I tilted my head, studying her closer, wanting to figure out what was going on, but not exactly sure of the best approach.

“What’s your name?” she said.

I lifted my eyes to hers at the sound in her voice, one that was edged, but also curious, and perhaps a bit open.

I waited for a long moment, watching her as she watched me, and decided that I wouldn’t get anywhere if I didn’t give her at least that.

“Fisher,” I said.

“Fisher,” she repeated, seeming to test the word out on her tongue.

For a moment I was distracted by how nice my name sounded coming from Jade’s mouth. A silly thing, especially one to think of right now, but it was true. Her voice had a certain musicality to it, not exactly high-pitched, not low-pitched, but with a precision that made every word seem to have weight, be important.

“So,” Jade said, bringing me back to the present moment, “Fisher, why the hell are you in my house?”

I didn’t answer her question immediately, instead wondering at this new side of her. Her reactions before had been a little bit off balance, throwing me off balance in the process, but the woman who stood before me now was all business. Any fear she might have had was gone completely, and in its place was sheer determination, that steel I’d thought I recognized the first time I’d looked at her up close.

“You might be of assistance to me,” I said.

“Oh I might be of assistance to you? Is that supposed to mean something to me?” she said.

“Not yet,” I responded.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, could you go ahead and clarify? It’s been a long day, and frankly, I’ve had my fill of Murphys today,” she said.

Just as it had before, her calling me that, automatically assuming I was one of them threw me off, was something I rejected viscerally.

“I’m not one of them,” I said a moment later, doing my best to keep my voice on an even keel and not give away the emotion underneath it.

Something I apparently failed at if the way Jade looked at me was any indication. She seemed completely skeptical, her features twisted in question, which left me no doubt that she was.

“Okay. Let me lay this out for you. I’m supposed to believe that you have nothing to do with them. Except, you look exactly like them, you’re here at my house, you know my name, and you didn’t want Patrick to know you’re here. That’s a lot of coincidences, Fisher,” she said casually.

“I didn’t say that they were coincidences,” I responded.

“Well, you’re denying that you’re one of them,” she said.

“Both things can be true, Jade,” I said, not wanting to even credit the idea but knowing it was more important to play devil’s advocate and perhaps open Jade’s mind to a world she couldn’t possibly contemplate now.

She didn’t answer.

Instead she scowled at me—literally scowled—and then stomped toward me in a bit of a huff. I stepped aside, and watched as she bent down to pick up the two mugs and tea bags that lay on the kitchen floor, forgotten by me, but apparently not by her. I didn’t speak as I watched her discard the tea bags and then wash the mugs and put them in the drying rack. I also didn’t speak as she took a sponge from under the counter and meticulously scrubbed at the light brown spots on her rug.

She looked at me once, her scowl still firmly in place, but then went back to the task.

She grabbed a spray bottle, and I stood on alert. But she seemed to be paying me no attention, and instead she squirted the two small stains and then gently blotted them with the sponge.

After another moment or two, apparently satisfied with her work, she returned the spray bottle, rinsed the sponge, and sat it on the edge of the sink. Then, finally, she turned to me.

“I did the best I could, but those stains are never going to come out,” she said.

“You can get another one,” I said, wondering why she was so focused on something so minor.

Her expression, which had been neutral before, turned to a deep scowl again.

“I don’t want another one. I wanted that one. Unstained, unbothered by you or anyone else. I guess what I want doesn’t matter,” she said, ending quietly.

For some reason, those words seemed to have more meaning than I would have thought, but I paid no attention to that and instead watched her.

I could sense she wasn’t done.

“So, Fisher, why are you here?” she asked.

“I thought we went over this,” I responded.

“We didn’t, at least not to my satisfaction. And you’re still here. Why is that?”

“Why didn’t you tell Patrick I was here?”

“You’re answering my question with a question?” she said, looking at me indignantly.

“Yes,” I answered.

She chuckled, then shook her head gently. “You say you’re not one of them, but you’re stubborn as hell,” she said.

“The same could be said of you,” I shot back.

“You have no idea. So you’re family?” she asked.

“We aren’t family,” I said emphatically, hating the edge that came into my voice.

Jade continued, unbothered by my vehemence. “So I’m guessing that there’s some kind of rift?”

“Why do you say that?” I responded, annoyed by her insistence on the point but unwilling to continue to argue with her about it.

“Because if I even hint at you being related to them, being one of them, you lose your shit,” she said.

“Lose my shit? This isn’t me losing my shit,” I said, my voice taking on an ominous edge. I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t hide it either.

“Is that supposed to scare me?” Jade asked.

“I wouldn’t dream of trying to do such a thing,” I said, unable to keep the quick smile off my face.

She rolled her eyes dramatically, and then began to pace. My words didn’t seem to have bothered her, but as I looked at her now I could see that she was turning over a problem in her head, a problem that I presumed was me.

