I’d never seen him so open before. Standing next to that stream, skipping stones, I could almost imagine that we were both back in high school together. I wondered if we would have known each other. He was a few years older than me, of course, so in my fantasy we were the same age. But even then, I couldn’t see us knowing each other. Maybe we’d pass each other in the halls, maybe I’d smile or he’d nod, but that would be it.

In that other world, we could be normal people. Maybe Travis’s parents didn’t die, his brother survived the accident, he went on living in Knoxville. Maybe my daddy never took that loan, never put us in the pocket of gangsters.

But we were who we were, and the world shook out the way it did. Still, by that stream, the stream he grew up near, I had suddenly felt deafeningly homesick. I had wanted to see my mom, laugh with my brothers, sit and watch a ball game with my dad. I wanted some sense of normalcy.

Instead, we still had a bunch of people to kill and a lot more danger ahead of us.

Markus wasn’t in sight when we got back to the car. Travis wasn’t interested in going back inside, so we just pulled out and headed back to my apartment. I kept wondering if Markus would get sucked into all of this, but I actually believed him when he said that he was a survivor. You had to be if you were going to live in Knoxville and sell moonshine on the side. Markus would be okay, even if we weren’t. For some reason, I believed that.

We pulled up out front of the dry cleaners as usual and parked the car. Travis went first, like always, and like always he seemed extra watchful, extra careful. We paused outside my apartment door then he burst in ahead of me, his hand on his gun.

I stepped in behind him. Travis paused, his body tense. Sitting in the same spot as before was Culver, smiling calmly, his hands raised in the air.

“Did I surprise you this time?” he asked.

“Maybe you did,” Travis said. “Maybe not, though.”

“Sure. If that’s how you want to play this.” He smiled. “Can I lower my hands?”

“Slow.”

He did so, slowly. He laid his palms flat on the top of the table. “Come, join me again. You can keep your weapon out if you want. But I’ll just remind you that if I get injured, the mafia will not be happy.”

I followed Travis’s lead and sat down at the table. He leaned back in his chair and placed his gun on the table in front of him, the barrel pointing at Culver.

“Good. Very good. So, let’s talk.” Culver just kept smiling his calm and creepy smile.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“The money we gave you. Have you spent it?”

“Not yet,” Travis said. “Still looking for guys.”

“Good. Be careful. But not too careful. You’re on a timeline, remember.”

“I remember.”

“Very good.” He turned to me. “And how are you doing, Miss Hartley?”

“Fine,” I said, feeling nervous, but not as nervous as before.

“You look calm. Do you feel calm?”

“I guess so.”

“Good. I don’t want to make you nervous. Last time we met, you seemed very uncomfortable.”

“I’m not used to being in bars with criminals.”

He laughed. “I suppose that’s probably true.”

“Leave the girl alone,” Travis said.

“Well now, okay, Travis. I’m just being polite.”

“No, you aren’t. You’re here to intimidate us, to make sure we’re staying on track.”

“I can do both.”

“Listen: I’m looking for guys, old squad mates, guys that I trust and that will work well together. Then I’m going to rent a truck. Then we’ll fucking steal the shit.”

“Sounds like a plan. And how long do you think this is going to take?”

“A few more days to get the guys. A few more days past that to plan it all out. I need at least a week, maybe a week and a half.”

“Okay, Travis. You can have one week. If we don’t see results by then, we’re going to have a problem.”

“We won’t have a problem.”

Culver stood and smiled down at me. “One last thing. Hartley, I just want you to know that your family is lovely and your farm is incredible. I really don’t want anything bad to happen to them.” I could tell Travis had tightened up as soon as Culver had started speaking. Culver began to walk toward the door, and I had ice in my veins.

“So do make sure Travis stays on track. Otherwise, I’ll have the boys I left down there cut every throat they find and burn down the whole fucking farm.” He smiled sadistically. “Good luck, you two.” He opened the door and was gone.

“Son of a bitch,” Travis growled.

“Did you hear what he said?”

“I heard the bastard.”

“Travis.” I stared at him in horror. “He said he has guys at my farm. My family is in danger.”

“Damn that fucking bastard.”

I sat there in total shock. I knew that my family was likely not safe, but they seemed so far away. The farm was only three hours away by car, at most, but it felt like it was across the country.

I had never imagined the mafia would actually go straight for them. I’d thought I was enough. The whole reason I came here was so that I could help my family, not make things worse for them. But every move I made seemed to put them in more and more danger.

“He’s bluffing,” Travis said, staring at me. “Listen to me, Hartley. He’s bluffing.”

“What if he’s not?”

“He is. The mafia doesn’t care about this enough to put that much manpower into this.”

As he spoke, though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying to me. This had already gone further than I ever thought possible, further than I ever imagined. I was so damn angry with myself for letting it get this far.

Travis stood up and stalked across the room. I watched him go.

“What are we going to do?” I asked him. “He wants results soon.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

I stood up. “Travis, my family. We have to go help them.”

“No.” He walked back toward me. “The best thing we can do for them right now is to follow through with the plan. We have to win, Hartley. We’re going to win.”

“How can you say that? It’s just the two of us. Janey and them, they don’t care about us. It’s just us versus the whole mafia.”

“I’m not just some asshole,” Travis said. “I’ve gotten us this far. I’ll take us all the way.”

“I can’t,” I said softly. “I can’t, knowing they’re not safe.”

He came close to me and reached out, but I turned away.

His voice was flat. “If you want to keep them safe, we have to win.”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “Yeah. I guess so.” I walked toward my bedroom. “I need some time to calm down.”

“You do that. This shit, it’s going to be okay.”

I gave him a look. He seemed haunted, gaunt and angry. I opened my bedroom door, stepped inside, and shut it softly behind me.