I watched her without speaking, following the gentle, almost hypnotic sway of her hips as she walked the five steps between her refrigerator and stove and then back again, her small feet making no sound against the kitchen floor. The sight was mesmerizing, made it impossible for me not to think about what it would be like to explore what lay under that flowing skirt.

Jade’s voice interrupted my train of thought, and for once I was grateful for it. “You don’t want Patrick to know about you. But you want something from him. The question is what, and why I’m involved. Is that about right?”

She stopped, looked at me, waiting for confirmation.

“I would think that was obvious,” I said.

“It is obvious. Which makes me think there’s a lot more to this that I’m not seeing. Are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to push the panic button right above my sink?” she said.

I’d spotted the small alarm panel earlier, but had disregarded it.

“It’ll take them, what, four minutes, five to get to you? I’d be long gone by then,” I said.

“First you call me by name, and now you’re telling me how long it will take the cops to get here. So I’ll ask the question again. Is that supposed to scare me?” she asked, looking anything but.

I shrugged. “No. I’m simply stating the truth,” I said.

“Call it what you want, Fisher, but like I said before, I’ve had enough of you and these games. It might take them four minutes to get here, but I will do everything in my power to make those four minutes the longest of your life.”

I looked at her, again impressed by her tenacity. She meant it. She was misguided, and would definitely end up hurt or worse if she wanted to pursue that path, but she was fully dedicated to it.

I appreciated that.

“The specifics aren’t important, but Patrick, his brothers, and I have business that needs attending to,” I said.

“How do I fit into that business?” she asked.

“Well, Jade, that’s up to you,” I said.

She lifted her brows but didn’t speak, which I took as a sign to continue.

“You have information,” I said.

She scoffed. “You think that? You’re out of your mind. Because I don’t know anything,” she said.

I smiled again, mostly because Jade was being modest, but not falsely.

“You’re very wrong,” I said. “You know a lot. And you’re going to tell me all of it.”

“And why would I tell you anything?” she asked.

“Ordinarily, I’d say it’s because you want to live through this night,” I said, letting my words hang there after I finished speaking. “And, by the way, that would be me trying to scare you.”

As I expected, Jade didn’t have any reaction save an exasperated roll of her eyes.

“But looking at you now, having talked to you, I can see that wouldn’t move you. Foolhardy woman that you are, you’d probably relish the opportunity to take me on, think that you might even have a shot,” I said.

“There’s always a shot,” she said.

“See, you’ve confirmed my perception. But let me tell you this, Jade, I don’t want to hurt you, and I won’t. Because that’s not going to get me what I need.”

“What will?” Jade asked, speaking the obvious next question.

“Yeah, so you don’t care about yourself, not really. But you care about them. Those people,” I said.

I got a reaction from her then, a faint one, barely there, but I had seen it.

And I hated it.

The idea of using a woman, a child, innocents as far as I was concerned was low. But it was also the most efficient path, and as much as I might not have liked it, I was unwilling to let anything, especially something as pesky as morals get in my way.

“So you’re not going to threaten me. You’re just going to threaten the people I care about,” she said.

“I’m not threatening anyone. I’m simply telling you the truth of what’s going to happen,” I said.

“You are such a fucking asshole,” she said.

She sneered at me as she spoke the words, but I simply shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Yeah perhaps. But you’re still wrong. I don’t have any information, so I can’t be of any use to you,” she said.

“And as I said before, that’s where you’re wrong. You have lots of information. You know them. What they like, what they love. What could hurt them,” I said.

For the first time since I had encountered her, Jade displayed real emotion, deep emotion. It was disgust, and for a reason I couldn’t quite put my finger on, seeing that expression on her face, knowing that it was directed at me was sickening.

I didn’t let that show, though.

Couldn’t let that show.

Instead I stood, impassive, waiting, watching as Jade considered what I had said.

“So those are my options?” she said. “Help you, give you information to hurt people who mean the world to me, hurt the only person that matters to me. Or stay out of it, and let you go off and do whatever dastardly deed you have in mind, knowing that you don’t give two shits if innocent people get caught in the crossfire?”

That wasn’t entirely true.

I did give two shits about innocent people getting caught in the crossfire, but I didn’t correct her. I didn’t like it, but it was probably best to have her think I was that kind of monster.

“Correct,” I said. “Those are your two options.”

“Yeah, it’s like I said. Asshole.”

She sighed, began pacing again, this time wrapping her arms around her body in a defensive posture. It was a new one, something she hadn’t done before, and again the weight of what I was doing hit me, left me with a vaguely disgusted feeling, the one I had seen reflected in Jade’s eyes.

And again I pushed it aside.

I remembered all those years, all the time and energy that I had devoted to doing this. I couldn’t be so easily dissuaded, especially not by a stranger, a person who was nothing more than a means to an end.

“I hate you,” she said.

She stopped pacing, but kept her arms crossed as she turned to look at me.

“You aren’t the first,” I said.

“But I’ll help you,” she responded.

Her words were begrudging, appeared to be forced out of her mouth, but I felt an undeniable relief.

“Good.”